Houston Criminal & DWI Lawyer & Attorney : Grant Scheiner Law Firm : Drunk Driving, Sexual Assault, Criminal Defense : Houston, Texas

I get this call a lot.  People sometimes take a deferred adjudication on a charge believing that there will not be any consequences.  As discussed earlier in this blog, a person who successfully completes a deferred adjudication probation does avoid a conviction.  Yet, there are often collateral consequences that a good criminal lawyer will discuss with a person prior to agreeing to take a deferred adjudication.

Employment limitations are the biggest collateral consequences that people face.  I usually receive a frantic call right after someone is turned down for a job because of the past deferred adjudication.  The caller usually says, "I had a deferred and my lawyer said that it would not be on my record but I was just denied employment."

Well I am telling everyone now, A DEFERRED ADJUDICATION IS ON YOUR RECORD.

Apartments are also being very stringent regarding criminal histories these days.

Employers and leasing agents do not know the difference between a deferred adjudication and a conviction.  Even if they did, those persons are not going to feel any more comfortable that you had a deferred for a theft versus a conviction.

So what can you do if you had a deferred.  Well, the first thing is if you are currently on deferred you may be eligible for early termination.  If you have completed your deferred probation, then you need to file a petition for non-disclosure.  A petition for non-disclosure seals your records.  Section 411.081(d) of the Texas Government Code is where the law is written regarding sealing one's records.

How do you do that?  The easiest way is to higher a criminal lawyer who knows what they are doing.  If done properly, the law allows you to deny the existence of the past deferred if it has been properly sealed.  Some deferred adjudications are not eligible to be sealed and some require a waiting period from the date one completes the probation.

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I get this call a lot.  People sometimes take a deferred adjudication on a charge believing that there will not be any consequences.  As discussed earlier in this blog, a person who successfully completes a deferred adjudication probation does avoid a conviction.  Yet, there are often collateral consequences that a good criminal lawyer will discuss with a person prior to agreeing to take a deferred adjudication.

Employment limitations are the biggest collateral consequences that people face.  I usually receive a frantic call right after someone is turned down for a job because of the past deferred adjudication.  The caller usually says, "I had a deferred and my lawyer said that it would not be on my record but I was just denied employment."

Well I am telling everyone now, A DEFERRED ADJUDICATION IS ON YOUR RECORD.

Apartments are also being very stringent regarding criminal histories these days.

Employers and leasing agents do not know the difference between a deferred adjudication and a conviction.  Even if they did, those persons are not going to feel any more comfortable that you had a deferred for a theft versus a conviction.

So what can you do if you had a deferred.  Well, the first thing is if you are currently on deferred you may be eligible for early termination.  If you have completed your deferred probation, then you need to file a petition for non-disclosure.  A petition for non-disclosure seals your records.  Section 411.081(d) of the Texas Government Code is where the law is written regarding sealing one's records.

How do you do that?  The easiest way is to higher a criminal lawyer who knows what they are doing.  If done properly, the law allows you to deny the existence of the past deferred if it has been properly sealed.  Some deferred adjudications are not eligible to be sealed and some require a waiting period from the date one completes the probation.

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Deferred Adjudication is a special type of probation.  If you are charged with a crime in Houston, Texas, then you need an experienced criminal defense lawyer to  maneuver your case through the system.  If the District Attorney's Office has sufficient evidence against you to obtain a conviction in a jury trial, then deferred adjudication community supervision must be discussed.

The word "adjudication" literally means the act of pronouncing judgment based on the evidence presented .  When a judge grants deferred adjudication probation, that is exactly what he does.  The judge defers pronouncing judgment.  Upon a plea of guilty and other evidence, the judge finds that sufficient evidence exists to find a person guilty, but the judge defers that finding.  The judge places the person on probation for a period of time with certain restrictions and conditions.  If the person successfully completes the period of time on a deferred adjudication probation, then the case is dismissed.  The case is still on a person's record until one files a petition for non-disclosure.

Deferred Adjudication probations can be very risky.  If a person fails to live up to the conditions of one's probation, then the judge can sentence that person any where in the range of punishment for the offense which one is on probation.  More times than not, a person who fails to complete his deferred adjudication successfully serves a harsher sentence than if he had initially taken a plea for jail time.

Oftentimes, the prosecutor on the case does not offer deferred adjudication for various reasons.  If the prosecutor agrees to waive the State's right to a jury trial, then a criminal defendant has the option of pleading guilty to the judge and present evidence of why a deferred adjudication probation is fair and just.  If a person is considering "pleading open to the judge" in Harris County, then it is advisable to hire a criminal defense attorney that regularly practices in Harris County.

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