I had a deferred adjudication, can I get an expunction?
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.
