Expunge and Seal your Record

Expungement VS Sealing your record which one is better.

By Valente G.
September 26, 2004

Sealing a record is often confused with expungement. The term sealing, when relating to deferred adjudication in Texas, applies to one instance of a deferred adjudicated charge that did not result in a conviction and for which the case was dismissed. Sealing a record means that you can have the record sealed from public inspection. In Texas you have to wait 10 years after your case was dismissed for Felonies and 5 years for Misdemeanors so that you can seal your record.

After you seal your record there will still a record that is available for private inspection by a state agency or an exempt entity. It does not mean that your record will remain sealed because your record is still available the Texas legislature. The danger is that during the course of a subsequent Texas session a bill can be authored to unseal everyone’s record.

Expungement is more than a sealing, an expungement means that your record is completely destroyed. Having no record would solve many of the problems that people have in finding employment and housing. Currently it is not possible to get an expungement for charges resulting in deferred adjudication.

I have established a personal goal to ask legislators that deferred adjudications be eligible for sealing immediately upon the date of completion of community supervision period, and that expungement be allowed 5 and 10 years after the date of dismissal for misdemeanors and felonies respectfully. Hopefully with enough involvement from affected individuals the law will change to allow for eventual expungement of a record that did not result in a conviction such as in the case of a deferred adjudication.

Question: What if my record is obtained by someone after my order of Nondiclosure?

If someone gets a copy of your record after your order of Non Disclosure has been filed you should contactwith your lawyer. You may be able to sue the person for intentionaly gaining access to a record that has been ordered nondisclosed.

Any adverse decision or action with respect that person's "Non Disclosed" putative public record of criminal proceedings (apart from traffic offenses) may subject the person or entity taking such action to potential legal liability under any applicable state and federal laws.

In order to properly prepar to initiate a civil suit against a company that deny's you employment based on having a Non Disclosed record you should.
1. Explain to the person or entity that an order of nondisclosure means that certain individuals should not have access to those records because of a judicial order.
2. Explain that there are consequences for obtaining information in an unauthorized manner. Present a copy of Texas Goverment Code 411.085.00
3. Proceed to get the name of the violator including Address and Phone number where he can be reached.
4. Review Texas Goverment Code 411.085.00 and contact your personal injury lawyer. Personal injury lawyers should be able to review the facts and tell you if you have a case.

Christian T Souza Attorney At Law.

April 18, 2004
By Valente G.

You may have heard the name; he recently attended Dallas Meeting. He is serous in helping people with deferred adjudication as much as he can. He has even written and published articles in am major Legal news letter The Voice for the Defense. Chris backs up what he says with an impressive grasp of the issues regarding deferred adjudciation.

Chris Writes the following.

"I. RESTORING THE BENEFITS
The benefit of a deferred adjudication “dismissal” waned as information technology advanced.1 Many defendants responded by seeking expunctions or pardons. They were told that a deferred adjudication is not subject to expunction because it involves probation2 and that a pardon is unavailable when there is no “conviction.”. Certain defendants may now obtain an order to seal court and law enforcement records reflecting their successful deferred adjudication probations.4 The relief should be welcome news to the hundreds of thousands of felony defendants5 and to millions of misdemeanor defendants6 who resolved and will resolve their cases by deferred adjudication."

How to get your records sealed.

by Valente G.
January 31, 2004

I am not a lawyer, but Non Disclosure is not good enough, if the law changes and mandates that our record be made public again then those of you who are given ND will have wasted your time in sealing your records.

Warning: Non Disclosure is (not!) a solution to this problem. What we need is a full expungment of these records, not a (band-aid) solution like non-disclosure. Your record will still be there, available to Police, Schools, Banks, Insurance Agencies, Licensing boards, Certain Apartments, to the Heath Care industry, and other public and private entities. Even with a granting of Non Disclosure, do you really trust Texas to seal your record? Remember this wonderful law of ND is from the same people who told you that Deferred adjudication was not a conviction, so why do we even need the order of ND?

If you think there is still more to do then click here.

Because many of you are not familiar with the courts I urge that none of our readers try to file this petition without proper legal representation. It is strongly recommended.

Here are the links so that you can file your order of ND.

Disclaimer:
A lawyer is not providing this information to you; we are not lawyers, if you seek to truly understand the law surrounding a deferred adjudication then please contact a real lawyer. This information reflects the authors' views of the injustice of deferred adjudication in Texas. Click here for a legal understanding of deferred adjudication law from a real lawyers.

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Expunge / Seal your Record

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