Non-Disclosure: A non-disclosure can be granted by a judge for anyone who has received a deferred adjudication probation on a case, has served it out without being revoked and who meets some other requirements. For misdemeanors, the non-disclosure can be sought immediately after the end of the probation ends unless it is under chapters 20, 21, 22, 25, 42 or 46 of the Texas Penal Code, in which case there is a two year waiting period. For a felony, there is a five year waiting period. A non-disclosure will usually not be granted if: 1) The person has received a conviction in another case after the deferred adjudication, 2) if the case was: A) A sex offense, B) Aggravated Kidnapping, C) Murder or Capital Murder, D) Injury to a Child, Elderly or Disabled, E) Abandoning or Endangering a Child, F) Violation of a Court Order in a Family Violence Case, G) Stalking, or H) Any other offense involving Family Violence. (Non-disclosure is not available in Driving While Intoxicated and related offenses because the Texas law does not allow deferred adjudication probation in those offenses.) and, 3) If it is not shown to be "In the best interest of justice."  In order to get a non-disclosure, a petition is filed, along with a filing fee and a hearing is held before the judge in the court where the deferred adjudication was granted. The process usually takes about a month, after which the agencies which hold the records have thirty days to close them to the public. Private companies which buy the records are supposed to purge them within six months. Even after a non-disclosure order is entered, there are a number of agencies that can still obtain the record, including criminal justice agencies, most government agencies, schools and hospitals, however, the record will not be divulged (legally) to private individuals or companies and the arrest can be denied in employment applications to private companies.

Contact Mr. Dietz to see if your case qualifies: Contact Logan Dietz

Expunction  

Dictionary of Criminal Law Terms

Houston Criminal Lawyer