Expunction Lawyer, Texas Expunctions, Expungement, Expuntion, Clear you Criminal Arrest History

Expunction Lawyer, Texas Expunctions, Expungement, Expuntion, Clear you Criminal Arrest History

The Law Office of Robert L. Keates handles and represents clients seeking a Texas Expunction Motion by authoring the petition and submitting the Texas Expunction Motion to Approriate Texas County. Please read below to see whether a Texas Expunction Motion could work for you, and then give us a call for a Free Phone Consultation at 512-216-3211.

To get started with the Expunction Process, you'll need to download the DPS criminal history report application.

Chapter 55 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure authorizes the Court to clear the criminal record -- also known as expunction -- of arrest records, court records and criminal history record information. But not every offense is eligable for an Expunction.

There are the six basic types of expunctions in Texas under Chapter 55:

• First, is the right to expunction after an acquittal, meaning the defendant went to trial and was found Not Guilty;
  

• Second is the right to expunction after a pardon.
  

• Third is expunction after being tried and convicted by the trial court but reversed and acquitted by the Court of Appeals;
  

• Fourth is the right to expunction after having one’s name falsely used during an arrest;
  

• Fifth, the posthumous expunction, is based on exoneration after death;
  

• Sixth is the main category in which 99% of Texas Expunctions fall into: expunction after dismissal.

Keep in mind that not all Dismissals are equal. For instance, a Dismissal after Deferred Adjudication is not eligable for Expunction, however the offense may be sealed per a Motion for Non Disclosure, which is a different Petition.

Generally, a person is seeking to obtain an Expunction and clear their criminal record after sustaining an arrest that results in a Dismissal. For such an Expunction to be successful, the person and the offense must meet several requirements. As discussed in STATE OF TEXAS v. JUDY BEAM, 226 S.W.3d 392 (Tex. 2007):

A person who has been placed under custodial or noncustodial arrest for commission of either a felony or misdemeanor is entitled to have all records and files relating to the arrest expunged if:

(1) the person is tried for the offense for which the person was arrested and is:

(A) acquitted by the trial court, except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section; or
(B) convicted and subsequently pardoned, or

(2) each of the following conditions exists:

(A) in indictment or information charging a person with commission of a felony has not been presented against the person for an offense arising out of the transaction for which the person was arrested or, if an indictment or information charging the person with commission of a felony was presented, the indictment or information has been dismissed or quashed, and:

(i) the limitations period expired before the date on which a petition for expunction was filed under Article 55.02; or

(ii) the court finds that the indictment or information was dismissed or quashed because the person completed a pretrial intervention program authorized under Section 75.011, Government Code, or because the presentment had been made because of mistake, false information, or other similar reason indicating absence of probable cause at the time of the dismissal to believe the person committed.

In addition, Chapter 55 lists the following criteria that must also be met by a person seeking an Expunction:

1. The person has been released;
2. the charge, if any, has not resulted in a final conviction and is no longer pending;
3. there was not court ordered community supervision under art. 42.12 for any offense other than a Class C misdemeanor (presumably Art. 45.051);
4. the person has not been convicted of a felony in the five years preceding the date of this arrest; and
5. the statute of limitations for the offense has expired.

 

The Waiting Period and Texas Statute of Limitations
While a case may have incurred Statute of Limitation Tolling (meaning a delay in the time beginning), the general Statutes of Limitations in Texas are governed by Chpater 12 of the Texas Penal Code. Specific Time limits are listed below:

Art. 12.01. Felonies
Except as provided in Article 12.03, felony indictments may be presented within these limits, and not afterward:

(1) no limitation:

(A) murder and manslaughter;
(B) sexual assault, if during the investigation of the offense biological matter is collected and subjected to forensic DNA testing and the testing results show that the matter does not match the victim or any other person whose identity is readily ascertained; or
(C) an offense involving leaving the scene of an accident under Section 550.021, Transportation Code, if the accident resulted in the death of a person;

(2) ten years from the date of the commission of the offense:

(A) theft of any estate, real, personal or mixed, by an executor, administrator, guardian or trustee, with intent to defraud any creditor, heir, legatee, ward, distributee, beneficiary or settlor of a trust interested in such estate;
(B) theft by a public servant of government property over which he exercises control in his official capacity;
(C) forgery or the uttering, using or passing of forged instruments;
(D) injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual punishable as a felony of the first degree under Section 22.04, Penal Code;
(E) sexual assault, except as provided by Subdivision (1) or (5); or
(F) arson;

(3) seven years from the date of the commission of the offense:

(A) misapplication of fiduciary property or property of a financial institution;
(B) securing execution of document by deception; or
(C) a violation under Sections 153.403(22)-(39), Tax Code;

(4) five years from the date of the commission of the offense:

(A) theft, burglary, robbery;
(B) kidnapping;
(C) injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual that is not punishable as a felony of the first degree under Section 22.04, Penal Code; or
(D) abandoning or endangering a child;

(5) ten years from the 18th birthday of the victim of the offense:

(A) indecency with a child under Section 21.11(a)(1) or (2), Penal Code; or
(B) except as provided by Subdivision (1), sexual assault under Section 22.011(a)(2), Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section 22.021(a)(1)(B), Penal Code; or

(6) three years from the date of the commission of the offense: all other felonies.

Art. 12.02. Misdemeanors

An indictment or information for any misdemeanor may be presented within two years from the date of the commission of the offense, and not afterward.

Art. 12.03. Aggravated offenses, attempt, conspiracy, solicitation, organized criminal activity

(a) The limitation period for criminal attempt is the same as that of the offense attempted.
(b) The limitation period for criminal conspiracy or organized criminal activity is the same as that of the most serious offense that is the object of the conspiracy or the organized criminal activity.
(c) The limitation period for criminal solicitation is the same as that of the felony solicited.
(d) Except as otherwise provided by this chapter, any offense that bears the title "aggravated" shall carry the same limitation period as the primary crime.

Art. 12.04. Computation

The day on which the offense was committed and the day on which the indictment or information is presented shall be excluded from the computation of time.

Art. 12.05. Absence from State and time of pendency of indictment, etc., not computed

(a) The time during which the accused is absent from the state shall not be computed in the period of limitation.
(b) The time during the pendency of an indictment, information, or complaint shall not be computed in the period of limitation.
(c) The term "during the pendency," as used herein, means that period of time beginning with the day the indictment, information, or complaint is filed in a court of competent jurisdiction, and ending with the day such accusation is, by an order of a trial court having jurisdiction thereof, determined to be invalid for any reason.

Art. 12.06. An indictment is "presented," when

An indictment is considered as "presented" when it has been duly acted upon by the grand jury and received by the court.

Art. 12.07. An information is "presented," when

An information is considered as "presented," when it has been filed by the proper officer in the proper court.

back to top of expunctions