What to Expect When You're Arrested (in San Antonio)
I'm a criminal defense attorney in San Antonio. When I was in my early 20s, I was arrested for DWI. I had no idea what to expect or what was going on with my case because my attorney didn't let me know what to expect. Now that I'm an attorney, I want to make sure that you don't have to go through the same experience that I did. This podcast will let you know what you can expect to happen at the different stages of your case. Even though it focuses on how cases in San Antonio are handled, it will be helpful even if you're charged somewhere else. If you've been arrested for DWI, assault, possession, or anything else, you probably have many questions about what will happen in your case. You'll probably have more questions while your case works through the system. This podcast will answer many of your questions.
What to Expect When You're Arrested (in San Antonio)
Reclaiming Your Future: Expunction and Non-Disclosure in Texas
Can cleaning up your criminal record truly transform your future? In this episode, I share my personal journey through the challenges of a DWI arrest and the pivotal moment I discovered the power of record expungement. You'll learn about the two primary methods available in Texas to clear your record: expunction and non-disclosure. Understand how expunction, the gold standard, can allow you to deny your arrest ever happened by destroying all records, and discover the eligibility criteria such as case dismissal, completion of a pre-trial diversion program, or being found not guilty at trial. We'll also walk you through the process of obtaining an expunction, from filing a petition to securing a judge's signature.
For those who may not qualify for expunction, we dive into the benefits of obtaining an order of non-disclosure, especially if you've completed deferred adjudication or have misdemeanor convictions like DWI. Learn how an order of non-disclosure can effectively shield your past from most private employers and housing background checks, covering about 80% of scenarios. If you're unsure about your eligibility or the steps to clean up your record, this episode is a must-listen. Take proactive steps to reclaim your future opportunities and peace of mind. Join us to explore these processes and understand how they can pave the way for a fresh start.
If you have any questions about this episode or if you're being charged with a crime in San Antonio, feel free to call us at 210-775-0852 or click the link below to schedule a free consultation.
https://seanhenricksen.com/schedule-consultation/
Click the link below to receive 4 Things You Should Do If You've Been Arrested:
https://bit.ly/3tDOVbt
You can also find out answers to some of your questions on our YouTube page:
https://www.youtube.com/SeanHenricksenLawFirm
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ADVERTIESEMENT
Sean Henricksen Law Firm
San Antonio, Texas
www.SeanHenricksen.com
Hi and welcome back to another episode of what to expect when you're arrested. I'm your host, Sean Hendrickson. I'm a defense attorney here at the Sean Hendrickson Law Firm, where we help good people like you avoid the devastating consequences of criminal charges. Today, we're going to be talking about cleaning up your record after your case is over. Before we get to that, we do have a free download for you. If you click in the show notes, we've got a link for five things you should be doing right now If you've been arrested. You can click on that link and we will get that sent right out to you.
Speaker 0:Now, when most people come to me, they want to ultimately get their case dismissed. Almost everybody wants to get their case dismissed, and that's awesome. That's what I want for your case also is I'm trying to get your case dismissed also. But to get the full effect of that dismissal after your case is over and after you get that dismissal or if you're eligible to clean up your record, some other how you do need to move forward with cleaning up your record, and there are a couple of ways to do that, which we'll talk about in just a moment. Most of you know, or some of you may know that when I was younger I was actually arrested and charged with DWI and thankfully my case did end up getting dismissed. I was obviously very happy about that. But I had no idea that since my case was dismissed, that I could go in and get my record cleaned up. So every time I went to go apply for a job or when I was applying for law school, I'd always have to check off that box saying I'd been arrested and then telling this embarrassing story, not knowing how it was going to affect me either getting that job or getting into school. And I could have avoided all of that if my attorney had just let me know that, since my case was dismissed, that I could get my record cleaned up. And so now I make it a point to make sure that if somebody is eligible to get their record cleaned up later on, that they know that they can do that and that they do need to move forward with that. It doesn't happen automatically, but to get that full effect of that dismissal or of deferred adjudication you do need to move forward and get that taken care of.
Speaker 0:There are two ways in Texas to clean up your record, depending on the outcome of your case. The first one we're going to talk about is an expunction. It's kind of a gold standard of cleaning up your record, and an expunction is an order from the court to every government agency that has any record of your arrest that they need to destroy those records. So any police reports, the DA's file, anything the court or the clerk has, all of that needs to be destroyed. And the other thing that it does, in addition to making them destroy those records, is it also gives you the opportunity to deny ever having been arrested for this. So that's going to make sure that it doesn't show up on those background checks whenever somebody does a background check on you and you don't have to volunteer the information when you're filling out that application, and that means that it shouldn't follow your own after that expunction is taken care of and after all of those records get destroyed.
Speaker 0:So who's eligible to get an expunction? And there are three main categories. There's a number of other ways to do it that are much less common, but the three most common ways to get an expunction are, first of all, if your case gets dismissed. If your case is dismissed, there's one other thing you have to wait for. You've got to wait for the statute of limitations to run. Once your case is dismissed and the statute of limitations is run, which is usually two or three years in most cases, then you'd be eligible for an expunction. Another common way is if you successfully completed a pret-trial diversion program, you'll be eligible and as soon as you complete that program you're eligible for the expunction. You don't have to wait for the statute of limitations in that case. And the other way is if you win a trial, if your case actually goes to trial and if you're found not guilty, then you're immediately eligible for an expunction and you don't have to pay any fees. So most situations you're going to have to pay filing fees in order to move for that expunction. But if you win a trial you don't have to pay any filing fees and there's a kind of a quick way to get that taken care of in that situation.
Speaker 0:The process for getting an expunction is the first thing we're going to do is file a petition with the court letting them know that you are seeking an expunction and letting them know why you qualify for an expunction. So whether you successfully completed pre-trial diversion or your case is dismissed or whatever, we're going to explain to the court why you qualify for the expunction and when we file that. We're going to file it with the court, but we're also going to get a copy over to the district attorney's office and we're going to get a hearing set on that case. Usually about a month and a half out is about how long it's taking in San Antonio for that hearing date. When that hearing date comes up usually about a week beforehand we will get a copy or an email from the district attorney's office letting us know whether or not they are agreeing with the expunction. In almost all situations they're going to agree to it because before we file anything we're going to make sure that you do qualify and the DA's office is basically just kind of double-checking our work making sure that you do qualify for that. And if DA's office is basically just kind of double checking our work making sure that you do qualify for that, and if you do, then they're most likely going to tell us that they're agreeing to the expunction, we will send them over an order that they will sign off on. I'll sign off on it and then I'll take it up to the judge for the judge to sign off on it also. Once the judge signs off on it.
Speaker 0:A copy of that order goes out to every government agency that has any record of your arrest, telling them to destroy their records. So this part of the process can take a little while because there are some agencies that have a little bit of a backlog. I know the Sheriff's Department and the District Clerk. Both have a pretty significant backlog and the district clerk both have a pretty significant backlog. So it's taking them a few months to actually follow through and destroy any records that they have of your arrest.
Speaker 0:So it's important to make sure that you're not waiting until the last minute. You're not waiting until you're actually looking for a job to move forward and look for an expunction. This is something you want to do as soon as you're eligible, so that when you do look for a job or when you do want to make sure that this isn't showing up on a background check that it's already taken care of. There are a couple of things that an expunction won't take care of. We will notice the FBI and have the expunction serve to the FBI, but an expunction is really a function of state law and ultimately, right now, the federal government is ignoring expunctions essentially. So if you have any sort of matter that's related to the federal government where they're going to be doing a background check on you. So if it's military, if it's immigration, if it's anything like that, they're still going to be able to see this, even after you've got the expunction. So it's important to make sure that if you are filling out any paperwork that you probably still want to disclose it and just disclose also that you received an expunction. Unfortunately, right now it's not going to make that go away. The other thing it's not going to make go away is if there was anything that was in the media or something like that in the newsroom. The other thing that it's not going to make go away is if there was anything in the media, If your trial was in the newspaper or on TV or reported anywhere online, then that information is still going to be there. We can't go back and make them take it out of the newspaper or anything like that. Unfortunately, that stuff is still going to be there.
Speaker 0:The other way to get your record cleaned up is through an order of non-disclosure or, as most people refer to it, getting your record sealed, and this is a little bit different from an expunction. The main difference in what it actually does is, again, it's going to be an order from the court that goes out to all of those government agencies that have any record of your arrest. But instead of that order telling them that they need to destroy those records, like in an expunction, it's going to tell them that they can't give those records out to most people doing background checks on you. So there are still some agencies that are still going to be able to see it, but if you're just like getting a job with a private employer or, you know, getting housing or something like that, it's not going to show up on most of those. In most situations it's going to do essentially the same things that an expunction does it's going to keep it from showing up on most background checks and this also gives you the ability to deny ever having been arrested for this, and so it's going to keep it from showing up on those background checks and you don't have to volunteer the information. So for most situations, this is going to be essentially just as good as an expunction.
Speaker 0:For most people, there are two ways that you will be eligible for an order of nondisclosure or to get your record sealed. The first and the most common one of those is if you ended up taking a deal and got deferred adjudication on your case, ended up taking a deal and got deferred adjudication on your case, then once you successfully complete deferred adjudication, you should be eligible to get your record sealed. On some cases, if it's a felony or certain types of misdemeanors, like an assault case, then you're going to have to wait for a certain waiting period to go through before you'll be eligible, but eventually in most cases you will be eligible. The main exception to this through before you'll be eligible, but eventually in most cases you will be eligible. The main exception to this is if you had a family violence case and you ended up on deferred adjudication, you will not be able to get your record cleaned up after that.
Speaker 0:If the judge made an affirmative finding of family violence, If you worked out a deal where there was no affirmative family violence, then you probably will be able to get your record cleaned up. But if there was that finding a family violence, then you're not going to be able to get your record cleaned up, even though it was deferred adjudication. The other type of situation is that there are some cases, like a misdemeanor, DWI where even if you did get a conviction, then you will still be eligible to get your record sealed through that order of non-disclosure. The other situation where you'll be able to get your record sealed is if you got a conviction for a misdemeanor, like a DWI and some other misdemeanors, you may still be able to get your record sealed. It's going to depend on a few more factors and it gets a little complicated, but if you have any questions about whether or not you are eligible, feel free to give us a call and we can help figure out whether or not you can get your record cleaned up, either through an order of nondisclosure or through an expunction.
Speaker 0:The process on this is a little bit different. Instead of filing a petition in the district court and it being like a civil case, Instead of filing a petition in the district court and it being like a civil case like on an expunction, on an order of nondisclosure we're just filing it into the same case that we're trying to get sealed and so it's going to go in front of the same judge, but other than that it's going to be pretty similar. We're going to file that motion with the court, we're going to get a copy of that over to the DA's office and if they agree that you do qualify for getting your record cleaned up, then they're going to agree to that, and then we're going to take that to the judge for the judge to sign off on, and, again, that copy goes out to all of those same government agencies, telling them not to give that information out to most people doing background checks on you. What it won't cover, though, is all of those government agencies, again, are going to have those copies. So the police department, the DA's office, the court, the clerk all of them are still going to have those copies of any documents they had related to your arrest or related to your charge, so they're still going to be able to see that. So if you get pulled over by the police and they're running your license when they do that, they're going to be able to see everything that you were arrested and charged with before, so it's still going to show up there. If you ever charge with something in the future, the DA's office is still going to be able to see that old charge, and they'll be able to use that when deciding what kind of offer to make on any new cases If you're trying to get licensed as an insurance agent, a nurse, a doctor, a lawyer, anything like that then those licensing agencies are still going to be able to see it.
Speaker 0:Same with a bank If you go to work for a bank and they do a background check on you, they're going to be able to see it, and so there's a list of people who are still going to be able to see it.
Speaker 0:But most private employers and most people doing background checks for housing and for other reasons are not going to be able to see it.
Speaker 0:So I'd say, about 80% of the time, an order of nondisclosure is just as good as an expunction and so if you do qualify for that because you completed deferred adjudication or you've got a conviction for a misdemeanor, DWI or something like that, you should still move forward with that because in most situations it's going to be just as good as an expunction. I hope all of this information was helpful for you and if you do have any questions about whether or not you qualify to clean up your record or the process, or if you'd like to move forward with that, give us a call at 210-775-0852. Or there's a link in the show notes where you can schedule a consultation with us. We'd be happy to answer any questions that you have and again, to kind of help you evaluate your case to see if you are eligible to get your record cleaned up and to see if it makes sense for you to go ahead and go forward with that. I hope that you have a great day. If you do have any questions, just feel free to give us a call.