Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in Texas

Expungments for Sex offenders

I have been told it is not possible to get a criminal record expunged for someone who has been convicted of a sexual offence. A friend of mine was convicted of sexual assault of a child because he had consensual sex with his girlfriend who at the time under texas laws was not of age to consent. He served a three year sentance and has been out for almost a year. I would like to know what are our chances of getting his criminal record expunged, and if there is a chance what is the process of doing this? Thanks.


Asked on 9/09/05, 4:42 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Laura D. Heard Law Office of Laura D. Heard

Re: Expungments for Sex offenders

Unfortunately, expungment is probably not possible in your case. The only possibility might be if you first received a pardon from the governor, and even then expungment might not be granted. Expungment is generally used for juvenile offenses or for cases where there was never a true conviction and no probation was served. Examples would be where a case was dismissed for insufficient evidence or the party was acquitted at trial. The more recent development of a "nondisclosure order" is a different type of order, but it is used for persons who received deferred adjudication and had their case dismissed without a conviction. You have two strikes against you in that (1) it was a sex offense, and (2) you were actually convicted. I'm sorry I can't help you under those facts.

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Answered on 9/10/05, 4:18 am


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