Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

When I was 18 and pregnant, the father of my child stole $6000 from my step-grandmother. When they arrested him for it they were also arresting him for some organized crime charges(at this point I had moved to another state and was no longer with him) so they pinned the lesser theft charge on me. I turned myself in on the warrant and I even told them I didnt steal the money, but since we had a joint checking account my attorney said a jury would find me guilty so I told the judge that I was guilty only in the fact that I benefited from the use of the money. I couldnt afford the fines, fees, and restitution on top of daycare, rent, and car payment being a single parent so i stopped paying in 2000, they filed a motion for adjudication of guilt in march of 2000. this all occurred in texas but I currently live in south carolina. I understand how unlikely it is that i will be extradited, but this has hindered my career several times since the warrant shows up on a background check. Can you offer me any advice, or even give me a rough estimate of how much money it would take to fight this or just get it put behind me? I have since married and have two more children, and have not done anything worse than receive a speeding ticket since then. I am now 32 years old and haunted by something I didnt do almost 15 years ago...please help


Asked on 12/02/10, 8:02 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Cynthia Henley Cynthia Henley, Lawyer

As I understand your question, you had a misdemeanor offense of theft for which you got deferred adjudication probation. Depending on where the deferred was, you might (big MIGHT) be able to hire a lawyer to help you get it taken care of. Many counties are all about the money if the offense is not violent and relatively small. Hire a lawyer in the county in which the case is still pending and see if they can approach the probation department and prosecutor to make a deal to have you pay off all your outstanding fees and fines and then terminate your probation unsatisfactorily. You will not really like having that on your record but it is better than the alternative of having a pending case on your record. I have seen this done in Orange County, and suspect in this economy if you would pay up, they might just get rid of the case (which they have probably not thought about for at least 14 years.)

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Answered on 2/18/11, 6:41 pm


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