Austin Criminal Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Jamie Spencer Law Firm : DWI, DUI, Drug Possession : Serving Georgetown, Round Rock, San Marcos, Travis, Williamson, and Hays County, Texas

Question: 14 years ago I received a deferred adjudication for a misdemeanor.

Upon completion of my one year deferred adjudication, the case was disposed/dismissed. Because I did deferred adjudication, this means I do not have a conviction on my record. And, I'm in the process of submitting a non-disclosure of criminal records, however it has not been filed yet.

I am also in the process of completing a criminal background check for a future employer and I want to answer the questions truthfully to the question. They will be doing a background check for convictions (State or county).

There are 2 questions I must answer:

1. Have you ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor? To which I feel I can truthfully say "No" since I was not convicted.

2. Have you ever served time, been on probation, or currently serving a deferred adjudication? To which I also believe I can answer "No" since I did not serve time, I was not on probation as that term is defined, and I am not currently on a deferred adjudication sentence.

Because I'm worried about my background check results, I've run 3 separate checks, all which came back with nothing for convictions or anything else. I've had a police officer friend run my information through the county system where I was arrested and held, and they have no history of me being processed in the system.

Please advise if my answers to the above 2 questions are accurate.  Obviously, if the question "Have you ever been arrested" was asked, I'd have to answer "Yes". 

I don't know if I should voluntarily offer the information that I was on deferred adjudication 14 years ago, since that was not specifically asked.  They may very well find an arrest record, but that was not asked and so I'm confused.

Answer: Some of this doesn’t actually lend itself to an easy answer, but I’m gonna give it a shot anyway.

For Question #1, “Have you ever been convicted of a Felony or Misdemeanor?” the answer is easy: No. Successful completion of deferred adjudication in Texas means you have not been convicted.

It’s Question #2 that becomes problematic. The part of the question that reads “been on probation, or currently serving a deferred adjudication” may imply that the employer thinks deferred adjudication is not probation. You yourself have characterized it as not probation “as that term is defined”. 

I think this is inaccurate – defendants on deferred probation in Texas are indeed covered by Article 42.12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure – the community supervision statute. (We used to formally call it probation; now it’s “community supervision”.)

And you checked in with a probation officer once a month, the same way that folks convicted and put on probation do. You were subject to random UA’s, and assigned a minimum of 24 hours of community service. You were on probation, as that term is defined. You just weren’t convicted.

The worst case scenario here is that you answer the question in the way that you believe is honest; but the prospective employer finds out about the deferred, and thinks you were intentionally lying.

Perhaps you can call the Human Resources department, if it’s a big enough company to have one, and anonymously ask how someone in your situation should answer the question.

Finally, I’m glad to see that you are applying for the Motion for Non-Disclosure, because this is the long term solution for this problem. Eventually, when that is granted, non-governmental employers won’t have access to see that you were arrested, and you won’t have to deal with this tricky situation anymore.

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There’s a lot of confusion about the terms “deferred disposition” and “deferred adjudication” in Texas.

Deferred adjudication is a type of actual probation, for a Class B misdemeanor or higher charge, where the judge says (in legalese), “Based on your plea of No Contest or Guilty, I could find you guilty, but I’m not going to. I’m going to place you on probation, and if you jump through the hoops of probation, at the end of the case you will never be found guilty of the charge.”

To defer – to put off, or postpone. To adjudicate – in the criminal context it means to find you guilty. So when the judge places a defendant on deferred adjudication, he is postponing finding the person guilty, and will never find them guilty, if they successfully complete the terms of probation.

In Texas, that means a real, formal probation with a monthly visit to a probation officer, minimum community service hours, urinalysis for drugs and alcohol, fines, court costs and $62 per month probation fees.

Again, the major distinction here is that this is only for Class B and Class A misdemeanors, and felony charges in Texas. It’s not for Class C, that is, traffic ticket level offenses.

Deferred adjudications are not expungeable, but most are eligible for Motions of Non-Disclosure.

Deferred disposition is only for Class C charges, and is not a formal reporting probation. The theory is the same – that is, if you pay a (smaller) fine, usually take a class, and stay out of trouble, at the end of the deferral period you are not convicted of the offense. 

There is no probation officer, or monthly meeting. I suppose you could say that you are on your own probation, but that’s it. Some clerk will pull your file at the end of the term, check to see that monies are paid, certificates for classes are turned in, and run a criminal background check to see that you did indeed stay out of trouble. Then the case is dismissed.

For Class C Assaults, Theft, Public Intoxication, Minor in Possession and similar non-traffic offenses, this is the same as agreeing to take defensive driving, pay a small fine, and not pick up any more traffic tickets to get a speeding ticket dismissed.

In a successfully completed deferred disposition, you are specifically by statute entitled to seek an expunction, not just the less complete sealing of records.

Part of this confusion is perpetuated by Class C prosecutors, and even some Municipal Court judges, who continually refer to this process as “deferred adjudication”. In fact, the two are very different.

[See also, Deferred Prosecution Agreements.]

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The answer: forever, if you don’t affirmatively do anything about it.

One of my new found pleasures in starting this blog is that I am starting to get emails from folks who find the site on the internet, and email me various questions. This one came from a guy in El Paso, who had completed Deferred Adjudication probation almost ten years ago, and was surprised that a prospective employer asked him why he had not admitted to being arrested for marijuana possession.

Why was he surprised? Well, the criminal defense lawyer he hired hadn’t fully explained the consequences of his accepting a plea bargain of deferred probation for his marijuana arrest. The lawyer had simply told him, “It will be dismissed and off your record”.

I hear this all the time from clients.  Probably at least once a week.

Well, here’s the bad news. You had a crummy lawyer, one that in my opinion committed malpractice by not fully advising you of the consequences of your plea. The lawyer wasn’t necessarily bad for advising you to take the plea; it very well may have been the best option available. But he should have let you know all the repercussions so you would have made a truly informed decision.

Yes, if you successfully complete a deferred probation in Texas, it’s “technically” true that the case is “dismissed” at the end of the probationary period, and you were never convicted. But that does not mean that it’s “off your record”, at least in the sense that the general public understands that phrase.

What clients are (rightfully) concerned about it this: “Will anyone ever be able to find out that I was arrested for this offense?” Because, let’s face it, when future employers (or family, friends, nosy neighbors, whoever) find out that you’ve been arrested, they assume that you are guilty. Where there’s smoke there’s fire, right?

Fortunately, the law in Texas now allows probationers who complete deferred adjudication to apply for a Motion for Non-Disclosure. While it’s not as good as an Expunction, which complete erases the arrest from your record, it’s still a good option. Basically, Motions for Non-Disclosure seal your criminal history in a way that allows the State to keep the record (and therefore knows about it if you are ever rearrested), but is prohibited from disseminating the information to the public.

One last thing: obviously, since I practice in Austin, I wasn’t able to represent the guy who emailed me from El Paso. What I did do, however, was spend about ten minutes on the phone with him, to explain the situation to him. As a member of Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association, I have a list of qualified attorneys all over the state, and I was able to refer him to someone that I trust will handle his Motion for Non-Disclosure expeditiously, and at a fair price.

Please, if you are arrested somewhere in Texas outside of Austin, and stumble across this blog while “researching Texas criminal law”, feel free to call me or email me and I will be more than happy to either answer your question completely, or perhaps I’ll be able to refer you to a qualified attorney in your area that will be able to help you.

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