Sealing a criminal record

Tell him to stop smoking weed and start looking for a job at Jack in the Box.

 

if he was a minor when it happened it should be sealed without filing any papers.

I don't know about if he was older when it happened.

 

I'd say you don't need an attorney to file the paperwork, although he could do it all for you and increases the probability of it being successfully sealed. You can do it all by yourself though.

Contact the criminal office of the Clerk of the Court and request a certified copy of the Judgment Order of Conviction, and the forms to get the conviction sealed. The Clerk will tell him which forms to fill out and to come back to the Clerk's office to file them and set up your appointment to see the judge.

The judge can still refuse to seal your record for pretty much whatever reason, it is your burden to prove that you have rehabilitated, or otherwise changed, since you committed the crime. This is where an attorney can help. It is by no means necessary though.

 

From a random District Attorney website:

http://dao-web.dao.hctx.net/ie/DADJ/FAQs.htm

Q. Are deferred adjudication records public?

A. Yes. Although there is a common misconception that deferred adjudication records are removed from a defendant's criminal history upon successful conclusion of the community supervision (probation) period, the law does not provide for automatic expunction of deferred adjudication records.

Accordingly, unless there is a court order directing otherwise, records of a prosecution resulting in a deferred adjudication are publicly available in the District Clerk's records and the Justice Information Management System (JIMS) database maintained by Harris County, Texas.

Q. Can deferred adjudication records be made non-public by request?

A. Yes, in some instances. There are two ways that deferred adjudication community supervision records can be made non-public:

(1) Class C deferred adjudications -- By filing an expunction under Article 45.051(e), Code of Criminal Procedure (if the Class C deferred adjudication was imposed in justice court or municipal court); or by filing an expunction under Article 55.01(a)(2), Code of Criminal Procedure (if the Class C deferred adjudication was imposed in county or district court). Expunction is not available for deferred adjudication sentences for Class B, Class A, or felony offenses.

(2) Petition for nondisclosure – Under Section 411.081(d), Government Code, a court can prohibit criminal justice agencies from disclosing to the public criminal history record information related to certain offenses for which the offender was placed on deferred adjudication. There are many offenses, however, for which this procedure is unavailable. Moreover, a defendant may be disqualified if he commits an offense after the deferred adjudication has been completed and before filing the petition. Click here for a link to Section 411.081(d) and here for the link to the 2005 legislation amending the statute.

 

fixed?

 

now that would have been interesting.