Texas Expunction

Darren Chaker notes that most people are not aware a simple citation (ticket) is construed as an arrest. Atwater v. City of Lago Vista, 533 U.S. 924,121 S. Ct. 2540.  In Texas, as with most states, only a person who was arrested may obtain expunction of his records, because an arrest is a threshold requirement under the expunction statute. Ex parte S.C. (App. 14 Dist. 2009) 305 S.W.3d 258. In T.C.R. v. Bell County District Attorney’sOffice, 305 S.W.3d 661, “as a matter of first impression, a person charged with a felony offense is eligible for expunction, subject to other requirements, where the charging instrument has been dismissed or quashed, and the limitations period for the offense has expired.” Likewise, Texas law expands expunction to include any arrest, thus misdemeanors are included.

Once an arrest is established, the next criteria a Petitioner must meet is to demonstrate the charge was dismissed. Texas expungement, also known as expunction, allows records to be permanently sealed by the court and physically destroyed by the court. It may not be a big issue with most people, however if you seek security clearance, are in a highly scrutinized profession, or simply want to deny being arrested on an employment application then petitioning the court to expunge records is critical.