Sealed Records: Orders of Non-Disclosure
Persons who successfully completed deferred adjudication probation* may now "in the best interests of justice" obtain an "order of nondisclosure" (ND). This new "order" is a great way to limit your exposure of any past criminal infractions.
As you know, once a person is arrested and charged with a crime by the police, those records are permanently available for public disclosure and distribution. In the past, the only way to prevent public disclosure of criminal records was to seek an expunction.
The problem was (& still is) that the law only permits an expunction under certain circumstances. For example, most people who pled to deferred adjudication probation were not eligible for expunction so the arrest records were still available for public knowledge and disclosure.
Effective September 1, 2003, a solution to this problem was created. There is a new law that allows a person who successfully completes a deferred adjudication to request an ND from the court.
If granted, an ND prohibits criminal justice agencies from disclosing records to the public related to that arrest and charge.* But – be warned that if your particular offense calls for a waiting period, you may lose your eligibility for this “order” if you receive a subsequent conviction or deferred adjudication (except traffic violations).
Once your ND is signed, the Texas Department of Public Safety is required to send a copy of the order to all state and federal law enforcement agencies that have criminal records subject to the order. These records are exempt from disclosure under the Public Information Act. An ND also allows you to deny the occurrence of that arrest and prosecution unless the records are being used in subsequent criminal proceedings.
Persons who violate this "order" will be subject to civil sanctions by the Attorney General’s Office – a first offense will generate a warning; subsequent violations will generate a civil penalty of $500 each.
*Eligibility requirements & timetables:
- Immediate eligibility - fine only traffic offenses & all other misdemeanors except...
- 5 yr. waiting period - unlawful restraint, public lewdness, indecent exposure, assault, deadly conduct, terroristic threat, and bigamy; disorderly conduct, harassment; or U.C.W.
- 10 yr. Waiting period - all felonies except: sex offenses, murder, offenses for family violence, stalking, injury to a child; child endangerment; any protective order violation - these are ineligible
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