Legislative Update: The 82nd Texas Legislature And Criminal Law

The 82nd Texas Legislature passed House Bill and Senate Bill 462 which now make it easier for those that have arrest records to expunge his or her criminal record. This legislation affects the waiting period that a person must wait in order for a case to be dismissed. Before this legislation, a criminal defendant that had a case dismissed was required to wait the statute of limitations of the underlying offense in order to get his or her case expunged.

The problem with this law was obvious: for some felony offenses the statutory waiting period was lenghty. Thus, if murder charges were filed against you, but the case was dismissed then you could never get the arrest expunged. However, these bills now elimitate the statute of limitations waiting period for DISMISSED cases.

Here are the waiting periods. For a Class C Misdemeanor the waiting period is six months. A Class A and B Misdemeanors is now one year; the waiting period is three years for felony offenses. There is not a waiting period if the prosecutor certified that the arrest records and filed are not need for any outstanding criminal investigation.

If you have been charged with theft or a internet crime, contact a Plano criminal defense lawyer today.