Expungements and
Non-Disclosure Orders
Having a criminal charge on your record can be devastating. It can make finding employment, renting an apartment, or getting admitted to school all the more difficult. It can also affect your social standing. However, you may be entitled to an erasure of your criminal record — and Austin-based expungements attorney Chris Perri can help.
What is an expungement?
An expungement, also commonly referred to as an expunction, is one of the most powerful procedures in criminal law. In effect, it erases all records of a criminal charge and allows a defendant to deny that the arrest ever occurred.
However, keep in mind that defendants are eligible to expunge the records of their arrest only if their case resulted in a dismissal or acquittal. If you received a criminal conviction, you are not eligible for an expungement, unless you get the conviction overturned through an appeal or writ. Unlike most defense firms in Texas, Chris Perri Law has extensive experience filing these post-conviction relief options as well.
In the context of multiple charges, expungement law is quite complex, so you need an experienced expunction attorney in Austin like Chris Perri to identify which cases are eligible to be expunged. Chris Perri Law has won arguments for expungements in the most complex of circumstances and is prepared to litigate issues before trial courts and, if necessary, appeal rulings all the way to the Texas Supreme Court.
What is a
non-disclosure order?
In many criminal cases, a common outcome is “deferred adjudication.” In this type of proceeding, a defendant pleads guilty, but the court defers a guilty finding and orders the defendant to complete a specified term of probation—also known as “community supervision.” After a defendant successfully completes their probation, they can petition for an order of nondisclosure, which seals records of the offense from the general public.
Also, the law has recently changed to allow people to obtain a nondisclosure order if they've only been convicted of one qualifying misdemeanor offense, including DWI, and they have no other offenses on their record. Experienced non-disclosure attorney Chris Perri can help you determine if you're eligible under this new law.
When it comes to Texas expungement law, Chris Perri is at the forefront.
Chris Perri is at the forefront of expunction litigation and is one of the top legal minds when it comes to Texas expungement law. He was the lead attorney on a case that significantly altered expunction law and has led seminars educating other criminal defense attorneys in Austin on how to most effectively expunge their clients’ records.
For over many years, Chris Perri served as a founding and supervising attorney for the University of Texas School of Law's Expunction Project, a pro bono program that helps hundreds of poor people in the Travis County community obtain expunctions each year. Based on these efforts, Chris Perri received the prestigious Excellence in Public Interest Award (EPIA) from Texas Law Fellowships in 2016. He has also been selected to the Texas Super Lawyers list and has earned other distinctions as well.
If you have a criminal record, you want one of the best expunction lawyers in Texas on your side, and that’s Chris Perri. It’s important to find out which offenses are eligible for expunctions and/or nondisclosure orders. Serving Travis County, Hays County, Williamson County, and throughout Texas, Chris Perri Law can review your criminal record and advise you about your rights to these powerful procedural tools.
For a free consultation on your case, call Chris Perri Law at (512) 269-0260 today.
