Expert: Robin Sexton - 7/29/2009

Question
My 18  year daughter was cited for "the sale of alcohol to a minor" during a sting conducted by the TABC. She retained the services of a bail bondsman over the course of the next week, and turned herself in, and went through the formal arrest procedures. 6 weeks later she appeared in court with the assistant D.A. and pled guilty to the charge and was fined $400.00 plus court costs. Now she has a conviction on her record, and cannot seem to find a job willing to hire her, ANYWHERE. My question is, Will she be eligible, after a specific amount of time, to have this Class A misdemeanor, expunged or hidden by a order of non disclosure? Or will she have to be pay the price of this mistake for the rest of her life ? We live in the State of Texas.

Answer
Roxann,  
Sorry about your daughters problem. If your daughter received a delayed disposition, that would ordinarily mean that (assuming she successfully completed his probation) she has no criminal conviction from the incident. Your daughter may want to check her criminal record through the Texas Department of Public Safety, so she knows exactly what is on it. A person may petition a court for an order of nondisclosure five years after the discharge and dismissal of enumerated misdemeanor offenses and ten years after the discharge and dismissal of felony offenses for which the person was placed on deferred adjudication and successfully completed the required community supervision [Tex. Gov't. Code 411.081(d)(1)(2) ]
I am surprised your daughter is having such problem. Most employers never bother to check and something so minor usually isn't a big turn off.  Unless she is trying to work in the Alcohol business.


Hope this helped

Robin