Need help with record

[jrod117]

Texas

Hi My name is Jarod I'm 17 and I'm looking to join the Marines, however 3 years ago I received a felony on my record. I was charged with assault on a police officer with injury, and it clearly didn't injure him. People at the court the judge included laughed when they saw it. I was given differed adjudication with 24 hours of community service and 1 year of probation which I was released from within 3 weeks. My record was also sealed however the U.S. gov can still see it on a background check, and Since the marines will not take you with a felony and aren't currently giving out waivers for misdemeanors is there a way I can get my record expunged? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[CavemanLawyer]

If this happened in Texas then you would have been charged as a juvenile and there is no such thing as deferred adjudication under Juvenile Texas law. The only deferred option in Texas is deferred prosecution which means that you are never charged to begin with. Since a juvenile cannot be arrested, your "record" would not show any charge at all if you successfully complete a deferred prosecution probation. Since you apparently do have something on your record, albeit sealed, I think you are mistaken about being on deferred.

What sanction level were you given? I assume it was level 3 and that you were in fact adjudicated of your offense. If you aren't sure then you need to request a copy of your judgment from the clerk's office that handles juvenile cases in your county. If you were in fact adjudicated then there is no way to expunge anything. Expunctions are for cases that are outright dismissed or that result in acquittals. The most that can be done with any completed probation case is to have the record sealed and that is done automatically for juveniles anyway if they meet the specified requirements. Sealed records are still visible to governmental agencies though so that is why the military knows about it.

You have very few options to "clean up" your record. You can always petition for a pardon but those are virtually never granted. Other than that all you can do is consult with an attorney that specializes in writs and have them see if there was anything improperly done in your case.