Doesn’t Deferred Adjudication mean the case will be dismissed?

There is no short answer to this as before you accept a deferred adjudication, you have to plead guilty or nolo contendere (no contest) to the charges brought against you. Then you have to complete the probationary period with all the restrictions and instructions imposed by the court. Only then will the case be dismissed, but the arrest and the deferred adjudication will still show on your criminal record although it will not show as a conviction.

It is possible to request a petition for non-disclosure and a good Houston deferred adjudication lawyer will be able to help you with this. What this does is effectively close your file to private entities so that prospective employers, apartment complexes, and other such people do not know about the arrest and adjudication.

The truth is though that to reach a successful conclusion to a deferred adjudication you should have already looked to hiring a deferred adjudication lawyer, Houston has very explicit laws about these things and if you were to plead guilty to a serious act, then that guilt will stay with you if you do not succeed in fulfilling all your obligations of the deferred adjudication. You may also get a harsher punishment than you would have originally expected.

In Texas you need a good lawyer who has trained and worked in Texas for a long time as Texas rules are specific and these may differ from other states. It is important to understand all the consequences that taking a deferred adjudication may lead to before you blindly just plead guilty.

Two types of cases that may possibly be chosen for deferred adjudication are drugs related cases and domestic violence. If you are accused of a drugs related offence, then your driving licence will be suspended for 180 days if you are convicted. A deferred adjudication would postpone this from happening and only if you successfully completed your probationary period would the case be dismissed. However, you may still be required to attend a drug awareness course as part of your probation.

If you have been accused of domestic violence a good lawyer can get to know you and what made you snap, then by their personal experience they can advise you whether they think you will be able to cope with the imposed restrictions and courses, or if you are highly likely to not be able to conform to the ridged structure imposed on you, which means you would be better off fighting the case to get the charge reduced so that, should you then accept the deferred adjudication and fail you will still only get a lesser sentence than it would have been if you had just pleaded guilty and taken the deferred adjudication.

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