Aaronson Law Firm Criminal Expungement Lawyer in El Paso, Texas

The podcast features an interview with Michael Aaronson, an attorney with the Aaronson Law Firm based in El Paso, Texas. The primary focus of the discussion is the legal process of criminal expungements and orders of non-disclosure. Aronson explains the vital importance of clearing one’s criminal record in the modern era, noting that background checks are standard procedure for employment, apartment rentals, and credit reports. With the rise of technology making personal data easily accessible, Aaronson argues that individuals with past criminal episodes should utilize these legal tools to prevent past mistakes from hindering their future opportunities.

Expungements vs. Orders of Non-Disclosure Aaronson provides a clear distinction between the two primary methods of clearing a record in Texas:

1. Expunction: Described as the "great deal" and the optimal outcome, an expunction results in the total erasure of all records associated with an arrest and case. This includes records held by the police, the courts, and the Sheriff's department. Once an criminal expungment is granted, the individual is legally permitted to deny that the criminal event ever occurred. It allows for the destruction of records and prohibits their release.
2. Order of Non-Disclosure: Aaronson describes this as the "next best thing" to an expunction. While it does not result in the destruction of records, it effectively seals them from the general public. However, Aaronson notes that there are numerous exceptions to who can view these sealed records. For example, state licensing agencies (such as those governing body or the Bar Association) retain access to these records even after an order of non-disclosure is granted.

If both elements are present, an expunction is generally impossible. Consequently, Aaronson stresses the importance of legal strategy during the initial criminal case. He advises that attorneys must do everything possible to prevent a case from resulting in a conviction to preserve the client's future right to an expunction.

Legal Strategies and Deferred Adjudication To avoid convictions, Aaronson discusses several legal avenues. These include "deferred adjudication," where the litigation of the crime is delayed or sidetracked, and various plea agreements. He mentions that for offenses like DWI, it is sometimes possible to negotiate with the District Attorney (DA) to place the client in a program involving internet classes or pre-trial diversion. If successful, these programs can sometimes allow for an immediate expunction without the standard waiting periods.

Aaronson Law Firm critiques attorneys who fail to explore these options, noting that some lawyers opt for the easiest path to collect their fee rather than investigating creative solutions that protect a young client’s long-term record. He highlights that most DAs are reasonable and open to creative proposals if presented effectively.

Timelines and Process The interview covers the procedural timeline for filing for an expunction. Generally, an individual must wait for the statute of limitations to expire (e.g., two years for a DWI) before applying. However, participation in specific diversion programs can sometimes accelerate this to be immediate. Aronson clarifies that there is no upper time limit on applying; a client can request an expunction 20 years after the fact, provided they are legally entitled to it.

Aaronson Law Firm
Phone 915-533-0110
Address 7362 Remcon Cir, El Paso, Texas 79912
Website: https://aaronsonlawtx.com/

Transcript

unknown 0:00

All right.

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I'm here with Michael Aronson again of the Aronson Law Firm. Just covering a lot of areas of the law that you cover. So I just want to talk to you about criminal expunctions and what that entails, how somebody can get that taken care of. So yeah, can you kind of just give me a description of it? Like when I let's say I'm calling you as a client and I have a criminal record from my past, and it's it's in the way of me trying to get a job that I really want.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Yeah. So uh yeah, and expunctions are a great deal. And along with expunctions go uh what is known as orders of non-disclosure. So basically, what an expunction is, is it is a way for people who have been arrested to get all the records of their arrest, all the records of their case, anything and everything having to do with that criminal event erased off of their records totally, forever. It's done. You know. It even allows that person to legally, I mean, legally, they can deny that this thing, this criminal episode, even ever happened. Along the same lines is what we call an order of non-disclosure. Basically, what that is, that's when a person is able to seal their records. The seal, the sealing of the record comes about after you file a petition for requesting an order of non-disclosure. It's the next best thing to an expunction. It's the only other thing next to an expunction, but it's not quite as good as an expunction because it doesn't allow the destruction or prohibition against showing the records, it simply seals the records. Basically, what it does is it seals the records from the public's view. Now, there's a ton of exceptions to the uh non-disclosure statute. One of them says that although members of the general public can't get it, if you have, if you operate under a license in the state of Texas, like you're a beauty stylist or bar, on and on and on, you can get those records. But it's still a great deal. Uh again, though not as good as an expunction. Expunctions are important because, and I tell all my clients this, especially, well, most of my clients are pretty young, so but I always tell them look, you know, you're gonna be going out, you're gonna be looking for jobs, you're gonna be renting apartments, you know, people are gonna be running credit reports on you, you know, on and on and on. And, you know, these criminal episodes, the fact that they appear on criminal background checks, it's never gonna help you. You know, it's never gonna help you. So I always still tell my clients, look, if there's any way that you're entitled to an expunction or an order of non-disclosure, just do it. Just do it. And uh it'll help you so much in the future, especially nowadays, because with technology, every day people are able to delve more into other people's lives. And so, you know, it's it's just if you can help it, don't don't be having things pop up on background checks. Anybody can check these and can run background checks, find out you know, what items you you a person has, you know, in their criminal history. And if you can do it, just just seal it or get it expunged. It's a it's a great service and it's a great thing to be able to do.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

That's an amazing tool. Um, especially, you know, maybe you made mistakes when you were younger. What um I'm imagining that not everything can be expunged. What would be something that you cannot expunge?

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Okay, so and people need to understand that one thing that cannot be expunged is a conviction. Basically, in Texas, a conviction is two things. It's a judgment or declaration by a court that you have been found guilty. That happens when either you plead guilty, you pay a fine, or you uh go to a jury trial and the jury says guilty. And number two, it is a punishment. So every time that you have a judgment of conviction, along with a punishment which is necessary, then you have an expunction. People need to realize and do everything possible, do anything you can to keep any criminal event from becoming an expunction. There's ways to do that. Uh one way is for uh one way is called when uh the adjudication or the litigation of the uh of the crime through the criminal justice system is deferred or delayed. That's one way to do it. Another way is to work out various types of plea agreements that will assure that you do not have a conviction. And um, there are great things that ought to be looked into by every attorney in every single criminal case because I find that too many lawyers they don't pay attention to the fact that their clients are young, their clients are going to be needing a clean criminal history check, and they don't care. They'll they'll do whatever they feel like is easiest for them to get their fee and move on to the next case without fully investigating and thoroughly uh uh uh investigating options, all the options.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

That's great. So if somebody calls you, you're gonna explore all the options with that client.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Absolutely, all the time. And I always tell my clients, again, what I think, but more importantly, why I suggest that particular route. And it's important for me more than anything that my clients understand the process almost as well as I do, so that whatever decision they make, it doesn't matter to me, but whatever they whatever decision they choose to make with regards to how they want to resolve their case, as long as they know everything about the pros and cons of every different option, then whatever they want to do is gonna be fine with me.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

That's great. Um I guess uh so as long as they're not convicted of it, like they didn't serve. I guess if you went to jail or prison for something, that's not gonna ever come off your record, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Okay. But if I was I got a DWI and you put me in some kind of program, you know, so there's different ways to do it.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Um sometimes you can deal with the DA to make a deal, like maybe even take some internet classes. Uh sometimes you can get into a program that uh where you never have to actually appear in front of a judge. That that allows for an expunction. Sometimes you can get the adjudication of the of the of the uh process delayed so that you can uh be so kind of like sidetracked, and that also doesn't result in a conviction. There's a lot of different ways to do this, and what many attorneys fail to do is come up and be original and maybe offer the DA something that you would be willing to take to see, hey, Mr. DA, are you okay with this? What do you think? You know, here's why we should do it. You know, what problems, if any, do you have with that, and so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

And most DAs are reasonable?

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Yeah, most of them are, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Um, okay, so I guess I have one more question. So let's just use the DWI as an example. You put them in that they take classes and stuff like that, so it's kind of like a probationary or deferred period, right? How quickly can they apply for uh expunction? Is it immediate? Is there a time frame?

SPEAKER_00 7:46

So that's a really good question, too. So generally, normally speaking, the person has to wait until after the time limit that the state has to charge them passes. Like let's say it's a DWI. So normally you would have to wait two years, but that's not always true. If you get into one of these programs or something like that, that I briefly described earlier, you can do it immediately. It's a great, it's it it's a it's a wonderful tool for people to be able to, you know, to to you know use and get this thing done to where all this is erased off of their record. Uh sometimes in deferred adjudications, there's even the law sets out that there's different waiting periods for different types of offenses depending on what happened. And it's kind of complicated, but yeah, it just it depends on what you're charged with and most importantly the disposition of the case.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Well, that that is a great tool to have.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Yeah, it really, really is a lot of people make a few mistakes when they're young, and you know, this is a great way for the Yeah, everybody makes mistakes, you know, and and um you know it's really nice that people are able to get these expunctions because, like I said, we all make mistakes. This is a way to cure uh one aspect of the mistake that you made.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

So you do criminal expungements in El Paso County. Um is this gonna be Texas-wide or is it?

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Yeah, I guess there like a I if I can't do it personally in another in another county of Texas, then I'll associate an attorney to do it along with me. Most of the time, by the way, um expunctions sometimes are contested. The ultimate decision is up to a judge, but in 90 90, 98% of the expunctions that I handle, they're pretty straightforward, and there's never objections uh where that where somebody's telling the judge that he shouldn't grant the expunction. So we have a really good success rate with that.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Okay, so you say you can the turnaround time is two years or sometimes immediate. Is there a time limit? Could I call you 20 years down the road?

SPEAKER_00 9:57

No, there's and there's not a time limit. You can have it done anytime as long as you're legally entitled under the law, as the law then exists, to get an expunction. And uh, and yeah, you can do it later on, especially with cases that are just simply outright dismissed. Now, uh one question I one one thing I didn't mention is that so the expunctions, the way we do them, uh we get the case, we file the petition, then we have a f a 30, 45-day waiting period because notice is sent to all the agencies that have a record of your arrest, like the DPS, the sheriff, the police, the courts, you know, blah, blah, blah. And so after that, we re uh we request a hearing anytime after, say, 30, 35 days. It's usually set within a month and a half or so. So every court runs their docket differently. Some are sooner, some are later. And then uh again, there we usually don't even have to appear for the hearing when they're not contested, which again, 98-99% of the time, they are not contested. So we have a really good success rate with that.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Yeah, what a great service. I had no idea. So if you're in El Paso or in even the state of Texas and you're hearing this, uh give Michael Aronson a call. It's the Aaronson Law Firm at 7362-REMCONCRECLE, El Paso, Texas, 79912. Uh the phone number is 915-533-0110. And the website is AaronsonTX.com.aronsonlawtx.com. So those are a way to get a hold of them if you have uh some issues with the past uh criminal record. And Michael Aronson's the guy to get it expunged.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Good job.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Thanks, Mike. Thank you.