Defendant has filed a "Petition For NonDisclosure Of Criminal History Record Information". Defendant recieved deferred adjudcation and sucessfully completed his terms of his
probation. An Order was entered dismissing Indictment. I need to know how to respond to Defendant's current Petition. I have never responded to petition such as this, so please forgive if I'm a little "green" in this area. Should I treat this like an Open Records Request, where I have 10 days to respond?

Any insight would be very helpful. Our office database does not contain any responses to such a request.

If you have an example please fell free to fax it to me @ 830-775-0352

Thanks,
Scott Greenbaum
greenbaum@lawyer.com
Office Number 830-775-0505
Fax Number 830-775-0352

Here's a case where somebody filed one of these things. McLendon v. State,2004 WL 1746142
(Tex.App.-Houston [14 Dist.] August 05, 2004, no pet.) (not published) (holding that denial of petition was not appealable).

TEX JUR 3rd Crimial Law § 4313 also talks about these petitions -- discussing Tex. Gov't Code Ann. § 411.081(d), (e) & (g),

Go to the Harris County DA's website they have a great FAQ on Pet for Nondisclosure...you should also read the Nondisclosure statute which is Govt Code Ch 411 (I think...my civil days escape me)...Just in case my civil guys aren't monitoring the criminal posts today you might also post on the civil page...therez lots of help available for you!

If the defendant successfully completed his deferred and is eligible under the statute, simply agree to the petition and sign an agreed order.

Since it sounds like you're dealing with a felony, you should keep in mind the 10 year waiting period from the date of discharge of probation that the petitioner must fulfill before being eligible for nondisclosure. However, since the legislature has passed HB 3093, effective September 1st, the waiting period on felony cases drops down to only 5 years (and 2 years for selected misdemeanors).

Larissa Roeder's article in the May/June 2004 Texas Prosecutor is also a helpful overview:

http://www.tdcaa.com/newsletters/files/May_June%2004%20Prosecutor.pdf

Thanks to everyone for your insight!


Scott