8-7 TDCAA Weekly Case Summaries, Ex parte Wolf, discusses a dispostion option described as "Class C special expense". What is a "Class C special expense"?

I believe it is the fee paid as part of a deferred disposition.

Apparently it's a term for a case reduced to a Class C deferred adjudication so that the person can get the case expunged afterwards. I've never heard of it before, but they said in a footnote it's a local term.

I did not read Wolf, but see CCP 45.051(c)for reference to a special expense fee. I think the intent of the fee is to make dismissal alternatives more attractive by providing an offset to the lost fine revenue.

Last time I checked if a defendant pleads to a class "c" in county court for a deferred they can not get an expunction because the provisions of Art 45.051 only apply in justice and municipal courts.

It is the "fine" that is collected at the end of a deferred disposition(why it could not be called deferred adjudication I don't know). The special expense cannot be more than the fine that was imposed.

On September 1 courts will be able to collect that special expense fee at any time before the deferred expires.

Additionally, deferred disposition (with some exceptions) is available to county courts hearing these cases de novo. CCP art. 42.111.

[This message was edited by Michaux on 08-11-09 at .]

Art. 42.111; learn something new every day. But would 42.111 apply in a county court case where a Class A or B is reduced to a C. As I read the 42.111 it only applies when the case has been appealed from the justice or municipal to the county court.

I think you are right. Its limited to fine only appeals to county court.

quote:

---

Originally posted by John Greenwood:
Last time I checked if a defendant pleads to a class "c" in county court for a deferred they can not get an expunction because the provisions of Art 45.051 only apply in justice and municipal courts.

---

Chapter 45 doesn't apply, but standard Chapter 55 does. There used to be a loophole so that you couldn't get an expunction for county court Class Cs because you were serving community supervision under 42.12. But they closed that loophole up a few years ago, and all Class C deferreds are eligible for expunction. (No felony indictment, SOL expired -- when it does -- and not pending, no conviction, and no probation except for a Class C misdemeanor.)