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Arrested, Then Cleared? Former Judge Ned Turnbull Explains How To Get Your Record Expunged.

According to E.R. “Ned” Turnbull, the problem is pretty simple: an arrest creates a record the moment it happens. A dismissal does not automatically erase it. Unfortunately, the solution isn’t always so simple.

Cases that ended in a dismissal, a grand jury no-bill, or an outright acquittal can still leave behind an arrest entry with a number of law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Public Safety, the National Crime Information Center, a file at the arresting agency, and a docket entry at the courthouse. Those entries feed the commercial background-check databases that employers, landlords, and licensing boards buy from.

This means even years after a case closes in a defendant’s favor, the arrest keeps showing up. The remedy for this is expunction, but getting one isn’t always simple.

Ned Turnbull: a judge, a prosecutor, and then a defense lawyer

E.R. “Ned” Turnbull has held three jobs in criminal courtrooms. He served as a State District Court Judge. Before that, he served as a Chief Prosecutor. For more than 25 years, he has practiced criminal law, and he has carried more than 200 felony jury trials to verdict.

Today he leads Turnbull Legal Group, which maintains a Conroe office and represents clients across Montgomery, Harris, Brazos, and Galveston Counties, as well as counties throughout the State of Texas. The firm’s work runs from DWI to Capital Murder, through record clearing and personal injury — but Turnbull says the questions arriving most often lately are about old records.

What an expunction does, and how it differs from sealing

Texas offers two different remedies to the problem.

An expunction under Chapter 55A orders the deletion or return of the records. Once the order is final, the statute prohibits the release, maintenance, dissemination, or use of the expunged files for any purpose, and the person arrested may lawfully deny that the arrest occurred at all.

An order of nondisclosure under Chapter 411 is narrower. It seals the record from public view (which means employers and landlords running standard background checks will not see it), but law enforcement, prosecutors, and certain licensing authorities retain access.

Nondisclosure covers a broader range of outcomes than expunction, including many deferred adjudications that expunction cannot touch.

The practical rule of thumb is this: expunction is for cases the system effectively conceded. Nondisclosure is for cases that resolved without a conviction, in which the defendant accepted supervision.

Do you qualify for an expunction in Texas?

A person generally qualifies if one or more of the following applies, and if there was no court-ordered community supervision for the offense other than for a Class C misdemeanor:

• Acquittal at trial. You were tried and acquitted by the trial court. There is no waiting period, and the statute directs the trial court to advise you of the right to expunction on acquittal.
• Arrest with no charge filed. You were arrested, but no indictment or information was ever presented. Waiting periods run from the date of arrest: 180 days for a Class C misdemeanor, one year for a Class A or B misdemeanor, and three years for a felony.
• Prosecutor certification. If the prosecutor certifies that the arrest records are not needed for any criminal investigation or prosecution, the waiting period drops away entirely.
• Dismissal for specified reasons. An indictment or information that was dismissed or quashed because of mistake, false information, absence of probable cause, or because the charging instrument was void.
• Specialty court and pretrial diversion. Successful completion of a veterans treatment court program, a mental health court program, or a pretrial intervention program, where the case was dismissed as a result, and there was an agreement with the State for expunction.
• Expired statute of limitations. If prosecution is no longer possible because the limitations period has run, the arrest becomes eligible.
• Pardon. A conviction followed by a pardon, or by relief granted on actual-innocence grounds.

The petition itself is filed in a district court in the county of arrest or the county where the offense allegedly occurred. The court sets a hearing no earlier than 30 days after filing and gives notice to every agency named in the petition.

Can you get a DWI expunged in Texas?

Yes. DWI is the charge Montgomery County residents ask about most, and it carries two big complications.

The first is the driver’s license. A DWI arrest triggers a separate civil Administrative License Revocation proceeding, and that record follows its own rules. Clearing the criminal side of a DWI does not automatically clear the driving side.

The second is that DWI probation is not expungeable at all — the remedy is nondisclosure. But nondisclosure is unavailable if the offense is not your first DWI, involves any aggravating factors, or involves a collision with another person. A good Conroe DWI lawyer can tell you within a phone call which of these tracks, if any, is open.

Beyond record clearing: Turnbull Legal Group for all of your criminal defense needs

Record clearing is just one part of the practice. The firm handles most criminal matters from Capital Murder to DWI, and felony criminal defense across the region, including work through its Houston, Bryan, and Conroe offices, and maintains a growing personal injury practice. Ned Turnbull’s trial record — more than 200 felony jury trials, with death penalty qualification — is the same asset in an injury case as in a criminal one: the other side knows he’s ready to take a case to a jury trial.

Turnbull Legal Group can be reached at (832) 314-3232, or you can contact them online. Consultations are free. Anyone wanting to know whether an old arrest can be cleared can reach out to them to determine their options. Eligibility usually comes down to four facts: what the arrest was for, how the case ended, when it happened, and whether there have been other arrests since.

This article is provided for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Expunction and nondisclosure eligibility depends on the specific facts and disposition of an individual case, and statutory requirements change. Anyone considering a petition should consult a licensed Texas attorney about their own circumstances. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.