TexasCHLforum.com

doolyd wrote:Does any one know if this would happen to exponged records. I have a similiar problem, although when I talked to my attorney he said exponged meant any record of it is deleted from every where it went. I have a fear it will come up.
Never went to court as the case was dismissed and charges dropped, record exponged.

Mark G26 wrote:The blue sheet with your application says to send in court papers IF you have them. They do not reguire them but like to have them if you have them. This was confirmed by email from CHL rep III. They have all your arrest and disposition on computer if they were anytime in recent history. Look and the blue sheet again that came with your application. I realize the yellow app says to send the court papers in bold.....

govnor wrote:I'm posting this for anyone that might have been arrested and is considering getting a CHL. There is a bit more involved than for the honest folk that have never been to jail. Of course if you have a felony conviction you are out, but a class A misdemeanor is acceptable if it's over five years old.

When I was 19 (now 36) I was arrested while cruising Cooper street in Arlington. I'm sure you older dudes remember cruising and the cops always hanging around looking for any excuse to hassle you (probably for good reason). I got pulled over for making an illegal left turn and the LEO saw a nightstick in my car. Of course i didn't even know it was illegal to carry such a thing when I was a kid. My mom actually told me to do it because I had a few incidences with one including a broken nose. No, I didn't instigate it or any of the other ones. I used to be a bit smaller and less mean...so I got picked on.

So I went to jail that night, case was dismissed and did one day of community service that consisted of putting together instruction manuals in some place in Fort Worth. It was actually kind of fun and interesting, the community service that is. Everyone else in there seemed to be there for DWI's.

For those not in the know...this is a class A misdemeanor...just one step from a felony. That's right...carrying a piece of wood in your car is almost a felony. One of the cops even asked why I didn't just carry a baseball bat around. Pretty weird how legislation works. Anyway, it was the only time I was arrested.

On the CHL stuff that you have to send in you have to list every time you were arrested, whether convicted or not. Then they want to see the court papers that show the "full disposition" of the arrest. This happened so long ago, I didn't know what the outcome would be, but this is it. Basically, just call the courthouse in the county that the arrest happened in and request the documents. I was able to mail in the request to Tarrant County, but you might have to go in person to a smaller county. I haven't gotten the documents back, but expect an extra couple of weeks of waiting (at least) before you can even send in the CHL stuff. I took the course about three weeks ago and still can't send in my stuff.

So it's a minor setback, but still ticks me off since the arrest happened so long ago and no conviction. I'm glad I never got caught, um...never did anything else that might have been worse!