For a traffic ticket, deferred adjudication is usually the paying of a probation fee (about equal to the fine) and six months of not getting another ticket in that court's jurisdiction. And it is not reported to the state as either a conviction or anything else, so your record stays clean.austin-tatious wrote:Again, IANAL. I have a few questions.CompVest wrote:There is deferred adjudication.
Does deferred adjudication (DA) protect you from civil liability? What terms of community supervision will be imposed by the judge to complete DA and "get your record wiped clean" (i.e., you are deemed to have not been charged or convicted)? How long will it take to complete those terms? What does "wiped clean" mean in the state of Texas? Will an employer find out about it in a background check? How much is it going to cost to pay the court fees and your attorney's costs?
I prefer, for a traffic ticket (assuming I cannot take defensive driving) to just pay the fine...especially since it does not affect my CHL.
Just to be technically clear on things, nothing in a court case protects you or subjects you to civil liability. The two are completely separate and are decided completely separately. Pleading guilty to a traffic ticket may be able to be used as evidence in a civil case, but it does not in and of itself open you up to liability. Pleading not guilty or winning a trial on a ticket does not protect you from civil liability at all, as the standards of evidence are lower. OJ found this out a few years ago to the tune of many millions of dollars in liability after being found not guilty of the crime.
If we are just talking traffic tickets, you may take defensive driving once per year, but you may have as many deferred adjudication cases as the judges are willing to give you. None of it will affect your CHL and both of these will keep your driving record clear. In addition to insurance reasons, it is important to keep your driving record clear to avoid those very expensive "surcharges" that were implemented for having too many points on you license. Three tickets in three years (and sometimes only two tickets if they are serious enough) will cost you an extra $100 per year for three years. And the fees go up as you get more than 6 points or if you get other offenses (DWI gets very expensive surcharges).
If we talk other types of crimes than traffic offenses, the rules change tremendously. If it is not a drug or alcohol offense, disorderly conduct, or a class C family violence charge, I would just pay the class C fines. The charge will be on your record permanently, but it is very hard to find outside of that county. If we talk about higher offenses than class C, then my advice is to get the best lawyer you can. Everything higher than a class C can really mess up your life.
For your other question, for anything other than defensive driving, the judge can impose almost any rules he wants. The ones I gave are general practice in my area of the state and your area might differ. here ar eno set guidelines in the law for deferred adjudication so judges can have a lot of leeway.