Criminal Records, Expungement Was my right to a speedy trial violated?

Status
Not open for further replies.
H

hucks01

New Member
One warm day in November of 2002 I was riding my mountain bike in a remote wooded area in Dallas, Tx & I decided to strip & get some sun. After a few minutes a man appeared into the clearing, flipped out a badge & said he was citing me for indecent exposure. I explained that I was sunbathing but he asked me to follow him to a gravel parking area where we got in a Jeep Cherokee. He had me sign a form & told me I would get info in the mail in a couple of weeks and I would have to come in for arraignment or it would go to a warrant & I would be arrested. He tried to take a picture with a Polaroid Spectra camera for a sex offenders list but it was out of film. He call someone else on a radio & asked for film. Then he let me walk back to where I was parked. I waited but never got anything in the mail. I thought it might be a scare tactic as I used a Polaroid Spectra at work & knew there was no way you can take a picture of anyone that close without it being blurry. 3 years later I was unemployed & having trouble finding work. I did a background check using 2 different websites & could find nothing. After taking a job I was approched by my boss & he said they found something in my background check. It was an Indecent exposure charge. He was confused because there was little other info besides the date, my name, charge & my address. No arrest date, no arraignment date, all other blanks were empty. He said if I cleared it up I could come back & that's where the nightmare really began. I hired a lawyer & he said because it never went to a warrant it was a violation of my right to a speedy trial & he would make it dissapper forever, no problem. Next time I talked to him I had to appear in court, the reduced it to a disorderly conduct offense all I needed to do was pay court cost & after 3 months it would drop off my records. My lawyer led me to believe it was gone. I checked the Dallas county website where the ind/exp charge was listed before & looked up my name it was clear. Recently unemployed again & was asked about the charge by a recruiter. I checked Dallas county website again & ind/exp charge was back! My lawyer acted non-chalant about it & said because it had a NFOG code(not found of guilt) I should be able to get a job or I could pay him anothe $1000.00 to have it expunged. My 401K is gone, my car was repossesd, I owe everyone & still can't get a job! I asked my lawyer about it being a violation of my right to a speedy trial & he's evasive about it. I asked him if he knew any resorces someone with a misdemeanor on his record can get work & told him if I didn't find some soon I would be living under a bridge. His response was "No I don't but let me know, I know some of the warmest bridges in Dallas, LOL". I have the forms for expungement but don't want to screw it up where I'll never be able to clear it. Do I have any options to get rid of this partial record that's destroyed my life or will it cost me another $1000.00
 
Sorry "Teach". Thought I was asking for advice for a problem that's ruining my life, didn't know I was writing my "term paper".
 
OK unemployed naked guy. I don't have one ounce of sympathy for you. Your story is ridiculous. You obviously get off on people seeing you naked.
 
I used to believe there were men & women in this country who became attorneys who were driven to take up the fight for the rights of the individual. People who's main purpose of taking on the mental and financial burden of earning their degree and passing the bar exam was to help their fellow Americans. I admit to laughing frequently at jokes about money-grubbing ambulance chasers but always with the belief that they were in the minority and only existed on afternoon local TV commercials. Unfortunately I have become more cynical since this incident. Every time I ask for the slightest legal advice I'm answered with an open hand thrust in my face asking for a minimum $800.00, insensitive remarks, & derision. I walk in the darkness with a candle in search of an honest lawyer. Alas, the wick burns low now & the flame begins to dim. Hope the punctuation and sentence structure is suitable enough so as not to give you a headache. By the way are you a "Dallas" lawyer?
 
Yeah, tough to read without paragraphs. Maybe switch lines of work to one that doesn't require a background check until you clear this up.
 
$800 is cheap for someone who should be forced to register as a sex offender wherever they go. You're getting off easy.
 
I guess that it's important for an employer to know that I was once nude in a dense wooded non-public area. It could frighten the wildlife.
 
Normal rational people don't bike ride in an area where others can be, and decide to take off all their clothes and just "chill."

And now you are saying it is a non-public area. Was full nudity allowed there? I gather not, as a cop arrested you.

And, yah, as an employer I'd like to know my employees aren't un-repentant sex offenders.
 
By the way.

Your attitude sucks! Maybe people won't hire you because you are a loser, degenerate, no-talent pervert!

Go to hell!
 
Proffesionals?

Now thats nice, a real professional attitude. Its not surprising to me that no one addressed the fact that my lawyer out & out lied to me or that because it was screwed up by Dallas County I couldn't find anything on a backrground check there was nothing until all my money was gone. I thought this was a site I could get useful legal advice without judgment. I was very wrong. I have all the neccessary paperwork to file for a request for expungment & will do it myself. Looks like the only way to get fair & equal representation.
 
It sounds to me that this charge was never filed but the citation still exists. It may not be possible to remove an arrest (the citation) even if it was never prosecuted. Sadly, I am not familiar with TX law in this regard and have no great interest in researching it.

Next time, leave your clothing on.

Good luck.

- Carl
 
One more time, I was not arrested, I was told to expect a LETTER in the mail that did not come, the only info originally found only had date, offense, and court. No arrest date, no arraignment date, all othe blanks were enter because there wasn't any arrest or arraignment. This is my point. Dallas county screwed it up from the beginning and my lawyer used it to screw me out of as much money as he can get his whoring little hands on. It disappeared from background check after it was reduced to disorderly conduct & has since reappeared with a NFOG( not found of guilt) by it.
 
You may have to search around and hire an attorney that specializes in clearing records. I imagine if you use Google you can find links to attorneys that specialize in clearing your record. That's about all you can do unless you want to wander naked in the woods of the legal justice system. (sorry ... couldn't resist ...)

This may be something you can do yourself, but I just don't know. The best way would be to use someone who does this for a living.

- Carl
 
Thanks; I bought a packet of forms to do it myself & it says to get a copy of my records from the court, set a date to request expungement, then call the DA's office & ask them if they will voluntarily dismiss it before the court date. I'm concerned that they won't work with me because I'm not an attorney & it will make it more difficult after that if I hire an attorney to do so. I'm at least going to get my records when I can afford it because I want to see if my attorney even asked them to dismiss it, he was evasive when I asked him & think he didn't to get more money out of me.
 
Well,

Your refusal to answer my question indicates that you are, indeed, a werewofl. That's why you were naked. Why must werewolves always dodge the question?
 
I have a packet that tells how to set a court date to ask for expungement. it says to set a court date then call the DA's office & ask them if they'll voluntarily dismiss it. I'm worried that they won't because I'm not a lawyer. I will get a copy of the court records to see if my lawyer even asked for dismissal because my rights to a speedy trial have been violated. I have a feeling he didn't so he could milk more money out of me. Also the original judge for this court has retired, don't know if having another judge look at it will hurt or help.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Share this page

Get a free case review from a lawyer
Back
Top