Travis County To Host 'Expunction Expo' In January 2022

Austin TX

11 November, 2021

3:04 PM

Description

TRAVIS COUNTY, TX — Travis County will host a free Expunction Expo in January for those who looking to get their records expunged. The expo will take place Jan. 15, 2022 on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. County officials have opened the online registration portal for members of the community to sign up for the Expo. The community has until Nov. 30 to sign up. Travis County officials previously hosted an Expunction Expo in February of 2020. During that event, county officials and community partners served 241 individuals and expunged 400 offenses. Live in Austin? Click here to subscribe to our free breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox and mobile devices. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and download our free mobile app on Android or iPhone. "We have the opportunity with this event and the responsibility to ensure that members of our community who have never been convicted of a crime have access to good jobs, to financial assistance for school, and to housing," said District Attorney Jose Garza. "I am grateful to all of our partners for their hard work to put on the 2022 Expunction Expo." The Travis County District Attorney's office, Travis County District Clerk's Office, the Travis County Attorney's office and Pflugerville Councilmember Rudy Metayer are sponsoring the expo to help residents remove old Travis County arrest records from their criminal history. "The pandemic has continued to magnify many inequities in our community," said County Attorney Delia Garza. "So I'm grateful to join this coalition of Travis County and Pflugerville leaders to help those that qualify to expunge an arrest record, to start that process." County Attorney Garza said helping those that qualify to expunge an arrest from their record will give many in the community the ability to clear their record and move on with their lives without any future consequences to that arrest. "With this event we have the opportunity to immediately and significantly impact the lives of members of our community in a positive way," said Pflugerville Councilmember Rudy Metayer. "As lawyers, and as public servants, we have the power, the ability, and the responsibility to serve our community in this way." Attorneys will be on site at the Expunction Expo to represent applicants for free and help them apply to have their record expunged. Legal work will be provided by volunteers from Capital Area Private Defender Service (CAPDS), the Travis County Public Defender's Office, the Travis County Law Library, and Volunteer Legal Services and other lawyers and community groups donating their services. Additionally, the online portal and application forms are available in Spanish and there will be translators on site at the Expunction Expo. For any Expunction Expo related questions please email [email protected]. According to Texas law, you may qualify for an expunction if any of the following apply: You were arrested but a charge was NEVER FILED or was no billed by the grand jury, You have a criminal charge that was DISMISSED, You successfully completed a DIVERSION PROGRAM, such as Pretrial Diversion, Drug Court, etc., You were ACQUITTED on your charge by a judge or jury (usually by a finding of "Not Guilty"), or appellate court. You were convicted of a crime but later PARDONED by the Governor of Texas or the President of the United States.