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paul1982 wrote:Will letters of support from aquantinces help anything? I know in some states they are required. But would they have any sway on whoever makes the decision?

Nope. Stick to legal documents and the letter from the court clerk.

paul1982 wrote:

Keith B wrote:

paul1982 wrote:I was told the record was sealed. Will the court still write a letter, even if it is a letter stating no information exists? Who excactly would I write to about that? A judge, the clerk, the DA's office?

The Court Clerk in the county where you were charged should be able to provide you a letter of disposition or one that states no records exist.

Thank you. Would I have a greater chance of a sucessful application if i had an attorney to assist me with all of this?

Charles will help assist you and is an attorney. However, you will need a letter on the disposition no matter what, so I would see what you can get from the court clerk. Once you have that in hand, if it states anything other than no records found, then you will need to dig a little deeper and see how it affects you. One thing to know is that sealed records don't necessarily mean no conviction.

paul1982 wrote:I was told the record was sealed. Will the court still write a letter, even if it is a letter stating no information exists? Who excactly would I write to about that? A judge, the clerk, the DA's office?

The Court Clerk in the county where you were charged should be able to provide you a letter of disposition or one that states no records exist.

I will try to help until Charles can respond.

It will all depend on the actual disposition of your case. If it is truly differed adjudication, then there are some stipulations. Deferred adjudication is treated as a conviction for a Texas CHL and will disqualify you for the most part on a felony conviction. However, there is an exception:

§ 411.1711 CERTAIN EXEMPTIONS FROM CONVICTIONS. A person is not convicted, as that term is defined by § 411.171, if an order of deferred adjudication was entered against the person on a date not less than 10 years preceding the date of the person's application for a license under this subchapter unless the order of deferred adjudication was entered against the person for an offense under Title 5, Penal Code, or Chapter 29, Penal Code Section 25.07, Penal Code or Section 30.02(c)(2) or (d) Penal Code.

Now, title 5 and the others deal with 'Crimes against the person' and the forcible sodomy charge if showing deferred adjudication would make you ineligible. The controlled substance charge if deferred would make you ineligible from the date the order of deferred adjudication was entered against you, which would be 10 years from 2009 (2019).

Now, on the other hand, if all charges were dropped and your record truly expunged, then you may be eligible if the record shows clear.

Bottom line, you need to get a letter from the court clerk in Oklahoma where the charges were placed showing the final disposition. They should be able to provide you one or if they say there is nothing that shows up, then get them to send you a letter stating that nothing shows on your record.

Once you have that letter, if it shows no convictions or no deferred adjudication, then you should be good to go to submit. You would still need to list the arrests on your application, along with any other arrests where you were photographed and fingerprinted, but just include the letter showing no records exist along with your paperwork for the application.

Charles may have more info or clarification once he gets back on line.

Hope that helps!