I received many inquires as to the differences between deferred adjudication and probation. I hope this post clears up some questions...
Deferred Adjudication:
Deferred Adjudication is available for most common criminal offenses. In this type of situation the defendant enters only a PLEA of guilty, and the court then "DEFERRS" adjudication, or "conviction." The defendant is then given conditions that they must follow. If they complete the conditions without any problem the court will then DISMISS the case, and the defendant may be eligible to seek an order of non disclosure upon completion of their conditions.
HOWEVER, if a Defendant violates a condition of their deferred adjudication, they will be at the mercy of the judge for sentencing. The judge has the opportunity to consider the entire range of punishment for the offense. You'll need an attorney for a hearing on this.
For example: Let's say a defendant is placed on deferred adjudication for 10 years, on a crime that has a maximum penalty of 20 years. On the third year, the defendant then violates the conditions of his deferred adjudication, the judge may then consider the full 20 years as part of the defendants punishment.
Deferred adjudication is a great deal if you can complete the conditions of your deferred adjudication contract, however, if you violate any of the conditions, you leave yourself vulnerable to facing the consequences of the full range of punishment for the crime you originally pled guilty to.
Probation:
Probation is available for most common criminal offenses. In this type of situation the defendant enters a PLEA of guilty, and the court actually "enters" the plea, which results in a FINAL CONVICTION. The person placed on probation does not have the ability to expunge or seek an order of non disclosure. A person on probation actually has a "CONVICTION" on their record. This is the draw back for those who are probation.
HOWEVER, the upside of probation is that if a defendant violates his PROBATION, he is only subject to being sentenced to the term of his probation, not the maximum penalty for the crime they pled guilty to.
For example: Lets say a defendant is placed on probation for 10 years (the max), for a crime that has a maximum penalty for 20 years. On the third year the defendant violates their probation. In this situation, the defendant will only be subject to being sentenced for 10 years, as opposed to the full 20 years if he had been placed on deferred adjudication.
If a defendant violates either deferred adjudication or probation, the defendant has a right to a hearing and be represented by an attorney. These situation may be tricky, so its important to take each of these situations very seriously.
I hope this helps, and please keep on submitting questions!
J. Julio Vela