Criminal Post Trial Information

Adult Probation

The Community Supervision and Corrections system (commonly referred to as probation) is a process designed to keep offenders out of the formal prison system.  Offenders are supervised in the community where they continue to work, pay taxes and support their family.  Community Supervision and Corrections is a division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. 

Appeals

 Brazoria County District Clerk files all Criminal Appeals with the First Court of Appeals or the Fourteenth Court of Appeals.   The Appeals section is located on the 5^th floor, Room 500, of the Brazoria County Courthouse in Angleton, Texas.  Personnel in this section will assist customers with questions concerning cases on appeal.  The contact number is (979) 864-1309.  Customers may also file appeal documents or request copies from appeal cases in this section.

 Appellate records are kept in the Records Division of the District Clerk’s office.  Attorneys of record may check out and check in the appellate records.

 Post Conviction Writs

The document filed is called the petition or application for Writ of Habeas Corpus. It is for criminal conviction relief in cases where the conviction is final, the appeal has been affirmed and the applicant is asking the Court of Criminal Appeals to review the conviction and grant relief for any defects. When the application is filed with our office, the clerk sends notification to all interested parties. After the state and defense briefs are filed, the clerk then prepares the clerk's record, which consists of documents identified by the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedures and any other court-ordered documents. These documents are copied, numbered, indexed, and bound. The original is then forwarded to the Court of Appeals in Austin and the copy(s) is kept in the section for interested parties to check in and out. The clerk processes all motions and orders until the case is mandated, at which time the case is sent to the Records Division.

The application for a post conviction writ of habeas corpus must be filed on the proper form, which the applicant may obtain online at the Court of Criminal Appeals.

Occupational Driver’s License

 An occupational driver’s license (ODL) is a restricted license that lets you drive at certain times, on specific days, under certain conditions. (See Texas Transportation Code, Chapter 521 and 601.)  You can find forms for filing at

Texas Law Help/Documents/ODL.

 Nondisclosure

 Under Section 411.081(d), Government Code, a court can prohibit criminal justice agencies from disclosing to the public criminal history record information related to certain offenses for which the offender was placed on deferred adjudication.  There are many offenses, however, for which this procedure is unavailable.  Moreover, a defendant may be disqualified if he commits an offense after the deferred adjudication has been completed and before filing the petition. 

For more information about nondisclosures please visit

Texas Law Help/Nondisclosure. 

Expunctions

 Upon the petition of a criminal defendant, a court can direct certain law enforcement agencies to destroy all records associated with an arrest and subsequent prosecution. Many times the court will specifically direct law enforcement agencies to destroy jail records, police reports, prosecution reports and court files. In addition, a successful expungement petitioner, can legally deny ever having been arrested for or charged with the criminal offense for which he is receiving the expunction. Background checks by employers come back clean.

 For more information about expunctions please visit Texas Law Help/Expunction.