The Common Law

You aren't alone – many lawyers don't really know what deferred adjudication is or how it works.

Deferred adjudication is a plea bargain agreement between a defendant and the court in which a formal judgment of guilt is withheld or "deferred" pending the outcome of the probation period. Deferred adjudication allows a defendant to accept responsibility for a crime without automatically suffering all of the consequences of a formal finding of guilt. A judge "defers" a decision on the defendant's guilt until after the defendant completes a period of supervision, which can include any number of specific conditions.

In order to qualify for placement on deferred adjudication, a defendant must plead "guilty" or "no contest," thereby taking the first step of accepting responsibility for the criminal act. The defendant must have the consent of the prosecuting attorney in order to get deferred adjudication, which essentially means that a defendant needs to reach a plea agreement with the prosecutor.

Most defendants charged with a misdemeanor crime are eligible for deferred adjudication. Defendants charged with a felony offense may still be able to get deferred adjudication, although the list of felony crimes that cannot get deferred adjudication is longer than for misdemeanors. People charged with driving, boating, or flying while intoxicated are ineligible for deferred adjudication.

There is no universal rule as to whether deferred adjudication is a good or bad idea because it depends entirely on each defendant. For example, a big benefit of deferred adjudication (if completed successfully) is that a person can avoid formal conviction and punishment. Alternatively, an admission of guilt in one case could have significant negative effects for you in other areas (you would answer "yes" to the standard job application question "have you ever been convicted of a crime, entered a plea of no contest or guilty").

Check out next week's column for more information on deferred adjudication. In the interim, check out John Bradley's book Texas Sentencing for more information.