Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis’ office is launching the Expunction 2022 Initiative which aims to help individuals clear their name.

Supporting the program are the Collin County branch of the NAACP, Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, Collin County Bar Association, Plano Bar Association and Collin County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

According to a March 31 news release, Expunction 2022 helps the community by providing free legal assistance to people who, by law, may be eligible to have their criminal record erased.

“We are thrilled to help people erase their criminal record and clear a path to more opportunity for them,” Willis said. “Whether they’re seeking employment, education, housing or military service, this initiative will help qualifying individuals do just that.”

The 2021 expunction initiative — the first for Collin County — was successful because of the supporting bar associations and the 46 volunteer attorneys. Of the expunction applicants, 60% were eligible. Those applicants were paired with an attorney who volunteered their time to help applicants fill out and file the necessary legal documents.

Nearly all, 99%, of those applicants had their charges expunged and each individual saved approximately $1,800 in legal fees and costs.

Among the 132 individuals whose records were expunged last year was a 46-year-old Hispanic woman from Plano. Working with a private volunteer attorney, a felony charge from 1995 was expunged. The woman was 19 at the time and the charge was dismissed shortly after her arrest but remained on her record.

Additionally, her volunteer attorney also helped her waive her filing and court fees because she couldn’t afford them.

Individuals may be eligible for expunction if they were arrested but a charge was never filed or was no-billed by a grand jury, a criminal charge was dismissed without any type of community supervision, they were acquitted on their charge or if they were convicted of a crime but later pardoned.

Individuals are not eligible if their case is still pending, their case was not in Collin County, they were convicted, they were placed on probation, community supervision or deferred adjudication or if they were convicted of another offense arising from the same arrest.

For more information, visit collincounty.com/expunction2022.