Why am I getting deferred adjudication for a non-moving violation?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I live in Dallas, TX. About a year ago, I got cited for no inspection on my car. I had put on my new registration sticker at night and accidentally scraped off the wrong sticker, so I ended up with two registration stickers on it and no inspection. Of course the sticker got ripped up and I didn’t have the receipt from when I got the car inspected, so I was pretty much boned. It’s said that Dallas police seldom show up to court but I didn’t really have time to show up myself, so I hired a lawyer hoping he could get me out of it or at the least get it knocked down somewhat.

Recently, I got a letter in the mail, presumably related to this citation, saying I owed the city about $250 and I’ll be on 30 days deferred adjudication. I can’t find any site listing costs of different citations in Dallas but the fine is about double what it looks like other people have been paying so I’m pretty pissed off about that, but the deferred adjudication is what really puzzles me. Lack of inspection is a non-moving violation in Texas that doesn’t get reported to insurance agencies anyway. So it looks like if I had just paid the fine, it would have been $131 dollars (if it hasn’t recently gone up) and I’d be done with it, but now it’s costing me over $300 including lawyer fees and I have to be careful what I do for 30 days or the insurance companies will be notified about something they’re not supposed to know about in the first place. Am I missing something here?

2

Legal advice is best suited to IMHO.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

3

Yeah, sorry. I thought about that right after I posted.

4

Wow the Wikipedia entry on deferred adjudication in re Texas (see the “controversies” section) is scary as hell. It can never be expunged and is treated as a conviction of a crime (for a car sticker!). Fire your lawyer immediately if this is where he’s taken you.

5

Well not having the sticker is a crime, but it’s a simple traffic offense. It’s not going to keep me from getting an apartment. That article seems to be talking mostly about misdemeanors and felonies. With traffic offenses, it keeps the insurance company from seeing it as long as you don’t get another citation within the same jurisdiction in the specified amount of time. I think I’m gonna have to call him anyway though to find out why I’m on it in the first place.

6

Okay, apparently what I got was technically deferred disposition.