Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 385
But a word of caution: success in this arena may be rare.
Further, each state has different rules concerning these issues, as
well as a completely different set of rules under federal law. Before
we begin a meaningful discussion, it is important to explain two
terms and concepts: clemency and expunction. A small point about
terminology: Texas law uses the word “expunction” and federal
law uses the word “expungement” to refer to the same process;
therefore, these words are usually used interchangeably.
A. What is clemency?
Clemency is the action the government, usually the chief executive
(e.g., the President on the federal level or a governor on the state
level), takes in forgiving or pardoning a crime or canceling the
penalty of a crime, either wholly or in part. Clemency can include
full pardons after a conviction, full pardons after completion
of deferred adjudication community supervision, conditional
pardons, pardons based on innocence, commutations of a sentence,
emergency medical reprieves, and family medical reprieves.
Clemency can be granted at both the federal and state level.
B. What is an expunction?
An expunction is the physical act of destroying or purging
government criminal records, unlike sealing, which is simply
hiding the records from the public. Under certain circumstances, a
person may have their criminal record either expunged or sealed. If
a record is expunged, the record is destroyed and no longer exits. If
a record is sealed, a governmental agency can still access the record
but the general public cannot.
374 | CHAPTER FIFTEEN
