Travis County’s Fourth Expunction Expo Results in Hundreds of Criminal Record Expunctions

The fourth Travis County Expunction Expo took place on May 20, 2023. More than 300 applicants had prequalified to have their records expunged.

The expo was a joint production of the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, the Travis County Attorney’s Office, and the Travis County District Clerk’s Office. Legal services were provided by the Capital Area Private Defender Service, the Travis County Public Defender’s Office, Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas, and the Travis County Law Library.

Representatives of the Travis County Workforce Development, Indeed, and Austin Community College were also on hand to provide information about opportunities available to applicants who successfully got their records expunged.

District 3 Councilmember José Velásquez attended the expo.

“We are excited this day is finally here,” Velásquez said to CBS Austin. “We know that not having stable housing, stable employment, not being able to further your education can all inform if somebody is going to end up back in jail or on a path to recidivism.”

Travis County District Clerk Velva Price said the event took about eight months to organize.

“It’s such a relief,” Price said. “It’s so wonderful to see people trying to get their pasts corrected.”

This is the fourth expunction expo Travis County has held in the past two years.

“We are on track to have our most successful expunction expo to date,” said Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza.

Alyssa Johnson is an Austin lawyer and speaker on race literacy and lawyer well-being. She volunteered her legal services to the expo and filed petitions for about 15 clients to have certain criminal records expunged.

“Many of them were nervous when they met with me—afraid that I’d negatively judge them,” Johnson said. “Quite a few admitted to praying before meeting with me. Almost all of them said they wanted these records to be expunged and for this part of their life to be completed.”

Some of the records for which Johnson filed for expunction were more than 20 years old and were still barring these individuals from obtaining stable housing and employment.

“Many of them shared what they were going through in their life when they were arrested,” Johnson said. “They were struggling, perhaps a bit lost in life, and were trying to find their way. I saw myself, my choices, and my actions in many of their stories.”

Johnson is not a regularly practicing attorney in Austin, but she maintains her license. To prepare for the expo, she attended a two-hour CLE to learn how to expunge records, which included discussions on Texas civil procedure, criminal law, criminal procedure, and immigration law.

“I was actually sweating through the training because I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, I haven’t touched these practice areas in 20 years—I’m going to be a mess and pretty much worthless at the expo!’”

She was relieved to find, however, that her role primarily consisted only of filling out paperwork and petitions.

“All of the procedural prework was done by much smarter lawyers than me,” she said. “It felt like a great use of my law license, and I’m looking forward to volunteering at future expos.”

Johnson said she was grateful that Travis County attorneys recognize the importance of removing criminal records for which individuals were never convicted from people’s histories.

D.A. Garza and Director of the Juvenile Justice and Violence Prevention Unit Rickey Jones appeared on “Iron Sharpens Iron” with Latreese Cooke on KAZI 88.7 FM to promote the event.

Cooke is the founder and executive director of Minorities for Equality in Economy, Education, Liberty, and Justice (MELJ Center), which provides reintegration services for the formerly incarcerated. AL

Representatives of Indeed attended the 4th Travis County Expunction Expo.

Travis County District Clerk Velva Price and Travis County District Attorney José Garza.

Volunteers from the Travis County Workforce Development attended the 4th Travis County Expunction Expo.