A Plea To Texas State Representative Harold Dutton

Open Plea

Attention All Website Visitors & Volunteers, Today, I am going to be sending, via certified US Postal mail, a letter to Houston Democrat state Representative Harold Dutton a letter asking him to take our case to Federal Court to have the current non-disclosure law declared unconstitutional on the basis that it violates our 14th amendment rights of "due process" and "equal protection under the law" because it disallows those on the Exclusion List to participate in the non-disclosure relief law found under TEXAS GENERAL CODE 411.081 The purpose of declaring the law unconstitutional is not to deprive those individuals who are not on the Exclusion List (EL) an opportunity for a non-disclosure hearing, but rather to make the law globally inclusive as it is required by US Constiutional law. And to set everyone at ease, the only part of the law that I am seeking to have declared unconstitutional is that section of the non-disclosure law dealing with the Exclusion List - not the entire law itself. I would never jeopardize the efforts and hopes that so many of us have put into this effort over the past 3 1/2 years. Down below, I am including a copy of the letter that I am sending to Mr. Dutton. Since Mr. Dutton authored HB 697 (the bill that would have done away with and nullified the Exclusion List had it been passed into law), and since Mr. Dutton is a civil rights attorney, I felt that he would be the logical choice to give us a legal opinion on the matter and possibly take our case to Federal Court if he feels that our case has merit. Accordingly, I am asking each of you to also forward a similar certified letter to Mr. Dutton's office asking him to give us legal advice on this matter and to take our case if he deems it to have merit and cause of action.   The more people that we have sending him a similarly styled letter will help to cause Mr. Dutton to see the seriousness of this matter and that there are a great many people interested in seeing this issue get resolved in Federal Court. State Representative Harold Dutton District Office 8799 N. Loop East Suite 305 Houston, TX 77029 (713) 692-9192 (713) 692-6791 Fax Dear Representative Dutton, My name is Rob Sandifer. I live and work in Dallas, TX. with my wife and two children. I am one of the original two co-founders of an organization known as TRDA (Texans For the Reform of Deferred Adjudication) and most recently founded another organization known as TAJLR (Texas Association For Justice And Legal Reform). It has been our stated purpose and goal to work with our elected officials to make changes to the current Texas criminal records expunction law as it pertains to deferred adjudication so that someday, any Texas citizen who has ever been on deferred adjudication might be able to look forward to having his/her public record of deferred adjudication fully expunged. I applaud your efforts during the recent legislative session when you drafted HB 697 which would have greatly strengthened the current non-disclosure law found in TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE 411.081 I understand that you submitted the bill to the House Jurisprudence Committee chaired by Mr. Keel and that he would not allow a hearing on the bill. In its place, HB 3093 was passed into law during the most recent legislative session. Here are my concerns: This bill did strengthen, somewhat, the current non-disclosure law. However, there is a section under the current non-disclosure law TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE 411.081 which I feel is very bad for many Texans because it denies them their "due process" guaranteed to them under the 14th amendment of the US Constitution. The section of law code I am referring to lists a group of offense classifications which are disqualified from being able to petition the court and have a non-disclosure hearing in front of a judge. Our organization refers to this list of offense exclusions as the "Exclusion List". Even though these disqualified offense classifications are, admittedly, very serious and egregious in nature, it is my understanding that all US citizens are guaranteed "due process" and "equal protection under the law" as outlined in the 14th Amendment. Why then, does the state of Texas allow this law to be valid and in effect? I read the bill you authored, HB 697...and the wording of the bill seemed to indicate, if my understanding is correct, that you were attempting to remove those offense classifications (offense classifications hereafter referred to simply as the "Exclusion List") from TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE 411.081 Doing so (omitting the Exclusion List from the current law) would then, in my opinion, have made that section of the law under TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE 411.081 constitutionally "sound" and would have restored the due process and equal protection rights of all affected Texans. It is most unfortunate indeed, to all those Texans on the Exclusion List, that HB 3093 was passed into law instead of your bill, HB 697. Having said all of that, I have now arrived at the point and purpose of this letter to you. It is my understanding that, among other things, you are also a civil rights attorney. If that is the case, would you consider working with our organization for the purpose of filing a lawsuit in Federal Court in order to have a Federal Judge(s) put TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE 411.081 under Federal scrutiny to determine, once and for all, the constitutional, and hence legal correctness of this law? Our group, of course, believes the current law is unconstitutional because we are being denied our due process of being able to go to court for a non-disclosure hearing - the same right which is afforded to all other Texans who have been through the deferred adjudication process and are offered relief under Texas state law (TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE 411.081) We would very much like for you to work with us in this worthwhile endeavor. In the possible event that you are unable...or unwilling...to work with us on this project, could you at least point us to some legal resources, especially an attorney or attorney(s) experienced in constitutional law who might be willing to take a look at this case? The reason I have contacted you first is because you seem to be at the forefront of attempting to restore the lost privacy and civil rights of affected Texas citizens and wanted to give you the opportunity to work with us to take this issue to the next level and course of action. Please contact me via telephone or e-mail at your earliest convenient time. My home number is (972)-XXX-XXXX My e-mail address is: robs@dallas.net or Rob Sandifer XXXX Country Hill Ln Dallas, TX. 75041 I look forward to hearing from you soon regarding this very important matter. Sincerely, Rob Sandifer