Benson Varghese discusses his approach to cases where the person charged has never been arrested or convicted of an offense before.
When a first-time offender contacts us or when their parent contacts us, we walk them through the potential outcomes of a case. And although for a criminal offense, jail or prison time is always a legal possibility, other than Class C offenses, we are trying to do more than keep them out of jail or keep them out of prison. For a first time offender, it is very important for us to secure an outcome that does not leave a conviction on their record. That might be done through a certain type of probation in Texas called deferred adjudication, and it might be done by negotiating a dismissal, either for conditions that are completed up front or by getting them into a diversion program meant for first-time offenders.
