The Dallas County pretrial diversion program is an agreement with the District Attorney’s Office that lets eligible first-time offenders avoid trial and a guilty plea by completing 3 to 18 months of supervision, after which the charges are dismissed and the arrest becomes immediately eligible for expunction.1Dallas County. General Felony Pre-Trial Diversion and Specialty Courts The program covers both felonies and misdemeanors, and the specific track you land in depends on your charge, your age, and a formal risk assessment.
How the Agreement Works
Pretrial diversion (also called pretrial intervention, or PTI) is a contract between you and the prosecutor. Your case leaves the normal court pipeline. You agree to meet a list of conditions over a set period; if you satisfy every one, the DA’s office moves to dismiss. No guilty plea is entered at any point, and no conviction ever attaches.1Dallas County. General Felony Pre-Trial Diversion and Specialty Courts
Dallas County’s standard felony agreements run 3 to 18 months. Which end of that range you fall on depends on the track the Pretrial Diversion Division assigns.
Who Is Eligible
The District Attorney has full discretion over admissions, but the published criteria are specific. For the felony program you must be a first-time adult felony offender with no prior felony convictions, no prior probation (including deferred adjudication), and no previous pretrial diversion. You cannot have holds above a Class C misdemeanor or pending felonies in another jurisdiction, and law enforcement databases cannot list gang affiliation.1Dallas County. General Felony Pre-Trial Diversion and Specialty Courts
Some charges are excluded no matter how clean your background is:
- Any charge involving assault, violence, or threats of violence
- Offenses involving a death or a major accident
- Sexual offenses, arson, and felony intoxication
- First-degree manufacturing or delivery charges, though second-degree cases may be reviewed individually
Every eligible referral goes through a risk and needs assessment run by the Criminal Justice Department, which drives placement into the appropriate track.2Dallas County. Restorative Justice
The Felony Tracks
Standard Supervised PTI
The two common tracks are PTS PTI and CSCD PTI. Both require monthly meetings with a supervision officer and random urinalysis. CSCD supervision adds a $102 monthly fee, and agreements can run up to 18 months. A $500 program fee applies to all standard PTI agreements. If you can’t afford it, you can request a waiver; the waiver application itself costs $5 and is filed on the 11th floor of the courthouse.1Dallas County. General Felony Pre-Trial Diversion and Specialty Courts
EAC Court PTI
The Early Administrative Closure (EAC) track requires appearances in EAC Court and compliance with assigned conditions for up to 18 months. The fee is $202. It’s a lighter-touch option than fully supervised PTI.1Dallas County. General Felony Pre-Trial Diversion and Specialty Courts
AIM Court
AIM Court is a five-phase program only for young adults 17 to 24 at the time of the offense. It runs 13 to 18 months and includes frequent court appearances, random weekly drug testing, 40 hours of community service, clinical treatment, and individualized plans around education, vocational skills, and life skills. Peer recovery support and transportation help are built in. The fee is $500, and the court will modify or waive it on a showing of financial hardship.1Dallas County. General Felony Pre-Trial Diversion and Specialty Courts
AIM is more intensive than standard PTI, but completion carries the same outcome: dismissal and immediate expunction eligibility.
Misdemeanor PTI
Misdemeanors go through a shorter pipeline. Instead of a formal assessment and referral, you (or your attorney) contact the Assistant District Attorney assigned to your court for an eligibility review. If approved, you sign the agreement, pay the fees or request a waiver, complete the required classes or evaluations, and return proof of completion to your probation officer. The ADA then files the dismissal.2Dallas County. Restorative Justice
All misdemeanor prostitution cases, for example, are offered a 90- to 120-day PTI agreement. Other misdemeanor charges follow a similarly streamlined approach, but you still need a first offense and prosecutor approval.
How to Apply
For felony cases, your defense attorney drives the application. Referrals must be submitted either before indictment or within 120 days of indictment.2Dallas County. Restorative Justice Miss that window and the option may be gone.
The packet typically includes proof of employment or school enrollment, residential history, a valid ID, and a letter of responsibility addressed to the District Attorney acknowledging the incident. Your attorney submits everything to the Pretrial Diversion Division.
A specialized committee reviews the file against internal policy. If the initial look is favorable, you’ll sit for a mandatory interview with a program officer. After the interview the division makes its final recommendation, and if accepted, the presiding judge signs the agreement, moving your case from the active trial docket to supervision.1Dallas County. General Felony Pre-Trial Diversion and Specialty Courts
What You’ll Have to Do
Conditions vary by track, but most participants share the same core obligations: regular meetings with a supervision officer, random drug and alcohol testing, community service at approved nonprofits, and payment of program fees. Some participants also attend classes tied to the original charge, such as substance abuse treatment or theft awareness.
The fee structure stacks. The $500 PTI fee is the baseline for standard felony agreements. CSCD supervision adds $102 monthly. The EAC track costs $202 total. AIM participants pay $500 subject to hardship adjustment. Any court costs ordered under the agreement are separate.1Dallas County. General Felony Pre-Trial Diversion and Specialty Courts
The most important condition is also the simplest: stay out of trouble. Any new arrest or legal violation during supervision can end your participation.
What Dismissal Gets You, and What Expunction Adds
When you finish, the DA’s office files a motion to dismiss. That ends the prosecution. No conviction, no probation record, no finding of guilt.1Dallas County. General Felony Pre-Trial Diversion and Specialty Courts
The dismissal alone does not erase the arrest. Booking and arrest records stay publicly accessible unless you expunge them. Article 55.01 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure specifically authorizes expunction for people who completed a pretrial intervention program under Government Code Section 76.011.3State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 55.01 – Right to Expunction Dallas County confirms that PTI cases are eligible for expunction immediately upon completion, with no waiting period.1Dallas County. General Felony Pre-Trial Diversion and Specialty Courts
Expunction is a separate civil proceeding. You file a petition, and if granted, the court orders every agency holding records of the arrest to destroy them. Once expunged, you can legally deny the arrest occurred on most job applications, housing forms, and background checks. The DA’s office does not file the expunction for you.
What Happens If You Fail
Removal from PTI isn’t a slap on the wrist. Your case goes back to the active trial docket and prosecution resumes on the original charges. The Community Supervision and Corrections Department monitors compliance and reports violations.
For state jail felonies, that means exposure to 180 days to two years in a state jail facility and a fine of up to $10,000.4State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.35 – State Jail Felony Punishment You also lose expunction eligibility, so any resulting conviction would stay on your record permanently.
Why PTI Beats Deferred Adjudication
People confuse these two constantly, and the confusion costs money and record visibility.
With pretrial diversion you never plead guilty. The deal is with the prosecutor, before the case runs the normal court course. Completion means dismissal and the right to expunge the arrest.
Deferred adjudication requires a guilty or no-contest plea in front of a judge. The judge defers the finding of guilt and places you on community supervision. Completion ends the case without a conviction, but the guilty plea and the deferred record remain visible. Expunction isn’t available. The ceiling is an order of nondisclosure, which seals the record from most public searches without destroying it, and some offenses aren’t eligible even for that.
If you qualify for PTI, it is almost always the better route.
Professional Licensing: Read This Before You Assume It’s Gone
Even after dismissal and expunction, professional licensing boards may still ask about pretrial diversion. The Texas Medical Board, for example, asks applicants directly whether they have ever been granted pretrial diversion, and verifies answers through fingerprint-based criminal history checks with DPS and the FBI.
Texas law generally prevents licensing authorities from treating a deferred adjudication dismissal as a conviction.5Texas Public Law. Texas Occupations Code 53.021 – Authority to Revoke, Suspend, or Deny License PTI sits in an even better position because there is no guilty plea and no adjudication at all. But boards can still ask, and lying on a licensing application creates its own grounds for denial or revocation.
If you hold or plan to pursue a license in healthcare, law, education, accounting, or any other regulated field in Texas, talk to your attorney about your disclosure obligations before assuming an expunged PTI record is invisible to licensing authorities.