Texas Bar verified. Reggie London (Texas Bar No. 24043514) and Njeri London (Texas Bar No. 24043266) are the co-founding partners of L and L Law Group, PLLC — based at 5899 Preston Rd, Suite 101 in Frisco, Texas (Collin County), with many 5-star Google reviews, and available 24/7 for confidential registry-defense consultations.
Texas administers its sex offender registry under Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 62. The framework determines who registers, for how long, at what risk level, and on what verification schedule. Our practice handles deregistration petitions, risk-level reviews, failure-to-register charges, and pre-charge plea restructuring across the nine DFW counties we serve.
Texas requires registration under Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 62 for any "reportable conviction or adjudication" defined in CCP Art. 62.001(5). The duty lasts either 10 years from sentence-discharge or for life, depending on the underlying offense. The Department of Public Safety administers the registry; a Council on Sex Offender Treatment risk level (Level 1, 2, or 3) controls whether the registrant appears on the public-notification portion. Early termination is available for some registrants through the deregistration petition under Art. 62.401–62.408. Failure to register under Art. 62.102 is generally a third-degree felony. The practice page below covers the full framework, defense strategies, and the DFW-specific procedural picture.
The Texas sex offender registration program sits in Chapter 62 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Texas Department of Public Safety administers the program, maintains the registry database, and operates the public-facing portion of the website. A registrant's duties begin at conviction or deferred adjudication and continue until the registration period expires or until a court terminates the duty through the deregistration process. The framework is administrative in form but criminal in consequence — missing a verification triggers a fresh felony charge.
Texas overlays this state framework with federal SORNA requirements under 34 U.S.C. § 20911. The federal scheme assigns each registrant a tier (I, II, or III) tied to the underlying offense, and tier classification controls registration baseline duration under federal law, interstate-travel notification, and the federal failure-to-register criminal exposure under 18 U.S.C. § 2250. Texas and federal duties run in parallel; complying with one does not automatically satisfy the other.
Within Texas, the public-versus-confidential portion of the registry is driven by the Council on Sex Offender Treatment risk level under Art. 62.007. Level 3 (high risk) registrants and most Level 2 (moderate risk) registrants appear on the public DPS website with photograph, address, and offense data; many Level 1 (low risk) registrants are non-public. The risk-level designation is not automatic — it is the result of an actuarial-instrument-driven evaluation by a Council-approved evaluator, applied by DPS, and reviewable through the risk-level review process.
Verification schedules under Art. 62.058 are tied to the underlying offense and the risk level. Most registrants verify in person at the local law-enforcement agency once a year; certain higher-tier registrants verify every 90 days. Address changes must be reported within seven days under Art. 62.055. Many local agencies have adopted additional reporting protocols (employment changes, vehicle changes, internet identifiers) that mirror federal SORNA. Compliance is administratively heavy, and the failure-to-register criminal exposure is severe.
The registration trigger is the definition of a "reportable conviction or adjudication" in CCP Art. 62.001(5). The statute lists categories of underlying offenses that trigger registration, all drawn from the Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, and analogous federal or sister-state statutes. The most frequently encountered triggers are offenses in Texas Penal Code Chapter 21 (indecency with a child, indecent exposure to a child, indecent assault), Section 22.011 (sexual assault), Section 22.021 (aggravated sexual assault), Section 33.021 (online solicitation of a minor), and Section 43.25 (sexual performance by a child).
Several non-obvious entries appear in the statute. Continuous sexual abuse of a young child under Section 21.02 is a lifetime trigger. Compelling prostitution under Section 43.05(a)(2) when the conduct involves a minor is a trigger. The Family Code Section 25.02 (prohibited sexual conduct, intra-family relationships) appears in some prosecutorial charging decisions even though its registration consequence is sometimes disputed. We evaluate the precise charging instrument against the Art. 62.001(5) text every time, because a charge that sits one element away from a registration-triggering subsection can sometimes be restructured pre-plea to avoid the duty entirely.
Foreign-jurisdiction convictions reach the Texas registry through subsection (H), which captures any out-of-state or federal offense "substantially similar" to a Texas trigger. The substantial-similarity determination is made administratively by DPS and is reviewable. We have seen DPS apply the standard inconsistently across registrants with similar out-of-state cases, and the determination is fact-intensive enough to warrant counsel review whenever a registrant relocates into Texas from another state.
Juvenile adjudications under Family Code Chapter 54 can trigger registration but typically not the public-notification portion. The default rule is that juvenile registration is confidential unless the juvenile was certified to adult court or unless a juvenile court enters an order requiring public registration after a hearing. Certification to adult court under Family Code Section 54.02 dramatically changes the registration posture, and registration consequences should be a primary consideration in juvenile transfer litigation.
Military convictions under the Uniform Code of Military Justice are addressed through a separate substantial-similarity analysis. A general court-martial conviction for an offense substantially similar to a Texas reportable offense triggers registration; a summary court-martial typically does not. Discharge characterization affects the analysis collaterally but does not control the registration question.
Under CCP Art. 62.007, every registrant receives a numeric risk level (Level 1 low, Level 2 moderate, Level 3 high) based on the recommendation of a Council on Sex Offender Treatment-approved evaluator. The Council promulgates the risk-assessment standards through the Texas Risk Assessment Council. The Static-99R is the most commonly used actuarial instrument for adult male registrants; the JSORRAT-II is used for juvenile-male registrants; female and adolescent-female registrants use different validated instruments where available.
The Static-99R scores ten static risk factors — age at release, relationship to victim, prior sentencing dates, prior sexual offenses, non-contact sex offenses, index non-sexual violence, prior non-sexual violence, any unrelated victims, any stranger victims, and any male victims — under the published Coding Rules. The total score maps to a five-tier risk category (I through IV-a/b) correlated with statistical recidivism rates over five and ten years. Texas overlays this actuarial output onto its three-level designation. The CSOT evaluator's scoring and final recommendation are submitted to DPS, which adopts the level for the public-notification determination.
The risk-level review process under the DPS administrative framework allows a registrant to request reconsideration when new evidence supports a different level. New evidence can include a more recent CSOT evaluation, treatment-program completion records, sustained period of no re-offense, stable employment, stable housing, and other dynamic factors that the original actuarial-only assessment did not capture. A counseled risk-level review with a refreshed independent CSOT evaluation has produced level downgrades in cases where the initial designation was set conservatively at the maximum-risk tier based on a single index offense.
A risk-level downgrade is procedurally distinct from deregistration. A successful downgrade moves the registrant from Level 2 or Level 3 to Level 1, often removing the registrant from the public-notification portion of the registry while leaving the underlying registration duty in place. For some registrants, this is the most consequential procedural relief available short of full deregistration, because the public-notification piece drives most of the long-tail housing, employment, and reputational consequences.
The Texas deregistration framework lives in CCP Art. 62.401–62.408 (Subchapter I). The statute creates a procedural pathway for early termination of registration when Texas would require longer registration than federal SORNA would require for the same conduct. Eligibility is gatekeeping: the underlying offense must appear on the Council on Sex Offender Treatment's published list of deregistration-eligible offenses. Lifetime-only offenses (most aggravated cases and most child-victim cases) are not eligible.
The petition is filed in the original court of conviction under Art. 62.402 and must include a Council-approved expert evaluation. The expert performs an updated risk assessment using the actuarial instrument appropriate to the registrant (Static-99R for most adult males), reviews collateral risk and protective factors, and submits a written report addressing the public-interest standard. The State (DA or specially designated prosecutor) is served and has the right to appear and oppose. The court holds a hearing under Art. 62.404 and decides on the public-interest balance.
The granting standard under Art. 62.404 is whether early termination is "in the best interest of justice and not detrimental to the public safety." Courts assess the expert's findings, the registrant's compliance history, time since the index offense, treatment-program completion, employment and housing stability, and any victim-impact submissions. We pair the CSOT evaluation with a curated factual record (compliance log, employment verifications, treatment certificates, character letters) and a written motion that addresses each public-interest factor explicitly. The granted-petition rate varies by county and by judge, and the order terminating registration under Art. 62.408 takes effect when DPS receives the certified order.
A denied petition can be re-filed after a reasonable interval if new facts emerge. We treat the first hearing as the merits hearing and prepare the full evidentiary record at the first opportunity; we do not treat the deregistration motion as a test-run filing.
Failure to comply with a registration duty is criminalized under CCP Art. 62.102, which is generally a third-degree felony punishable by 2 to 10 years in TDCJ-ID and up to a $10,000 fine. The offense escalates to a second-degree felony for registrants required to verify more frequently than annually (typically Level 3 or certain underlying-offense categories) and to a state-jail felony for certain residency or work-related reporting failures. Charges most commonly arise from missed in-person verification appearances, untimely address-change reports, employment-status changes, and failure to report vehicle or internet-identifier changes.
The lack-of-notice defense under Lambert v. California, 355 U.S. 225 (1957), applies when the registrant can show the State did not provide actual notice of the registration duty. Texas case law accepts the Lambert principle but limits its reach — once notice is established (typically by the trial court's admonishments at plea or by DPS's notice form), the lack-of-notice defense becomes difficult. We push on the timing and adequacy of notice, especially in pre-2005 cases and in cases where the original sentencing court did not include a registration admonishment in the plea paperwork.
The impossibility defense addresses scenarios where the registrant could not have complied — medical incapacity during the verification window, jail confinement during the address-change window, administrative DPS-system failures preventing access, or natural-disaster displacement. The defense requires contemporaneous documentation and is most viable in cases where the State's failure-to-register theory is purely administrative rather than evasive.
False registration under Art. 62.101 (false statement on a registration form) is a separate criminal exposure with its own elements and defenses. The State must prove the falsity element with evidence beyond the registrant's facially incorrect entry; a clerical error or a registrant's good-faith misunderstanding of a form question is not falsity. We have resolved several Art. 62.101 charges by demonstrating that the registrant's form entry was either substantively correct or reflected a reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous form prompt.
Residency-restriction enforcement under Texas Penal Code § 42.092 (child-safety zones) is most common for registrants on probation or parole with child-victim conditions. Constitutional challenges to overlapping municipal residency ordinances remain active. The Fifth Circuit and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals have addressed several local-versus-state preemption questions; we evaluate which restrictions actually apply to a given registrant's status before assuming the broadest restriction.
The registry timeline begins with the underlying criminal case and continues through the registration period. The chart below sketches the four primary phases that most registrants experience. Each phase has its own counseled-decision points, and our work spans the entire continuum — from pre-plea charge structuring through long-tail deregistration petitions.
L and L Law Group represents registrants in Collin County (registration with the Frisco PD, Plano PD, McKinney PD, and other municipal agencies, and registry-related court matters at the Russell A. Steindam Courts Building in McKinney); Dallas County (registration through Dallas PD divisions and the Sheriff's Office, with court matters at the Frank Crowley Courts Building); Denton County (registration through the Sheriff's Office and municipal agencies, with court matters at the Denton County Courts Complex); and Tarrant County (registration through Fort Worth PD and the Sheriff's Office, with court matters at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center).
We also handle registry matters in Rockwall County (Sheriff's Office registration, Rockwall County Courthouse for deregistration petitions and related litigation), Kaufman County (Sheriff's Office registration and the Kaufman County Courthouse), Ellis County (Sheriff's Office registration and the Waxahachie courthouse), Johnson County (Sheriff's Office registration and the Cleburne courthouse), and Hunt County (Sheriff's Office registration and the Greenville courthouse). The procedural rules under Chapter 62 are uniform, but the local-practice picture — courtroom culture, prosecutor charging policy, and registry-compliance enforcement habits — varies meaningfully across these jurisdictions, and we plan each case with that local-practice picture in view.
For registrants moving among DFW counties, the practical compliance picture involves coordinating address changes with the prior and the new local law-enforcement agencies and with DPS. Failure-to-register charging decisions sometimes arise from inter-agency communication gaps, and our pre-charge work focuses on closing those gaps before any criminal exposure attaches.
The subject matter of sex offender registration is sensitive, and registrants frequently report that prior counsel handled the case as administrative paperwork rather than as a high-stakes criminal matter. We treat registry work as criminal defense work. Reggie and Njeri London are co-founding partners; every retainer is handled directly by one or both partners, with no paralegal screen, no junior-associate handoff, and confidential intake from the first call.
Our combined experience includes prosecution-side perspective (Reggie's prior Dallas County Assistant District Attorney service) and trial-trained defense motion practice (Njeri's federal-court admissions in TXND, TXED, and the Fifth Circuit, with concentrated Fourth Amendment and statutory-interpretation work). On the registry side specifically, that combination produces a defense posture that is technically accurate on the Chapter 62 framework and credibly trial-ready when a failure-to-register case proceeds past the negotiation phase.
We handle deregistration petitions, risk-level reviews, failure-to-register charges, residency-restriction litigation, and pre-charge plea-restructuring across the nine DFW counties. Initial consultations are confidential and free. Most clients hear back from a partner within an hour of contact.
Free consultation. We discuss deregistration eligibility, risk-level posture, and any registration-violation exposure on the first call.
Call (972) 370-5060The Council-approved evaluator pool varies substantially in actuarial-scoring methodology and report quality. Selecting an evaluator whose work product addresses both the actuarial output and the dynamic-factor record is decisive for risk-level reviews and deregistration petitions. We coordinate evaluator selection, scope the evaluation engagement, and supply the evaluator with the curated factual record that will appear in the final report.
Filed in the original court of conviction with the Council-approved evaluator's report, a compliance-history exhibit, treatment-program documentation, and a written brief addressing each public-interest factor. We prepare the merits hearing as the first hearing, with full evidentiary record and witnesses (treatment-program directors, employers, supportive family) where the public-interest case benefits from live testimony.
For registrants whose initial Level 2 or Level 3 designation was set conservatively based on a single index event, a refreshed CSOT evaluation paired with a documented compliance-and-stability record can support a level downgrade through the DPS review process. A downgrade can remove the registrant from the public-notification portion without requiring full deregistration.
Under Lambert v. California, 355 U.S. 225 (1957), proof that the State failed to provide actual notice of the registration duty is a constitutional defense to a failure-to-register charge. We push the lack-of-notice theory in pre-2005 cases, in cases where the plea-court admonishment record is incomplete, and in cases where DPS notice forms reached the wrong address.
The single most consequential registry-defense move happens before any plea is entered. Negotiating a disposition to a non-§62.001(5) offense — even where the underlying conduct is the same — can avoid the registration duty entirely. We assess each charging instrument against the Art. 62.001(5) text and structure plea negotiations around the registration consequence in addition to the punishment-range consequence.
For relocating registrants, DPS makes a substantial-similarity determination under Art. 62.001(5)(H). The determination is fact-intensive and reviewable. We have challenged substantial-similarity findings where the out-of-state offense lacks an element corresponding to the Texas trigger or where the out-of-state offense covers conduct that Texas treats as non-reportable.
Overlapping municipal residency ordinances and child-safety-zone provisions under Penal Code § 42.092 sometimes create compliance-impossibility scenarios. We evaluate which restrictions actually attach to a given registrant's status (probation versus parole versus discharged) and bring constitutional challenges where the local ordinance is preempted or facially overbroad.
| Authority | Holding / relevance |
|---|---|
| Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 (2003) | Held that Alaska's sex offender registration law was non-punitive for ex post facto purposes. Establishes the constitutional framework under which state registries operate; sets up the analytical posture for federal challenges to retroactive registration extensions. |
| Connecticut Dep't of Public Safety v. Doe, 538 U.S. 1 (2003) | Held that procedural due process does not require an individualized current-dangerousness hearing before a state may include a registrant on its public registry. Limits the procedural-due-process arguments available against the public-notification posture absent state-law hooks. |
| Ex parte Robinson, 116 S.W.3d 794 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003) | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decision addressing collateral consequences of sex offender registration for plea-withdrawal and post-conviction relief purposes. Useful authority on the registration duty as a direct consequence of a reportable plea. |
| Lambert v. California, 355 U.S. 225 (1957) | Established the constitutional notice requirement for a registration-type duty: a passive failure to register cannot be punished without proof the registrant had actual knowledge of the duty. Foundational authority for the lack-of-notice defense to a failure-to-register charge. |
| Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 62.401 | The deregistration petition statute. Authorizes early termination of registration when Texas requires longer registration than federal SORNA would for the same conduct, and the offense appears on the Council-eligible list. Procedural mechanism for the principal post-conviction relief available to registry-eligible offenders. |
| Static-99R Coding Rules (Phenix, Helmus & Hanson, current edition) | The published actuarial instrument used by Council on Sex Offender Treatment evaluators. Provides the scoring framework that drives the risk-level designation under Art. 62.007 and the risk assessment in the deregistration evaluation under Art. 62.404. |
A registrant is eligible to petition for early termination if Texas requires a longer registration period than federal SORNA would require for the same conduct, and the offense appears on the Council on Sex Offender Treatment's published list of deregistration-eligible offenses. The trial court of the original conviction is the proper venue. A motion under Art. 62.402–62.408 requires a Council-approved expert evaluation and a hearing.
Registration is either 10 years from discharge of sentence or for life, depending on the offense. CCP Art. 62.101 distinguishes lifetime offenses (most aggravated and child-victim cases) from 10-year offenses (most non-aggravated reportable convictions). The clock for the 10-year period generally starts the day the registrant is discharged from parole, probation, or sentence, whichever is later.
Lifetime registration applies to convictions for aggravated sexual assault, continuous sexual abuse of a young child, sexual assault when the victim is under 17, indecency with a child by contact, and most second offenses regardless of class. The 10-year period applies to non-aggravated reportable convictions where the registration duty does not statutorily extend for life. The exact list appears in CCP Art. 62.101(a)–(c).
Yes. Deferred adjudication for a reportable offense triggers the registration duty in the same way as a conviction. CCP Art. 62.001(5) defines a reportable conviction or adjudication to include deferred adjudication. The duty attaches even if the case is later successfully dismissed at the end of the deferred term — the proper pathway to terminate registration after a successful deferred is the deregistration petition, not expunction.
The Static-99R is an actuarial instrument that scores ten static risk factors and produces a five-tier risk classification correlated with statistical recidivism rates. Texas uses the Static-99R as one input to the risk-level determination process under CCP Art. 62.007. A Council on Sex Offender Treatment evaluator selects the instrument, scores it under its Coding Rules, and submits findings as part of the risk-level review.
Yes. A registrant can request reconsideration of a risk-level designation when new evidence supports a downgrade — typically a new Council-approved evaluation or a change in the registrant's circumstances (treatment completion, time without re-offense, stable employment, stable housing). The petition is filed with DPS through the risk-level review process and may be supported by an independent CSOT evaluator's opinion.
Missing a required verification appearance or address-change report can result in a failure-to-register charge under CCP Art. 62.102, which is generally a third-degree felony (and a second-degree felony for certain repeat or aggravated cases). Defenses include lack of actual notice under Lambert v. California, statutory impossibility, and clerical error. We address charging documents and pre-indictment intervention first when the State has not yet filed.
Yes, if your out-of-state offense is "substantially similar" to a Texas reportable offense under CCP Art. 62.001(5)(H). DPS makes the substantial-similarity determination, and that determination can be challenged at a hearing. New residents must register within seven days of establishing a Texas residence. The duration of registration in Texas may differ from your prior state's requirement.
Juvenile adjudications under Family Code Chapter 54 may require registration but are generally not on the public-notification portion of the DPS website unless the juvenile was certified to adult court or unless the court orders public registration after a hearing. The default rule for juveniles is confidential registration, and the registration may be subject to sealing or non-disclosure under separate statutes.
Sometimes, through plea negotiation pre-conviction. If the State will accept a plea to a non-reportable offense (one that captures the same conduct without triggering §62.001(5)), the registration duty never attaches. Once a final reportable conviction or deferred adjudication is on the record, post-conviction restructuring is generally not available except through a successful appeal, habeas corpus relief, or the deregistration process under Art. 62.401.
Texas Penal Code §42.092 (child-safety-zone violations) restricts proximity to schools, daycares, and similar premises for certain registrants, particularly those on parole or probation with child-victim conditions. Many DFW municipalities have layered local residency ordinances on top of the state framework. Constitutional challenges to overlapping local ordinances are ongoing; we evaluate which restrictions apply to each registrant's specific status before assuming the broadest restriction.
No. An expunction or non-disclosure order under Government Code Chapter 411 generally does not extinguish the underlying registration duty for a reportable offense — the duty is tied to the conviction or adjudication itself, not to whether the record is public. The proper procedural pathway to terminate registration is the deregistration petition under CCP Art. 62.401, not expunction or non-disclosure.
In our practice, we have handled deregistration petitions under CCP Art. 62.401 in Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant County district courts; risk-level downgrade reviews through the DPS administrative process; failure-to-register defense at every felony level from state-jail through second-degree; and pre-charge plea-restructuring on cases at risk of becoming reportable. Reggie's prior Dallas County prosecutor experience and Njeri's federal motion-practice background combine to handle the registry framework as criminal-defense work, not paperwork.
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L&L Law Group represents clients across North Texas counties for DWI, assault, drug crimes, juvenile defense, outstanding warrants, bond reduction, and expunction matters.
