| On July 29, 2013, 35-year-old Christopher Dauer was arrested in Jones County, Texas, and charged with failing to register as a sex offender.
When Dauer was 16, he was convicted in California of committing lewd acts with a child. Based on that prior conviction, Dauer’s attorney advised him to plead guilty to the charge in Texas.
On December 10, 2013, Dauer pled guilty in Jones County Criminal District Court. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
Dauer was released on parole on October 21, 2014. In 2017, Dauer’s parole officer discovered that the Texas sex offender registration law terminates the registration requirement for juveniles 10 years after the original conviction was discharged.
Since Dauer had been discharged of the California conviction on October 20, 2000, his registration requirement actually had ended on October 20, 2010—nearly three years before his arrest on July 29, 2013.
In August 2017, Attorney Jeffrey Propst filed a state law petition for a writ of habeas corpus asking that Dauer’s conviction be vacated. The Jones County District Attorney’s Office supported the motion.
On February 15, 2018, Jones County District Judge Brooks Hagler recommended that the writ be granted. On March 21, 2018, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted the writ and vacated Dauer’s conviction.
On March 22, 2018, the prosecution dismissed the charge.
– Maurice Possley
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