Under the Texas Penal Code enhancement scheme, a life sentence must be assessed to a defendant who commits a sexual offense listed in 12.42(c)(2)(A) if that defendant has previously been convicted of a sexual offense listed in 12.42(c)(2)(B). The deferred adjudication statute provided that a discharged deferred adjudication would not be considered a conviction except in certain enumerated circumstances: A dismissal and discharge under this section may not be deemed a conviction for the purposes of disqualifications or disabilities imposed by law for conviction of an offense except that Tex. Code Crim. Proc., Art. 42.12, 5(c)(1990). None of the exceptions involved the use of a deferred adjudication to enhance a subsequent offense. In 1997, 12.42 was amended to add a provision that makes a deferred adjudication count as a conviction under subsection (c)(2)(B), regardless of whether sentence was ever imposed or the defendant was subsequently discharged from community supervision: For the purposes of Subsection (c)(2): (1) a defendant has been previously convicted of an offense listed under Subsection (c)(2)(B) if the defendant was adjudged guilty of the offense or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in return for a grant of deferred adjudication, regardless of whether the sentence was ever imposed or whether the sentence was probated and the defendant was subsequently discharged from community supervision. In the same bill that amended 12.42, the Legislature also amended the "disqualifications and disabilities" clause of Article 42.12, 5(c) to accommodate the change in 12.42(g)(1): "Except as provided by Section 12.42(g), Penal Code, a dismissal and discharge under this section may not be deemed a conviction for the purposes of disqualifications or disabilities imposed by law for conviction of an offense" (1997 amendatory language italicized).