California Expungement Attorney – Penal Code 1203.4 PC

Can An Expungement Attorney From My Rights Law Help Me Clear My Record?

Know your options on how to clean up your criminal past so that it doesn’t impact your future. My Rights Law’s Criminal Lawyers are happy to assist you with clearing your record. For a free consultation, contact the experienced expungement lawyers at My Rights Law at (888) 702-8882 or leave us a message on our secure contact form.

Expungement Eligibility

Have you been arrested and convicted of a crime? Is your criminal past haunting you and stopping you from specific jobs or careers? Once you have completed all terms of your sentence and probation is over, you may be able to have your conviction dismissed or expunged.[1] Request an expungement of your conviction so that it doesn’t follow you on every job application. You can then rest easy by checking that you have no criminal convictions.

California law allows for the expungement of many convictions. Once your conviction is expunged, you can also have the arrest and all related documents sealed so that there’s no evidence of an arrest. Eligibility and the process for expungements are included below in more detail.

Eligibility for an expungement requires that:

• Probation for the misdemeanor or felony was completed
• You did not serve any part of your sentence in state prison
• You have no pending charges, and you are not currently on probation
• You are not currently serving a sentence

Offenses Excluded From Expungement

Felony offenses must be reduced to misdemeanors before they can be expunged. You can file a petition with the court to reduce felony offenses to misdemeanors and include them in the Petition for expungement.

Not all convictions can be expunged. Serious offenses such as murder, arson, rape, and sex offenses involving children cannot be expunged.

When Can I Seek Expungement?

Probation must be completed. Not every case is eligible to be expunged or dismissed. To have the ability to file for an expungement or dismissal, you must have completed your probation. In other words, do everything the judge told you to do, and the full probationary term must be complete. Many people will file for expungement in their case, only to be told by the Court that their probation is not over.

Review By The Prosecuting Attorney

The prosecuting attorney on the case must be given 15 days’ notice of the Petition for expungement. Notice to the prosecutor is presumed once you have filed a proof of service with the court. If the prosecutor does not formally object, they waive their right to appeal the Petition.

Process

Once the court allows the defendant’s Petition for Expungement, the defendant will be permitted to withdraw their guilty plea or set aside the guilty verdict in the case of a guilty verdict. The court will then dismiss the accusations or information against the defendant. The defendant will be released from most penalties resulting from the offense. They can state they have no criminal convictions on job applications, professional license applications, and college applications.

Denial

If the court denies your Petition for Expungement, do not worry. You can refile your Petition in six months. Your new Petition can include additional facts or arguments for your expungement.

Sealing The Arrest

After the court has granted your Petition for Expungement, file a Petition to Seal the Arrest. California law permits those arrested but not convicted to have the arrest records sealed and destroyed. Once you have no conviction, you can then seal the arrest. All police reports, fingerprints, booking photos, and rap sheets will be deleted.

Remaining Penalties

Specific conditions of a conviction may remain after an expungement. Original terms of the sentence, such as restrictions on possessing a firearm, holding office, holding a state license, or having employment with the state Lottery Commission, would exist.

DUI Expungement – Penal Code 1203.4 PC

An expungement of a DUI conviction will not affect any license suspension[2]. Although the DUI is expunged, the original conviction may be considered for sentencing if you have a subsequent DUI conviction.

Since there are increased penalties for subsequent DUI convictions, an expunged DUI will still count as a first DUI if you are convicted of a subsequent DUI within ten years. An expunged DUI will not be erased if you incur a subsequent DUI. The prior expunged DUI will be viewed as a previous offense.

Marijuana & Proposition 64

California Proposition 64 legalized the recreational use, possession, and transportation of specific amounts of marijuana[3]. With this change in the law, those convicted of certain marijuana offenses that were felonies can now petition the Court to be re-sentenced as misdemeanors under Prop 64. They include:

• Sales of Marijuana
• Possession for Sales of Marijuana
• Cultivation of Marijuana

Once these offenses are reduced to misdemeanors, they can be petitioned to be expunged and sealed.

Welfare And Institutions Code 781 WIC Juvenile Offenses

If you were arrested or involved in a court case when you were under 18, the courts, police, schools, or other public agencies might have records about what you did. The court may automatically seal your records. You may file a petition to seal your records if they do not.

Certain juvenile criminal records are sealed and inaccessible by the general public in California[4]. Before age 18, only court personnel, parents, the minor, legal guardians, and attorneys involved in those cases or subsequent cases can access a minor’s criminal record. Once a person turns 18, they can petition the court to seal the record permanently. The record will become unavailable to any interested parties and destroyed five years after sealing.

However, there are some restrictions. Certain offenses cannot be sealed, including serious sex offenses that require registration as a sex offender or if your record is for an adult conviction.

Even if your records are sealed, some agencies may still be able to view them in the below circumstances:

• Prosecutors can look at your record to determine if you are eligible to participate in a deferred entry of a judgment or informal supervision program.
• The Court may see your records if you apply for benefits as a non-minor dependent (in extended foster care).
• Probation can look at programs you participated in if a new petition is filed against you for a felony offense. However, they cannot use that information to keep you in juvenile hall or punish you.
• The Court can look at your sealed records for sentencing on a new felony charge or determine if a new charge should be transferred to adult court.
• The Department of Justice can look at your records to make sure you do not buy or own a gun if you are not allowed this as part of your case.
• Prosecutors can ask the court for information to help them in a separate prosecution. However, they must notify you and your attorney, and you can object.

Check Your Criminal Record

There are ways to check your criminal history to confirm an expungement or see what you may want to expunge. You can request a copy of your records or get a copy of the police report from the local police department where you were arrested. The California Office of Attorney General can assist with obtaining a copy of your criminal history.

Call California Expungement Attorney My Rights Law Today

The defense attorney you choose can make the difference between having criminal charges dismissed or being severely punished. My Rights Law’s strong team of criminal lawyers have the resources and experience that enable us to pursue difficult cases yielding favorable results. We protect our clients through our expertise in the law and extensive experience in handling all misdemeanor and felony criminal cases including, but not limited to, alcohol-related crimes, drug crimes, violent crimes, domestic violence, sex crimes, crimes against children, theft crimes, juvenile crime, gun charges, property crimes, cybercrimes, traffic violations, public safety crimes, federal crimes, financial crimes, crimes against the government, crimes against justice, and inchoate crimes. We also specialize in restraining orders, pretrial diversion programs, and expungements.

My Rights Law’s expungement lawyers can help you get your criminal record expunged. Contact our expungement attorneys today if you have completed your probation and want to clear your name of any criminal history. We can assist in filing the appropriate petitions with the Court to get your convictions expunged and the arrest sealed. For a free consultation about the details of your case, contact the experienced attorneys at My Rights Law at (888) 702-8882 or immediately on our secure form.