Get Your Past Convictions “Expunged“
from your Background and Records!
By: Paul Richard Peters, Esq., M.B.A.
Expunging your record is important and is happening more and more often throughout California. Doing this can help prevent a Past Police Record from ruining the rest of your life.
The Expungement Attorney has been helping people throughout Southern California for more than a decade, to expunge their records.
I know the Laws and Rules that must be followed to successfully gain expungement of your record.
Expunging your record can help you with:
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Employment -
Schooling
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Financial Aid
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Military Service
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Rental/Lease/Housing
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Self-Esteem
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Professional Licensing
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International Travel
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Personal Relationships
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Career Advancement
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…And so much more!
Under California Penal Code Section 1203.4, et al. a past criminal conviction can be “expunged” after a certain period of time and under certain specific conditions.
If you Successfully Completed Probation, most Felonies and/or Misdemeanors can be Expunged!
Expungement is allowed in order to let those who have been convicted of a crime in years past, who have now become law abiding members of society and otherwise have positive factors in their favor, to escape the lifelong “punishment” of being turned down for jobs, college enrollment, apartment leases, professional licenses, and more, because their past keeps coming up on background checks.
Expungement allows you to truthfully say “No” if asked about a Criminal Record on a Job Application Form.
It gives you a chance to “start over” in life in regard to your past police record in that background checks will now show “case dismissed” where they once stated “guilty” or “conviction.”
The Expungement Attorney can get your record expunged in most cases. However, there are certain conditions that must be met before you qualify.
If you don’t qualify for expungement, it’s possible you could qualify for another form of “record clearing” action – so don’t automatically give up before even talking to The Expungement Attorney.
Most Felonies and misdemeanors can be expunged. In fact, many felonies may also be a “wobbler,” which are offenses that could have been charged as a misdemeanor but for some reason were charged as a felony. In this case of wobbler felony convictions, The Expungement Attorney will seek to have these charges reduced prior to expungement/dismissal.
If you are currently being charged with or are under investigation for a new criminal offense, you will not be eligible for expungement.
If you were convicted under Federal Law or spent time in a State Prison, you also will Not qualify for Expungement and will need a Certificate of Rehabilitation.
If you are currently on probation for the charge you seek to have expunged, we will need to first petition the Court to terminate your probation early before you are able to seek expungement. The Expungement Attorney can help with seeking early termination of probation if that is your situation.
Thankfully, most people convicted in California qualify to have their records expunged. However, many people do not.
First, you cannot get your record expunged without first successfully completing probation. You may have to seek early termination of probation first. The Expungement Attorney can help with this.
You also must have met all of the terms and conditions of your grant of probation. You must have paid your fines and fees, gone to any counseling classes, completed any community service/labor requirements, etc.
You cannot get approved for Expungement if you spent time in Prison for the offense.
If you would have only spent time in County Jail had you been convicted before “Realignment,” then you may still be able to qualify. Realignment, under Proposition 47, refers to a time when incarceration and other sentencing elements for various California crimes underwent a major adjustment and “shifted” where inmates served time in California’s criminal justice system.
Finally, also be aware that certain particular offenses cannot be expunged, such as Penal Code § 187 Murder, Penal Code § 261.5 Statutory Rape (by one 21 or older of one 16 or under), and various other serious/violent “Strike” felonies, including certain crimes against children or the elderly. Contact The Expungement Attorney to discuss any questions you have in this regard.
The Expungement Attorney can assess whether or not you will be eligible for expungement of one or more convictions on your record. We can then submit your case through the expungement process.
There are many details and deadlines that have to be adhered to in filing the paperwork, and many legal protocols to adhere to during the hearing.
Unless every step is handled wisely, it could result in delays or even the ultimate denial of your expungement.
For example, each petition for expungement must be filed in the Court where you were charged with the offense, and a separate petition must be filed for each offense you want expunged. The Expungement Attorney can handle multiple expungement filings for you simultaneously, and can also file for early termination of probation if necessary.
The prosecution may or may not challenge the expungement petition. But if they do, it will be all the more important to have The Expungement Attorney arguing your case during the hearing. The presiding Judge at the hearing can accept or deny the expungement request, so everything culminates at the hearing.
You do not have to appear personally for the hearing, most likely, if The Expungement Attorney is allowed to represent you instead and handle the whole process with your consent.
If the Judge denies your petition, he or she will give me a list of reasons why and what adjustments the Court wants to see you make, before filing again. But, in fact, the great majority of expungement requests will be approved if handled by The Expungement Attorney.
In general, it takes from 4 to 8 weeks to go through the whole expungement process. The exact amount of time depends on the Court’s calendar itself, the nature of the offense to be expunged, whether or not the prosecution puts up a fight, which county you file in, and other factors.
The Expungement Attorney can do Everything Possible,
to Minimize the Wait…
Once the Court has approved your expungement, we will receive a copy of the signed order by the presiding Judge, indicating that effect.
Note that Expungement does not equal Sealing [see more on Sealing of Records below]. Background checks can still be run by anyone on you since criminal records are public. And the entry of the conviction will not be “blank,” but it will show “dismissed” in accord with PC 1203.4.
Thus, it will show you’ve “taken care of it” but will not simply “erase all trace” of the record. For that, you would need the record sealed and destroyed.
As you go into the expungement process, it’s important to understand from the outset what exactly expungement can and cannot do.
Once a conviction is expunged, it will show as dismissed on your police record instead of as a conviction. But it will not simply not show anything at all on the record, as in a complete erasure.
Employers are legally bound to not discriminate against those with an expunged offense on their record.
You can legally answer “No” when asked if you’ve ever been convicted of an offense that has now been expunged!
The only exception to your not having to answer “yes” to this question is if you:
- Are applying for a Law Enforcement, Public Official, or State Lottery Positions
- Are applying for a State issued Professional License*.
*See the Certificate of Detainment & Certificate of Rehabilitation sections below.
You will find it easier to obtain a good job, earn a state-issued professional license, get a good apartment lease, get approved for enrollment in a college or grad school, and in other ways seek to better your future once past convictions have been expunged from your record.
If called upon to be a witness in a Court case (where you are not the one being prosecuted), an expunged offense cannot be used to legally attack your credibility as a witness.
And there are immigration consequences, including possible deportation, that may be prevented due to expungement as well.
However, there are some limitations on what expungement can do. It cannot, for example, automatically restore firearms rights lost due to a felony conviction. It cannot undo a California driver’s license suspension/revocation due to DUI or another cause. Nor can expungement remove the requirement to register as a sex offender under Penal Code § 290, et al.
Furthermore, expunged convictions still count as priors if you are convicted of that offense or another relevant offense later on. And this has implications for future DUIs or for any violent crimes where California’s Three Strikes Law comes into play.
Thus, there are some limits to what an expungement can accomplish, but nonetheless, it can have a huge impact on one’s future career and life.
There was a day when expungements weren’t that important because virtually no one but police agencies had easy access to criminal records. But today, voluminous online databases make it possible for employers and others to view these records in very short order (often with only seconds’ wait time).
That makes it critical to improve your record as much as possible in order to stand the best chances of approval on job and other applications – especially when there is so much competition for open employment positions these days.
The Expungement Attorney can help you get your criminal convictions expunged whenever you meet the eligibility requirements set by State Law. And we can help you apply for an early termination of probation or a reduction of a charge from a felony to a misdemeanor in preparation for your expungement.
Other services we provide when expungement may not be the answer – or, as the case may be, in addition to an expungement petition…
First of all, we can assist you in sealing adult or juvenile criminal records. This refers to arrest records, however, and not to conviction records as with expungement.
An adult arrest record is normally open to public view, but there are many instances in which it can be sealed, meaning “taken off the public record.” In that case, only law enforcement agencies can view the record, and a few other situations like a prosecutor in a criminal case could arise where the records might be accessible. But basically, almost no one will ever be able to look at them again once sealed.
To qualify for arrest record sealing in California, at least one of the following must be true of the arrest in question:
- No charges were ever filed in Court.
- The case was dismissed.
- You were found “not guilty.”
- You were convicted but the conviction was overturned by an Appellate Court.
- You completed a Prop 36 diversion program.
- You completed a Penal Code § 1000 Deferred Entry of Judgment (DEJ) program.
It is generally even easier to seal a juvenile record. If you are now an adult, or in some cases if the Juvenile Court’s jurisdiction ended at least 5 years ago, and you haven’t been convicted (as an adult) of any other serious crimes, you can almost certainly have the juvenile record sealed – UNLESS the arrest was for the crimes of murder, robbery, or child molestation.
A juvenile record, once sealed, remains sealed for three years. After that, it will be destroyed entirely.
Once an arrest record is sealed, be it for an adult or juvenile offense, you can legitimately say you were never arrested for said crime in the State of California.
Juvenile records can be sealed both as to arrests and offenses. Adult records can be sealed for either as well, but it’s more difficult to seal adult conviction records – and the prosecution will likely challenge it. But, while most adult record sealing is for arrests only, sometimes you can go through a process of plea withdrawal and case dismissal and then get them sealed as to previous convictions.
In some cases, a better approach when applying for certain state issued professional licenses is to seek a Certificate of Detainment rather than an arrest record sealing.
The difference is that a Certificate of Detainment is a statement from the “arresting” agency that you were not technically arrested as such, but only “detained” by police during the relevant incident.
The difference between an arrest and a detainment is pretty thin legally, and the boundaries can be vague. But a signed Certificate from a law enforcement agency asserting it was a Detainment Only can make a big difference in some instances.
Another way you can help yourself get approved on an application for a state of California professional license is with a Certificate of Rehabilitation (COR). A COR has the force of a Court Order. It simply says that the recipient of the certificate has now been “Rehabilitated” from his or her criminal past, in regard to a particular offense(s).
You can’t apply for a COR until between 7 and 10 years have passed from your release date – the exact amount of wait time required depends on the nature of the offense.
A COR is only used when a conviction occurred; it is not used simply for arrests.
You cannot legally be denied a state-issued license simply because of a criminal conviction for which you have a Certificate of Rehabilitation. The rehabilitated status will show to employers who run a background check on you. And finally, anyone who receives a Certificate of Rehabilitation gets an automatic application for a Pardon from the Governor.
The Governor of the State of California has authority to issue pardons to anyone he/she chooses. A pardon from the Governor will eliminate all penalties to do with the relevant conviction. It results in total and permanent relief and is the “ultimate” way to “clear your record.”
Typically, you have to wait 10 years after release from custody (including probation/parole, not just incarceration time) before you can even apply for a pardon. But if you get a Certificate of Rehabilitation (discussed above), then you can sometimes apply in only 7 years.
If you are found factually innocent, then you may be able to apply for a Governor’s Pardon immediately, as well as have the criminal record sealed and destroyed.
Given the large number of law firms operating in Los Angeles, many of which will handle expungement cases among others, why you may ask should you use TheExpungementAttorney.com?
The first answer is that this is what we do. We are a criminal defense firm. The Expungement Attorney focuses in handling expungements, record sealing, and other similar practice areas. It is not an add-on with us: criminal cases are our passion, our focus, the center of our legal training and experience.
But beyond expertise, we also offer you integrity, dedication to the best interests of each and every client, and a sterling reputation in local L.A. communities that we’ve forged over the course of many years of service.
We take care to uphold full confidentiality and to show our clients all due respect, with the highest standards of professionalism always being our guide.
The Expungement Attorney has a long and strong track record of success at getting countless individuals’ records expunged and in gaining approval for other petitions submitted by our clients to the Courts.
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Paul Richard Peters, Esq., M.B.A.[/one_half_last]
We know how to build you a strong case as to why your record should be expunged, sealed, or cleared in some other way. We understand which evidences to use in a persuasive argument before the Judge at your hearing, no less than we know how to correctly complete and submit all the required forms and other paperwork.
☎ CONTACT US TODAY FOR IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE!
Now You Can Have:
- Record expungement
- Arrest record clearing
- Certificates of rehabilitation
- Early termination of probation
- Governor’s pardon
- … and several other means of clearing up past criminal records.
The Expungement Attorney stands ready to help you overcome a past police record of any kind that may be hindering your current lifestyle and future plans. We have helped numerous people throughout Southern California – and we can do the same for you!
Contact us today by calling (213) 973-6040, and we will give you a free consultation and a quick commencement to your case. Or, you can meet us in person at our office location at 4032 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 411, Los Angeles, CA 90010.
Paul Richard Peters, Esq., M.B.A. is an attorney, he is not your attorney. The use of this site does not create an attorney-client relationship. This site is not legal advice. Nothing herein is intended to nor constitutes a guarantee, warranty or prediction regarding the outcome of your legal matter. Every case is different and outcomes will vary depending on the unique facts and legal issues of your case.