Los Angeles Expungement Lawyer

In California, an Expungement is a legal process by which your entire criminal record is erased in the eyes of the law. Your criminal record can be expunged of all eligible felony and misdemeanor charges. A petition to expunge your criminal record should be filed by a qualified criminal defense attorney. After you successfully expunge your record, felony and misdemeanor charges will be wiped from the slate, as if they never occurred.

If you are not facing any current charges or on probation for another offense and your sentence did not involve state prison (as opposed to county jail), California allows you to have your conviction expunged after you complete your probation. If you were not placed on probation, you can have your record expunged one year after your conviction.

Keep in mind that you can only have one conviction cleared at a time, and that you must follow the necessary steps to have each individual offense removed from your record. Not all convictions can be cleared from your record, so please call today to discuss your expungement with one of our skilled California expunge criminal record lawyers.

REDUCTION OF FELONY TO MISDEMEANOR

One of the most important elements in clearing your criminal record is determining if the offense was a misdemeanor or felony. If it was a felony, you must first reduce it to a misdemeanor. Reduction to a misdemeanor under Penal Code sections 17(b)(1), (2), or (3) should usually be sought before seeking postjudgment dismissal under Pen C 1203.4 and 1203.4(a). It is clearly much better for a defendant to have a dismissed misdemeanor rather than a dismissed felony.

If the courts grant probation without the imposition of sentence, the court, on application, may later declare the case to be a misdemeanor. As such, this discretion applies only to "wobblers," i.e., offenses chargeable as either felonies or misdemeanors.

California Penal Code 17(b) states that, on the grant of this relief, the crime is a misdemeanor "for all purposes."

DISMISSAL AFTER PROBATION (PEN C 1203.4)

Most defendants who have successfully completed probation can petition the court to set aside the jury verdict of guilty, or permit withdrawal of guilty or no contest pleas, order the no-guilty plea reinstated, and dismiss the accusation or information (criminal charges). The petition can also be filed before probation ends when the court determines it is in the interest of justice under California Penal Code section 1203.4. In addition, 1203.4 relief is not available to defendants who were convicted of most felony child molestation offenses, a few other sex offenses, a few traffic offenses, and infractions.

The real practical effect of an expungement is that, by law, an employer cannot ask any applicant about any misdemeanor conviction dismissed under this section. In most other respects, the only certain effect is that it gives a defendant the right to state that there was a conviction, but that it was dismissed.

This relief does not permit a person to own, posses, or have in his or her custody or control any firearm capable of being concealed on the person nor does this relief prevent a person from being convicted as an ex-offender in possession of a gun under California Penal Code section 12021, which is not restricted to ex-felons. That code section also covers a wide variety of misdemeanors either temporarily or permanently and also covers some juvenile offenses.

Persons convicted of Vehicle Code 2800 or 2801, or certain parts of 2803, and persons convicted of any infraction are not eligible to apply for expungement.

Stephen G. Rodriguez is an experienced Los Angeles Expungement Attorney. If you are interested in Expunging your criminal record, and need a criminal defense attorney, call Stephen G. Rodriguez at (213) 223-2173.