If you or a loved one is seeking an expungement give us a call at 559-441-1418, we can help you with this process. As a criminal defense attorney with more than 14 years of criminal defense experience I have the experience to help you witth you expungement. Below I will talk about what effect and expungement has on your record and what an expungement will not do and the process of expungement.
WHAT EFFECT DOES AN EXPUNGEMENT HAVE ON YOUR RECORD?
Many people believe that after an expungement that nobody will be able to find there record. This is not correct and any Attorney telling you this is not giving you an accurate statement of the law. The expungement will not blot out destroy erase or make it so people will not be able to find the record.
WHAT GOOD IS THE EXPUNGEMENT IF THE RECORD IS NOT DESTROYED?
This is a good point where again there is much misinformation out there. An Expungment is always a good idea for your record to show that you have complied with the terms of the court and a update on your clets or rap sheet will show that the crime has been expunged. Meaning the court has dismissed or set aside the criminal conviction. This willl result in the defendant being able to truthfully state they were not convicted of a crime. However, that crime may still show up in records or in a fingerprint check. Again the actual file will not be destroyed. There will remain a court file a case number and maybe even fingerprints. But again as stated above you may truthfully state you have not been convicted of a crime. The court file will say set aside or dismissed. Ways in which the conviction can still be used
1. Exunged convictions can still be used as priors and strikes
2. Exunge convictions can still effect your driving privileges
3. Exunged convictions can still restrict your ability to possess a firearm
4. Expungements do not affect sex registry.
WHAT STEPS DO I TAKE TO GET A CONVICTION EXPUNGED?
1. First we determine if you are eligible for an expungement if you were sentenced to prision you will have to seek a certificate of rehab rather than an expungement.
2. We have to check is you have any outstanding misdemeanor or Felony cases. If you do you will not be granted expungement. You must wait until those matters are cleared and then seek an expungement.
3. Also you cannot exunge federal cases in state court.
4. If you have any outstanding warrants you must first clear those warrants.
GOING OVER YOUR RECORD
Me or my staff would go over your court records and then make sure there is no innnacuracies or other problems that need to be dealt with before proceeding with the court process.
We have to make sure we have the correct court name addresses, dates of convictions and so forth if there are innacuracies we need to clear those up to make sure we have an accurate record.
We will submit the paperwork for the expungement and then get you a court date. You will need to be present for that court date and we will discuss your case with the Judge and make the appearance for you.
As you can see this is a sometimes difficult process we have had clients come to us that have attempted this process on there own only to be frustrated and not get the required work done.
Instead give us a call and we can get you through this process we have helped many people before and we can help you. Give us a call 559441-1418.
