A criminal record can be quite damaging. When you are sentenced for a crime in California, you have a permanent criminal record. Anyone who runs a background check on you will find out about it. When you apply for a job, you have to admit it. Thus, a conviction is something you carry with you forever. It could influence the way people see or think about you. For instance, a potential employer’s decision could be affected by your past conviction.
Fortunately, California law gives past defendants a chance to clear their criminal records through expungement. The state expungement law allows you to re-enter a plea of not guilty or to withdraw your plea of guilty or no contest. When granted, you will be released from all the criminal consequences of a conviction. Therefore, if you have a damaging felony conviction and would like to have it expunged from your criminal record, you could contact an experienced criminal attorney for help and guidance.
Expungement of Felony Cases in California
Expungement refers to a legal process in which particular offenses are removed or diminished from an offender’s criminal record. California PC 1203.4 states that a person who has a felony or misdemeanor conviction in their criminal record and has met their conviction and probation conditions could qualify to have a court expunge their conviction. When a court expunges your criminal record, it will reopen your case and set aside or dismiss the guilty plea. An expungement will release you from all consequences and disabilities you incurred through the conviction.
However, it is essential to note that you cannot fully erase a criminal account from the public view in California. However, expungement could alter the record to appear as dismissed. Thus, you may not experience harsh judgment like you would if the conviction remained in your criminal record as it is.
Expungement comes with several benefits. For instance, you’ll never again be mandated to disclose the expunged case when seeking employment in the private sector. As previously mentioned, a criminal history could cause a potential employer to think twice about giving you a job. If you apply for the expungement of your criminal conviction, you minimize your chances of losing an opportunity to find suitable employment.
It’s no secret that many people with criminal records have been experiencing difficulties in securing a job. Employers in private sectors are required by law to treat expunged convictions as if they do not exist.
However, you’ll be obliged to disclose the conviction to a potential employer when seeking employment in the public sector. Fortunately for you, California law makes it an offense for employers to discriminate against employees or potential employees based on their expunged convictions.
Thus, expungement will make it easier for you to secure a job in the public and private sectors.
It will make it easier for you to join a professional organization or acquire a professional license.
Expungement could also help you avoid immigration consequences like deportation from the United States. Your expunged criminal conviction will not affect your efforts to seek admission into the U.S.
The Limitations
However, it is good to know the limitations that come with expungement.
For instance, having a court expunge your criminal conviction doesn’t mean that the court will delete the record from the public view. Some entities will still be able to find it if they run a background check on you.
Additionally, the expungement of some convictions may not restore all the rights you lost with the sentence. For instance, if a California court convicted you of committing a felony using a firearm, an expungement of that conviction record won’t restore your rights to possess or purchase a gun.
In some cases, a conviction will still impact your driving privilege even after expungement.
If a particular conviction impacted your rights to hold a public office, an expungement might not restore those rights.
If a conviction called for your mandatory registration as a state sex offender, the expungement for that conviction would not free you from that requirement. Therefore, your status as a listed sex offender in California will also remain public.
Sometimes judges can use your expunged convictions against you in the sentencing of future offenses. For instance, if the expunged conviction was a strike under the California Three Strikes Law, it will still influence the subsequent sentences even if it has already been expunged from your criminal record.
However, you could resolve some of these limitations through legal means like receiving a Governor’s pardon. In other cases, courts can reduce felony convictions to misdemeanors. That would restore some of the rights you are likely to lose even after expungement, like gun rights.
It could help to work with an experienced criminal attorney for proper guidance.
Familiarizing with the Case Details
If you wish to have your felony case expunged from your criminal record, it is vital first to understand the facts of your case. Not all felony cases can be dismissed. Additionally, there could be facts of your case, which might alter the facts of the filing process. Therefore, take time to understand the aspects of the specific case you wish to have expunged and establish whether you’re qualified for expungement. A competent criminal attorney could help with this. Here are some of the steps you could take:
Obtain the Copies of Your Felony Case
The judge would have included all the information you might need regarding the case in the court documents you received after the conviction. Other records of your case would be with your attorney, probation or parole officer, or in the court that determined your case. You could also find these documents from the website of the State Office of the Attorney General or the State’s Department of Justice Criminal Record Review Unit. You’ll be expected to pay a small fee to access some of these records. But you might be eligible for a waiver if you’re able to provide proof of your income.
Determine Your Eligibility for Expungement
You could qualify for expungement if you meet these requirements:
- You’ve been sentenced to a felony
- You aren’t facing criminal charges at the moment
- You aren’t serving a conviction for a crime at the moment
- You have completed probation or applied for termination of your probation
- You don’t have outstanding court fines
- You’ve completed your penalties and all the requirements, including completion of court-ordered programs and community service.
- Your charges and conviction were in a court within the state, not federal court.
- If you were not on probation, it’s been more than a year since you were convicted.
- If your sentence included jail time for a felony offense, it must have been more than two years since completing your penalties.
Note that felonies that can easily be expunged are those that can first be converted to misdemeanors. The underlying offense must be a wobbler in California, and the prosecutor could have charged it as a misdemeanor if the details of the case were different.
Here are some instances when your felony case may not qualify for expungement:
- Your conviction happened in a federal court.
- Your sentence included state prison time as opposed to jail time
- Your probation is ongoing and has been unable to apply for early termination
- You’re facing criminal charges, serving a conviction., or on probation but for another crime
- Your conviction was for specific sex offenses against children, like child pornography and oral copulation with a minor
Note the Aspects of Your Conviction
If there are several convictions in your criminal record, you would want to master the facts of the specific conviction you want the court to expunge from your criminal record. The most important of these details include:
- Your case or docket number
- Whether your case had a verdict
- Whether you entered a plea — It would be helpful to note the specific plea you entered.
- The aspects of your conviction — Whether you were sentenced to jail or prison, the specific jail or prison, whether you were released, the date and details of your release.
Know Your Probation Status
Your probation status might affect your eligibility for expungement. Therefore, make sure you have completed probation before initiating the process. If the judge never placed you on probation, you’ll still be eligible for probation.
However, you could experience some challenges if you’re still on probation or serving probation for another criminal offense.
Fortunately for you, the law allows you to apply for early termination of probation for the offense whose conviction you want to be expunged from your criminal record. To do that, have your criminal attorney request the court for termination on your behalf. Note that the court has total discretion in terminating probation. Once it receives your petition, you’ll be summoned for a hearing to discuss the following details of your case:
- The seriousness of your conviction
- Your previous criminal record
- Whether it will be easy for you to find a job once the court terminates your probation
- Why you deserve to have the court terminate your probation
- Your connections within the community
Note that the court’s decision will be based on several factors, including your performance throughout the probation period.
Whether or not you violated your probation condition will not be a reason to grant or deny your petition.
The Process — Filing for Felony Case Expungement
Once you have gone through all the requirements above and are confident of your eligibility for expungement, you can start the expungement process with the help of your criminal attorney. Here are the basic steps to take in applying for expungement:
Hire a Criminal Attorney
The California justice system is a little complex and might not be easy to navigate by an ordinary person. The expungement process is even more complicated. Thus, you stand a better chance of succeeding if a competent criminal attorney represents you. Choose to engage the help of a criminal attorney who has excellent knowledge and experience in criminal law. He/she will take you through all the processes to ensure that you have completed all the requirements for a successful application.
Obtain and Fill Out The Required Documents
Your attorney will help you determine the documents you need to fill in when requesting the expungement. Since your interest is to have your felony case deleted, you must first fill out the necessary documents to ask the court to reduce the felony into a misdemeanor.
Remember that you can only do this if the facts of your case involve a wobbler. It is an offense that the prosecutor can charge as a misdemeanor or felony, based on the facts of the case and the defendant’s criminal history.
California courts can reduce felony cases to misdemeanors through an application by the defendant to the court. In most cases, these requests are granted.
However, if you wish to remove a felony case for an offense that is not a wobbler, you may need to prepare and submit a form under California PC 17(b)(3), the law under which other felony cases could be reduced.
These forms are usually available in courthouses, though your attorney can help you outline your form.
Once the court agrees to reduce your felony case to a misdemeanor, you should be able to file a request to the court for the dismissal of the misdemeanor, as provided under California PC 1203.4. You should find the necessary form in the courthouse or as a download on the courthouse’s website.
Once you fill out all the required forms, attach the necessary documents, and then submit them to the courthouse. Ensure you have included all the documents that could strengthen your application, including a note from your character referee and proof that you have completed probation or community service.
Filing for Expungement
The filing for felony case expungement is complete once all the required documents are submitted to the court. California law gives petitioners and courts about four to five months to complete expungement for felony cases.
Once the court receives your petition, it will give you a court date according to the order by which you filed your forms. Note that you’ll file the petition for expungement in a court within the same county where your case was concluded.
You can submit the paperwork in person through the court clerk. If that is not possible, you can mail them to the court. Ask your attorney whether or not you’ll be expected to serve the probation department or district attorney with a copy of your petition.
Pay all the necessary fees to complete the application. The amount of money you pay as court fees will depend on your county. You can find details regarding court fees for various petitions on the specific court’s website.
If, for some reason, you cannot afford the court fees, your attorney will guide you on how to apply for financial assistance.
Prepare for the Hearing
It helps to be well prepared for a hearing like this. Therefore, plan regular meetings with your legal counsel to ensure that you are ready for the hearing when the day comes.
Several issues will be discussed in the hearing, including why the court could deny your request for expungement. You should be ready to answer every reason given by the judge to support your petition. Thus, you might need to gather more evidence regarding your case to support your petition.
Also, you’ll be required to have a well-prepared statement that you’ll deliver during the hearing. Submit copies of the statement to the court, together with other documents.
Note that hearings like these occur before a court judge and not a jury. They only take about ten minutes.
The court’s decision on whether to grant or deny your petition will be based on:
- The nature of your charges
- Your parole status
- Whether or not you have other convictions in your criminal record
- How easy, or otherwise, it will be for you to find and sustain a job
If the court grants your petition, it will issue you with a signed document from the state’s Superior Court, showing all details of removing your felony case and its conviction.
If a court denies your expungement request, you can ask the judge why he/she denied it and what you could do to have it accepted. From the judge’s response, you should be able to make the required changes and re-file the petition six months after the first submission.
If the court denies your petition, and you realize that you have no chance of re-applying for expungement, you could pursue other alternatives like filing for the sealing or destroying of your criminal records.
Find a Criminal Attorney Near Me
If you have a felony conviction in your criminal record in Los Angeles, CA, and are afraid that it might affect several aspects of your life, you could consider filing for an expungement. However, you need to determine the nature of your conviction, your eligibility for expungement and prepare for a hearing. The help of an experienced criminal attorney goes a long way in ensuring that you file the necessary documents and are following the correct procedure for a successful outcome. For more information and help on the expungement of felony cases, call Los Angeles Criminal Attorney at 424-333-0943. Our competent Los Angeles criminal lawyer will be glad to work with you until you obtain a favorable outcome of your case.
