A criminal history is likely to affect various aspects of your life, including your career and social life. Anyone who conducts a background investigation on you will know of the conviction, affecting how they relate to you. For instance, a prospective employer might decide based on your criminal background, thereby affecting your chances of finding suitable employment. That is why California laws allow for expungement.

It is a process through which you can dismiss or clean your adult criminal record, to prevent a previous conviction from showing up on your background check. It relieves you of some of the consequences of a criminal background. At California Criminal Lawyer Group, we could help you through the process if you wish to have your criminal conviction expunged in Santa Ana, CA. Our skills and experience could help ensure your application is a success.

Expungement Explained

A California conviction leaves you with a criminal background. You will still have a damaging criminal record even after completing the penalties given by the judge after conviction. A criminal background is always publically available. It means that anyone who conducts a background investigation on you will know about the sentence. People are likely to judge you based on your criminal background. That could affect your life in so many ways. For instance, employees will be careful when hiring you for specific job openings, regardless of your qualification. It becomes increasingly hard to find suitable employment with a damaging criminal record.

That is why California laws under PC 1203.4 allow people with criminal convictions to apply for their expungement. Expungement involves withdrawing a guilty or no contest plea or reentering a not guilty plea to having the court dismiss your criminal case. If you petition the court for expungement and the judge grants your request, the court will release you from all the negative implications of the criminal conviction. It means that you will no longer have to worry about the damaging effects of the sentence.

Sometimes when applying for a job, a potential employer might ask about your criminal background. Other employers conduct a background investigation on you even before inviting you for an interview. The law requires you to admit to a criminal record if there are any. It means that the employer can decide based on the kind of criminal record you have. An expungement virtually releases you from all the punishments and disabilities of a sentence. It means that you will no longer have to admit your criminal record to a potential employer (except when applying for a job in the public sector). Your employer will also not find any damaging record if they conduct a background investigation on you.

Thus, expungement makes life a little bearable for you after a conviction. You can access certain services and the trust of people after expungement. You will also be able to maintain your professional license and join your preferred professional organization. These are some of the privileges you could lose with a criminal record. It is an excellent way to start life afresh from a criminal past. However, you must present your request in court and have it granted to begin enjoying the benefits. You might also benefit from the help and support of a competent criminal lawyer for your application to be a success.

Eligibility for Expungement

California law PC 1203.4 provides a detailed guideline on who is/is not eligible for expungement. It is vital to have this information before you can start the process.

The basic rule under this statute is that anyone can apply to have the  court dismiss their felony and misdemeanor convictions on the following conditions:

  • After they have completed probation, whether felony or misdemeanor
  • They are not currently facing a criminal charge
  • Are not currently on probation for any criminal offense
  • Are not serving a punishment for any crime at that moment

The applicant must have completed the entire probation or sought an earlier termination of their probation. If you are on probation or have violated some probation conditions, you may experience challenges when making this application.

Successful completion of the entire probation means that you must have completed all the probation terms and conditions, including engaging in community service and counseling programs. You must also have attended all the set court appearances without fail, whether in person or through your attorney. Additionally, you must not have committed any crime while out on probation.

However, if your sentence was to state prison after conviction or because of violating your probation, you may not qualify for expungement. The exception is for defendants who must have served their term in jail after committing an offense after realignment.

A probation violation is one reason why you might not be eligible for expungement in California. But your situation might be reconsidered if an aggressive criminal attorney was working by your side. Your attorney can challenge the court’s decision, causing the judge to review and call you for a special hearing. In this hearing, the judge will find out whether or not you are suitable for expungement.

Note that the court has absolute discretion in making decisions like these. The judge might decide to allow or dismiss your expungement petition based on these factors:

  • Your general performance when you were on probation
  • The gravity of the underlying sentence
  • Your criminal history
  • Any other evidence from you or your attorney showing why you deserve post-conviction relief — It could be that you have the support of your family, you need a chance to find a suitable job, or you have strong ties within your community.

If you’re on probation at the time of this application (whether formal or informal) or are on mandatory supervision, parole, or community supervision, the court could consider your request to expunge your criminal conviction if you request for early termination. If the judge grants you requests and terminates your probation, you will be eligible for expungement.

If your conviction was a misdemeanor, and the judge did not place you on probation or was sentenced to an infraction, you’ll be required to wait for a year after the sentence to apply for expungement. Note that you must also not be on any other type of post-conviction supervision or facing additional criminal charges.

You could still be qualified for expungement if your conviction was in state prison, but for an offense that would have been punished with a jail term had you committed it before Prop 47 Realignment. This exception is covered under PC 1203.42. Relief under this statute is not always automatic, but California judges grant it. If you present your application in court, the judge might grant your request if he/she feels that it will serve the interests of justice. But to qualify, you must satisfy the following criteria:

  • The offense must today be punishable through jail and not prison time.
  • It must have been two years or more since you completed your sentence
  • You are currently not under any supervised release, serving any kind of sentence, facing charges for any crime, on probation, or serving time, for any crime.

The Limitations

As previously discussed, there are very many benefits of expungement. For example, it could enable you to avoid deportation and other immigration-related consequences of a conviction. However, it has several limitations which you must be aware of before making your application to the court.

An expunged criminal record is not always completely withdrawn from public scrutiny. A deeper background check will show the history. Again, you will be obligated to disclose the conviction when seeking government jobs. Therefore, the record will be somewhat available, though to only limited persons.

An expungement will not restore all the privileges you lose after a conviction. For instance, a felony conviction in California is likely to affect your gun rights. A dismissal for that sentence will not restore those rights. Therefore, you will still face a ban from purchasing or owning a firearm in California.

An expunged DUI-related conviction would still affect your driving privileges. If you temporarily or permanently lose your driving privileges, you’ll still not be required to drive until the DMV gives you a new permit.

An expungement will also not restore the right to hold a public office if the underlying conviction had caused you to lose that privilege. However, you will be free to seek alternative employment.

If the judge ordered you to list yourself as a California sex offender in California after a sex-related conviction, a dismissal for that sentence would not take that order away. Your sex offender status will remain publically available, even though the conviction record could be partially unavailable. It means that anyone doing a background investigation on you will know the nature of your prior conviction.

Therefore, your previous convictions may still affect certain aspects of your life even after expungement. For example, if the underlying offense for the dismissed sentence were a strike under California Three-Strike Law, it would still affect your subsequent felony convictions. It is advisable to seek the advice of an experienced criminal attorney to make the right decision making presenting your expungement petition in court.

Fortunately for you, some of those limitations can be legally resolved through solutions like the application to reduce a felony conviction to a misdemeanor. If the court grants your request, you may not face the consequences like losing your gun rights or immigration effects.

Preparing for Expungement

Before presenting your expungement application before a judge, it is advisable to prepare well, to avoid any unforeseen issues and mistakes that could cause the court to dismiss your request. It is good to start by familiarizing yourself with your case details. Remember that not everyone with a criminal conviction is qualified for expungement. The nature of the original case and what the case entails will determine your eligibility. Additionally, some of your situation details will affect the application process. Your lawyer will walk you through this phase to ensure everything is correct before you file your application.

You could begin this process by obtaining documents regarding your criminal history. All the documents you may need concerning that particular case will be included in those copies. Your attorney must also have some of these documents if he/she is the one that represented you during the trial. If you need more documents, you could obtain them at a fee from the Record Review Unit of the State Department of Justice Criminal. If you cannot afford that, you can provide evidence of your earnings when applying for a fee waiver.

The next step would be determining your qualification for expungement. California expungement laws provide extended criteria that could help you determine your eligibility. In addition to the requirements provided above, you must also not have unpaid court fines and be convicted in a state and not federal court. You could still be suitable for expungement if you didn’t meet all probation conditions but have paid all fines and restitution and are currently not facing charges for another crime. If the conviction you wish to have expunged is a felony, you must first petition the judge to reduce it to a misdemeanor.

Felony crimes whose convictions California courts could expunge are wobblers since the prosecutor can charge them as misdemeanors or felonies. In that case, a court can quickly reduce a felony conviction to a misdemeanor, then delete it from your criminal record.

Note that you might not be qualified for expungement if your sentence was for particular sex-related offenses against minors.

The next step would be to determine the circumstances of your conviction. You will need these details when filing an expungement petition to the court. If you would wish to apply for the expungement of two or more convictions in your criminal history, you will need detailed information for each sentence. The kind of information you need will include the docket or case number, the verdict, the type of plea you entered (whether guilty plea or plea of no contest), and the details of the conviction (including the penalties you received after the sentence).

Also, determine your probation status before filing the expungement petition. You are eligible for expungement whether you were placed on probation or not. However, you must have completed probation to apply. You can wait to apply after completing probation or appeal for early probation termination if you are on probation. The judge has total discretion in granting early probation termination. Therefore, there is no guarantee that the court will grant your request. But before the judge makes the final decision, he/she will call you for a hearing, in which the following issues will be determined:

  • The gravity of your convictions
  • Your criminal history
  • Your chances of finding suitable employment if the court dismisses the probation
  • Why you feel you deserve an early probation termination—the court will consider factors like your behavior throughout the probation period.
  • The nature of support you have from other people, including members of your family— also the kinds of ties you have within the community, or any volunteer community wok you have been part of

You can still attend the hearing even though you’ve violated any probation condition to determine whether the court will terminate your probation so that you can petition for an expungement.

The Process

After making the final deliberations, and preparations, you can now begin the filing process for the expungement of your criminal conviction. Here are some steps you could take to ensure your application will be a success:

Hire an Experienced Criminal Attorney

The first step is to ensure a competent criminal attorney is by your side. You can go through the process without legal help, but chances of success are usually minimal. If you wish to file a successful expungement application, seek the help and support of a skilled attorney.

Experienced criminal attorneys know the California legal processes very well. Therefore, your lawyer will guide you well, from one stage of the process to the next, until you achieve a favorable outcome of your situation.

Your lawyer will also ensure all application requirements are available to you. You need someone who knows how to fill and file the proper documents and do all that in time. An attorney who has gone through the expungement process one or more times will be the most preferable.

Also, experienced attorneys can use their connections to speed up the process and ensure nothing is left to chance. This way, you improve your chances of success.

Find and Complete the Necessary Documents

The most critical thing in this process is determining all the paperwork you need to file a successful petition in court. If the conviction is already a misdemeanor, you’ll want to file a request to the judge to dismiss the misdemeanor using a relevant form. But if you haven’t completed probation, you’ll first want to prepare an appeal to have the judge terminate your probation before you can appeal for the dismissal of your conviction.

If the court denies your petition to terminate your probation, you will go straight to filing a request for the dismissal of your conviction. All these forms are available in every local courthouse. If you cannot find one, your experienced criminal attorney should guide you to draft one.

If the conviction were a felony, the process would begin by petitioning a judge to reduce that felony to a misdemeanor. If this application is a success, you will proceed to apply for the removal of the misdemeanor. Recognize that this process will only work if the underlying offense is a wobbler under California laws. It is the only way the court can reduce the felony to a misdemeanor.

But if the felony cannot be lessened to a misdemeanor, you’ll want to present a different form in court under PC 27(b)(3). The form is also available in your local courthouse and will help reduce the felony into a misdemeanor. If you cannot find the form, your experienced attorney will help you draft one. Once the court reduces the felony to a misdemeanor, you’ll be able to request it to dismiss the misdemeanor, as under PC 1203.4.

Note that if you wish to have the court expunge two or more convictions from your criminal history, you will go through the necessary steps for each of those convictions. No single document will cover more than one conviction.

Lastly, you may be required to file additional documents to support your applications. If that is the case, your lawyer will ensure all the documents you need are filed in court on time. You can also prepare character references or written proof that you completed community service to strengthen your application.

After preparing and filing the necessary documents, organize to meet your lawyer to plan for the hearing. It will prepare you to defend the petition. Collect any relevant evidence you feel could help your case. You can also prepare a report to present during the petition hearing.

If the judge grants your request, you’ll receive an order from the state Superior Court detailing the dismissal of your conviction and case. But if the court denies your request, you will be free to ask why the court could not accept it. Then you will have six months from the date of denial to make the necessary revisions to your petition and refile it.

Find an Experienced Criminal Attorney Near Me

If a damaging criminal record affects your life, you can have one or more of your previous convictions expunged. That would eliminate all the consequences of disabilities of a criminal conviction. Then you will not need to worry about its effects on your life. However, you might need legal help for this to be a success. That is why at California Criminal Lawyer Group, we offer legal assistance, advice, and guidance to anyone willing to go through the expungement process in Santa Ana, CA. Our team of experienced criminal attorneys has the skills and experience you need to obtain a desirable result for your situation. Call us at 714-844-4151 and let us discuss the circumstances of your conviction(s).