Of course, that is one of the goals of a good criminal defense attorney. Let’s take a look at what is involved.

If successful, the records are said to be “expunged“. Black’s Law Dictionary defines “expungement of record” as the “Process by which record of criminal conviction is destroyed or sealed from the state or Federal repository.”

Reducing Felonies to Misdemeanors: When a felony is punishable by either time in prison or time in the county jail, this is what we call a wobbler or reducible felony. By agreement of the parties or by order of court the case can be reduced to a misdemeanor. Once reduced, the case becomes a misdemeanor for all purposes.

Sealing Records: Arrests for specified offenses resulting in a finding of guilt by the court may be sealable under Florida Law.

First, the court must have withheld the adjudication of guilt. In Florida you can be found guilty but not be convicted. This is the withholding of the adjudication.

Second, the offense cannot be a prohibited offense by statute.

Those conditions and the requirement that you have never been adjudicated guilty (convicted) of any other crime or have had any other Florida arrest sealed or expunged will qualify you to have your criminal arrest record sealed.

The first thing that everyone should understand is that there are no magic wands when it comes to cleaning up your history. Avoiding a conviction in the first place is the best way to avoid a record. Minimizing criminal charges and punishment is choice number two. After that, we need to be successful on probation and avoid ANY violations of probation or new cases.

When the time comes to start cleaning records, either after probation is over or after a motion to terminate probation early, we first try to reduce any felonies that we can to a misdemeanor. Then we try to expunge convictions, starting with the newest and most serious cases first. From there we try to knock them out one by one until they are all gone. And, if at first we don’t succeed and a request is denied, we can reset the request for six months or a year later and try it again. When a judge realizes that we are serious, at some point he may change his mind and grant the request.

Then, after all the cases are expunged, go request your “official” rap sheet/criminal history from the California Department of Justice. It’s worth taking the time and paying the money to get it because this is the only real rap sheet there is. Make sure the rap sheet is accurate and if it’s not, go through the process to get it corrected.

The benefit of cleaning your record is potentially huge. First if you reduce a felony to a misdemeanor, it becomes a misdemeanor for all purposes. Next, if you expunge a conviction, felony or misdemeanor, you can honestly tell someone you have never been arrested or convicted of a crime. This excludes governmental licensing and the state lottery. If you actually get a pardon, although it may be rare, you get all of your rights back from before the conviction.

Alexander Truluck focuses his practice as a criminal defense attorney in Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Dunedin and the Tampa Bay area.

For more information, visit our website at http://www.criminallawyerclearwaterflorida.com
or call (727) 799-3550.