Expungement – How to Clean Your Criminal Record

11 Apr Expungement – How to Clean Your Criminal Record

No one wants to be defined by their worst day. All too often, old criminal convictions follow people around for far too long. In some cases, this is unnecessary. Some criminal offenses are eligible to be expunged, or completely wiped off your criminal record. However, this process is not always automatic and requires you to act. Expungements are a two-step process. Once a criminal offense is expunged it cannot be viewed by the public or most state agencies and the person can respond to inquiries about their criminal history as if the offense never occurred.

First, individuals who want to clean up their criminal background must apply to BCI to see if they have any offenses that are eligible to be expunged. Determining whether or not an offense is eligible for expungement can be a bit complicated but here are a few basic rules.

The following offenses cannot be expunged:

• Capital felonies
• First degree felonies
• Violent felonies
• Felony automobile homicide
• Felony DUI’s
• Registerable sex offenses
• Registerable child abuse offenses

While the offenses above cannot be expunged, there may be some situations where a little additional work, such as a motion to reduce conviction, may qualify your offense for expungement.

Next, individuals wishing to expunge a matter need to look at their criminal record as a whole.

A person is in-eligible to expunge any offense if one of the following applies:

• You have two (2) or more felonies (other than drug possession)
• You have three (3) or more crimes (other than drug possession), and 2 of those crimes are class A misdemeanors
• You have four (4) or more crimes (other than drug possession), and 3 of those crimes are class B misdemeanors
• You have five (5) or more crimes of any degree (other than drug possession)
• You have three (3) or more felonies for drug possession
• 5 or more crimes of any degree for drug possession

Finally, you need to determine if you have waited the proper amount of time after your case has been closed. First, most offense wait times are determined by the level of offense, such as class A misdemeanor, class B misdemeanor, 3rd degree felony, etc. However, some offenses are enhanceable such as Domestic Violence offenses and DUI’s. In the case of an enhanceable offense, you will need to wait for the enhancement period to expire prior to expunging the offense.

For non-enhanceable offenses, wait periods are as follows:

• Seven (7) years for felony convictions
• Five (5) years for class A misdemeanors
• Four (4) year for class B misdemeanors
• Three (3) years for other misdemeanors and infractions

Once BCI has determined if you have offenses eligible for expungement, they will issue a Certificate of Eligibility for each specific offense that can be expunged. These certificates have expiration dates. These certificates need to be quickly filed with the court where the conviction took place along with a Petition for Expungement and other required documents.

While this process can seem daunting our qualified team can help walk you through this process and relieve some of the associated stress. Further, while at first glance you may determine you are in-eligible for an expungement, some situations will allow a person to expunge offenses with a little additional work. Expungements are an opportunity to start a new beginning. Let us help with your expungement questions today.