Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Expungement

You were greatly misinformed. Records are 'forever'. It is neither 'closed' nor disappeared. Expungement shows on your record as 'conviction, withdrawal, dismissal/expungement'. That's how it is going to stay. You are required to fully disclose all convictions and expungements on applications for professional certification, health care, child care, bonding, security clearance, etc. Its primary benefit is to allow you to say 'no' to conviction on most private employment applications.

Re: Expungement

You were greatly misinformed. Records are 'forever'. It is neither 'closed' nor disappeared. Expungement shows on your record as 'conviction, withdrawal, dismissal/expungement'. That's how it is going to stay. You are required to fully disclose all convictions and expungements on applications for jobs in health care, child care, professional certification, bonding, security clearance, etc. Its primary benefit is to allow you to say 'no' to conviction on most private employment applications.

Re: Expungement

This is a very common misunderstanding. If your case was dismissed under California Penal Code, Section 1203.4 than the court found you had been living an "honest and upright life and had conformed to and obeyed the laws of the land." Therefore the court can permit the individual to either withdraw their plea of nolo contendere or their plea of guilty and enter a plea of not guilty. If you were convicted of the crime then the court shall set aside the verdict of guilty and dismiss the formal pleading that accused you of the crime.

However the problem is that it still appears on your record and therefore depending on which agency or what the background search relates to it may show up and can still have negative effects when being considered for employment. The good news is that it shows up as an expungement which means the court views it differently than a straight out conviction. The bad news is even the court has dismissed the incident and no longer believes you should face the consequences of a former conviction it still may effect future employment possibilities. In fact some positions for the government still require the original incident to be reported as a conviction and then want it explained in another section of the application. There are attorneys who specialize in expungements and they generally have a pretty good grasp on what your options might be. I suggest you contact one of them. Good luck!

Re: Expungement

No, a 1203.4 "expungement" does not hide a conviction from anyone if they do a background search. You were misinformed. There is only one way to seal and destroy your record, and that would be if you were somehow wrongfully convicted or forced into pleading guilty when you were innocent. If that is the case, see my website at:

http://lawyer-expungement.com/petition.htm

and maybe I could help you.