Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

After a conviction the only relief available is expungement. This process is as follows. A petition for expungement is filed with the probation department. A record check is performed by the probation department. If the probation report comes back clean, the petition is sent to the court. The judge then withdraws the guilty plea or sets aside the conviction and then dismisses the case. The benefit of expungement is limited. It allows you to state to an employer that you do not have conviction. The conviction must be reported to state licensing agencies. The expungement process does not apply to all convictions, and cases in which a suspended state prison sentence is given.