Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Hi. If you had a misdemeanor in California and did not have any probation violations, you can ask the court to remove your conviction. It is commonly called an "expungement". Depending on the County, there may or may not be a small filing fee. Each county seems to have a different court process for the petition. It is called a 1203.4 petition.

The procedure is as follows: You file the 1203.4 Petition. If you have had no probation violation, are no currently on probation and you do not have a case pending, the judge has no discretion to say "no". You plea of "guilty" or "no contest" will be withdrawn; a plea of "not guilty" will be entered; the case is then dismissed. You will be deemed to not have a conviction.

The court clerk notifies the Dept. of Justice and it is no longer available to the public. So, it should not show up on public records searches. \

It does get rid of the conviction for certain purposes, but not for all. When applying for a job you can say "no" to the question about a conviction, however, if you are licensed professional you still have to disclose the conviction.

You don't have to have a lawyer for this unless you had probation violations, then it is discretionary for the judge to grant. There are a handful of offenses that are not automatically included. You have to file the motion in the court that you received the conviction. So, if you don't live in the area, you may want to hire a lawyer to appear in court for you. Look at Penal Code section 1203.4 for the limitations.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Elena Condes