Legal Question in Criminal Law in Colorado

Re: Expungement of Criminal Records

Any case that has been dismissed can be sealed, so long as that dismissal was not part of a plea agreement (e.g. plead in one case, dismiss the second case) or certain other limited circumstances. It is not a difficult process, but is is a civil type of case and there are many agencies that need to be contacted and served before the case can be decided by a judge. Once procedurally the case is before the court, the only decision for the judge is whether or not your interest in having the record sealed outweighs any public interest in having the record remain public. That is not a hard burden to establish. In any case, it sounds like yours is the type of case which should be sealed. It has obviously alredy affected you. Colorado courts have the paperwork on their internet site, or you can hire an attorney to deal with it for you. Good luck and whatever you do, I strongly, strongly recommend you get this record sealed or it will keep rearing its ugly head.

Re: Expungement of Criminal Records

As long as your case was dismissed, you are entitled to have your record sealed. The process involves filing the appropriate paperwork in court and getting a court date. A Judge would listen to your circumstances and then rule on whether your record will be sealed. As I said before, if your case was indeed dismissed, there should be no issue. Your record should be sealed. If it is sealed, a prosepective employer would receive confirmation that you have no record. The arrest would no longer show up. At attorney can handle all of the necessary paperwork for you and get you into court. An attorney is not absolutely necessary however. You can go through the process by yourself. The forms necessary to file a petition to have a record sealed can be found at www.courts.state.co.us. It is important that all of the paperwork required is filled out correctly and filed correctly. It is also very important to serve all of the appropriate law enforcement agencies with a copy of the petition. An attorney who has experience with these types of petitions will be able to handle this for you and make sure it is done correctly. Good luck to you.