Legal Question in Criminal Law in Iowa

Re: clearing a simple misdeameanor

You can apply to exonerate the conviction under Iowa Code section 123.46(5) which reads:

Upon the expiration of two years following conviction for a violation of this section, a person may petition the court to exonerate the person of the conviction, and if the person has had no other criminal convictions, other than simple misdemeanor violations of chapter 321 during the two-year period, the person shall be deemed exonerated of the offense as a matter of law. The court shall enter an order exonerating the person of the conviction, and ordering that the record of the conviction be expunged by the clerk of the district court.

That is the only expungement I know of in Iowa. It depends on your not having accumulated any other charges in that two year period of time.

However. That being said, it may be that a record of the arrest will exist in the files of the DCI or in the Federal NCIC data bases.

It is a very non-serious charge and I think that the best you can do is hire someone up here to run the expungement through for you.

You did not say what county you got the conviction in, but it's quite common in college towns.

Drop me an email and we can chat.