Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

After Expungement

I was arrested in Florida, charged with a misdemeanor and the charge was subsequently dismissed. My case is now in the process of being expunged. ( I already recieved the clearance certificate) I live in VA so my attorney in Florida is handling the expungement.

Once the expungement is approved, can I truthfully declare I have no criminal record on an employment application? or on a country holiday visa application? etc.. Is there anything else that needs to be done before I can put this whole thing aside and get on with my life?


Asked on 6/12/07, 12:18 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: After Expungement

Sure, you can "truthfully declare" that you have no criminal record(at least with respect to the present tense)if you know for a fact that your attorney's efforts in your behalf down in Florida have been successful in wiping your offense slate clean, so to speak. However, if the question is phrased somewhat differently, such as have you ever been arrested or convicted of a crime or have had a past criminal history, the "Clintonian type maneuver" with respect to the present tense will not avail as an honest anwer to these kinds of inquiries and the truth, rather than setting you free, so to speak, will, unfortunately, likely entangle you with the ineluctable fact of your criminal conviction from the past, which although, perhaps, subjected to legal expungement, still will

retain the character of an "is" in some sense despite its official record of erasure as a "was" from your past.

Read more
Answered on 6/12/07, 4:22 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Criminal Law questions and answers in Virginia