Expunge Your DUI Arrest

You don’t have to be stuck with a criminal conviction on your record.  Your Washington State criminal conviction can be expunged if you meet the criteria.  And after your conviction is expunged, Washington State law permits you to state you have not been convicted for employment purposes.

 

Expungement is an often misunderstood term and process.  In Washington State expungement of a criminal record or criminal conviction is accomplished by Vacating the Criminal Conviction.  The terms Expungement and Vacating are largely interchangeable, the difference being that Vacating is the legal term.

 

Expungement of a criminal record by vacating the conviction does not destroy or seal the file.  However, it is possible to destroy, or expunge, an arrest record if the eligibility requirements are met.  When an arrest record is expunged, the booking photos and fingerprints are destroyed and removed from the police record.

 

In Washington State, the expungement process differs between felony and misdemeanor convictions.  The following 7 steps are an overview of what is involved.

 

1.  The Required Time Period has Passed Since the Case Completed.

The first eligibility requirement to expunge your conviction in Washington State is passage of the required time period.  For a misdemeanor, the time period begins to run on the date the case is Closed.  For a felony conviction, the time period begins to run on the date a document called a Certificate of Discharge is filed with the court.  In both instances, a case is Closed or a Certificate of Discharge is filed after all the sentence conditions are completed as required.

 

2.  The Conviction is Eligible for Expungement.

Certain convictions, and classifications of convictions, are not eligible for Expungement in Washington State.  Generally, class A felonies (the most serious), sex crimes, and violent crimes cannot be expunged in Washington State.  Among misdemeanors, Washington State does not permit a DUI conviction to be expunged.

 

3.  You Meet the Clean Behavior Requirement.

Two situations will make your conviction ineligible for expungement.  For a misdemeanor, if you were convicted of another crime on a later date then you would not be eligible to have the misdemeanor expunged.  For example, if you were convicted of a misdemeanor in 1995, and another crime in 1997, then the 1995 crime would not be eligible to be expunged.  For a felony, if you were convicted of another crime after the date the Certificate of Discharge was filed then you cannot expunge the felony.

 

4.  Special Rule for Misdemeanors.

Washington State has an interesting rule that applies only to misdemeanor convictions.  To expunge a misdemeanor, you cannot have had any other conviction expunged (vacated).  What this means is if a person has a felony conviction and a misdemeanor conviction, and the person expunged the felony conviction first, then the misdemeanor could no longer be expunged.  However, if the misdemeanor was expunged first, and if the misdemeanor conviction occurred before the felony conviction, then the felony could still be expunged.

 

5.  Preparation.

An expungement, or vacation of a criminal conviction, requires a judge to sign a court Order.  The court process is begun by filing a Motion to Vacate Conviction with the court.  Prior to filing the Motion, you should get copies of the Docket and the Judgment & Sentence from the court clerk.  You should also obtain a criminal history report, called a WATCH Report, from the Washington State Patrol website.

 

6.  Your Day In Court.

Most Washington State courts require a hearing to Expunge, or Vacate, a criminal conviction.  Most courts do not require you to attend if you have a lawyer appearing at the hearing on your behalf.  If the preparation has been done properly, then the hearing should go very smoothly and the judge will sign the Court Order Vacating your criminal conviction.

 

7.  Your Criminal Record is Cleared.

The court clerk processes the Order and sends a certified copy to the Washington State Patrol, which removes the conviction from the public database.  The FBI record is updated based on the Washington State record.  And, if the Order was prepared correctly, a copy will also be sent to the police department that handled the case and your record will also be cleared in their file.  Your conviction has now been expunged (vacated), and your criminal record is cleared.

 

As you can see, you don’t have to be stuck with a criminal conviction on your record.  It is not difficult to expunge a conviction in Washington State if you meet the straightforward criteria.  In most cases, these 7 steps take only a few weeks to complete.

 

Copyright (c)2008 Douglas Stratemeyer.  All Rights reserved.

Originally published here.

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Douglas Stratemeyer

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www.ithacadwi.com New York State has no expungement statute. People found guilty of misdemeanors (criminal offenses) have them on their permanent record for life. New York does offer a “Certificate of Relief from Disabilities.” The CRD offers people the ability to prove their rehabilitation. Once obtained from the Court It is a “presumption of rehabilitation” that can be presented to employers and state licensing boards. It acts to remove any impediments to your being hired or licensed to practice. Someone applying for a state license should get CRDs for any New York misdemeanor on record. To learn more about how DWI and other criminal cases work in the state of New York, I encourage you to explore my educational materials at my blog and website www.ithacadwi.com. If you have legal questions, I urge you to pick up the phone and call me since I can answer your legal questions at 607-229-5184 or by e-mail at newman.lawrence@gmail.com. I welcome your call.

Almost every dui charge consists of a breathalyzer test reading giving a blood alcohol content level. If you have been in this unpleasant situation then you understand the importance of the test results. If you blew 0.09 to 0.14 you have an excellent chance at challenging the breath test results and beating your dui charge. The fortunate reality is that you can beat breathalyzer test results in court with proven tactics.

Every dui arrest has a persuasive police officer that forces you to take the breathalyzer test. You may have been told that you will be let go if you took the test no matter what the results were. These unfair tactics are solely used as evidence in court against you. You do have the right to refuse all tests but most first time dui offenders are not aware of the laws. Respectable people have been all too often misled in dui testing occurrences and face thousands in fines just because an unreliable breathalyzer machine says they had too much to drink. Now if you took the test under those circumstances then you might have a case in court to beat or dismiss the breathalyzer test results. Here are some more ways to prove breath tests inaccurate:

· Breathalyzer results have a 12% fluctuation in results and leave room for error

· Breath testing may have been administered too soon after your last drink

· Machine calibrations were not properly performed and can cause invalid readings

· Portable breath tests are not accurate and results should be admissible in court with proper representation

Your next step in beating the breathalyzer test results is finding the proper representation in court. Beware that many attorneys are not qualified to challenge these test readings and inaccuracies. Some will quickly take your money upfront and settle your dui case with an easy plea bargain. This plea bargain outcome will most likely be on your record every time you go apply for a job. This is not what you are paying thousands of dollars for. Remember that you should have the final say with the outcome in your dui case; not your attorney. An experienced dui attorney understands this and works with his clients and points out all possibilities.

Learn all the possible ways you can beat the breathalyzer test result in court and all other aspects of the arrest. Your understanding of what your up against will give you the upper hand before you step foot in the courtroom and give you the chance to beat dui charges.

Originally published here.

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Peter Sands

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