Archive for June, 2011
How Can A DUI Defense Attorney Get You Off The Hook
attorneys.speedreadingtest.info How Can A DUI Defense Attorney Get You Off The Hook? There are many ways a DUI defense attorney can get your charge expunged. If this happens, you wont have to face a conviction, a jail or probation term and you can just go on with your life. Driving while impaired is a very serious offense. Its immoral and its very, very dangerous. You could have seriously hurt yourself or others and somebody could have died. However, whats done is done and now its time to find the best DUI attorney you can find to hopefully get you out of the mess youre in. When you visit with a DUI defense attorney, dont hold anything back. Give complete details of that day and be as honest as you possibly can. The first thing a DUI defense attorney is going to do is go over that fateful day with a magnifying glass to look for anything that can be used against the prosecution. Its All In The Details Recount that day as best you can. Start with when you got behind the wheel. You can even go further back to describe how much you had to drink and who you were with. These things may be hard to remember since you were impaired after all, but you should try as hard as you can. Tell your attorney about the time the officer pulled you over, what the weather was like, what time it was, who, if anyone was around to witness it and then describe the traffic stop as best you can. The traffic stop is very important. Most of the time, a DUI case is thrown out and the charge expunged …
Why, in Florida, Expunging Your Record May Not Matter
Once again I am writing on expunging your Florida criminal history record. A quick review is in order. First, you may only expunge a criminal history if the charge was dropped, dismissed, or you were found not guilty and there are no other convictions on the record nor do they have aprevious expungement.. That is it! There are other siutations involving a withhold of ajudication, then sealing for 10 years and then expunging. These are different and really are not pertinent to the discussion.
As a lawyer I always thought ( and actually still do) that the more a former criminal defendant can clean up his or her record the better off he/she would be. As such I always advise the expungment process either through retaining a lawyer (very expensive) or obtaining the materials from the website www.expungemyfloridaarrest.com (not expensive at all) and completing the paperwork by one’s self. It really isn’t all that difficult to do and an individual will achieve the same results. However, last fall I handled an expungement for a client who had been arrested for a felony that was subsequently downfiled to a misdemeanor. She had entered into a pre-trial diversion program (PTI) and completed the program without difficulty. The necessary paperwork was completed and the certificate of eligibility obtained from The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). The petition was filed with the certificate attached. The judge granted the petition.
Good, right ! Well yes ,but a couple of days later I checked the public website and her name and case information was still there. I checked a week later and they still had not been removed. Upon making a few telephone calls I learned that budget cuts had slowed everything down. Yes, the judge had signed the order but there was a backlog and it would take some more time. Now, it gets better. I spoke to senior supervisor in the clerk’s office who told me that she was of the opinion that an expungement is not as important as it used to be (not that her opinion matters). Why I asked, she responded that major coprorations and some minor corporations are purchasing court records including arrest records on a monthly basis. As such they have the names, addresses, telephone numbers, birth dates and in some cases social security security numbers ( they are supposed to be redacted before being released) of individuals who have been arrested.
What this would mean is that supposed you are arrested, charges droppped and the record is later expunged. You apply for a job a Wackadoo Widget Company and the application asks whether you have ever been arrested for a crime. You check the “no” box. Wackadoo Widget Company does a background check through the F.D.L.E. and comes up clean. However, Wackadoo, always worried that someone may take a widget, contacts a company that compiles data on individuals (data mining). This company has copes of the actual arrest record, because they bought it prior to the record being expunged. Wackadoo then might deny employment because they think you lied about being arrested (you didn’t, because once a record is expunged you can deny the arrest). They may even give you a chance to explain. But who knows what they might do.
I am still of the opinion that cleaning up one’s arrest record is a good thing to do. If you are eligible for an expungement then by all means do not wait. For those of you wanting more information please visit www.expungemyfloridaarrest.com.
Originally published here.
Timothy Foster
Expunge Your Criminal Convictions In California
California expungement laws can, at times, be confusing and convoluted. California Penal Code Section 1203.4 supplies the most typical criminal expungement relief for California citizens. Because of this part of the penal code, individuals granted relief in line with this specific code section is discharged from practically all penalties and disabilities arising out of conviction in every case by which the man or woman has successfully finished probation. The individual could very wellhandle the criminal arrest as well as following proceedingsas if they never took place.
Technically, what takes place any time an person expunges his record is his conviction or plea of guilt is set aside by a California courts judge, a plea of not-guilty is noted in its place, and the conviction is entered into the official legal record as a dissmissal. The law permits misdemeanor or felony convictions to be officially expunged in cases where the offender had been only prescribed a sentence of probation, formal or informal, in lieu of state prison time. If you had been sent to state prison then alternative solutions are available such as a a governor’s pardon.
Regardless of what Penal Code 1203.4 presents, a person who properly files a motion for an expungement order may perhaps be shocked to learn how very little relief they have been given. That’s because California criminal expungement law is usually a great deal more known for the relief it doesn’t always furnish compared to the relief it does . First, the record of an the expunged conviction moves on to be presented to law enforcement officials and the public. The expunged conviction continues to display in both California and the Federal Burea of Investigation criminal data. In addition, if convicted of a succeeding criminal activity, the expunged conviction is generally applied to increase any required sentence. PC 1203.4 in addition specifically provides that DUI crimes can be utilized to raise future DUI criminal sentences. Having said that, you will discover quite a few positive aspects that criminal record expungement does provide as well, the least of which is the satisfaction you obtain in legally eliminating a previous error behind you for good. You can tell family, friends and potential employers that you have never been convicted of crime. Believe it or not on most criminal background checks completed by private organisations, your criminal past will not appear since many private employer criminal background checks are geared towards solely sharing convictions, and not .
Criminal Record Expungement In California, Do’s And Dont’s
Originally published here.
Crystal Manfield