How to Expunge your record
How to expunge your Criminal Record
By Joshua C. Smith
There are two types of expungements in Oklahoma. The first type of expungement is called a § 18 expungement. To determine whether you qualify for a section 18 expungement, you should contact an experienced Oklahoma expungement lawyer as expungement laws are complex. Some of the ways you can qualify for a section 18 expungement include:
- being acquitted (found Not Guilty) after a jury or bench trial,
- being convicted with the charge dismissed after a successful appeal,
- having a conviction exonerated based on DNA evidence,
- being pardoned,
- being arrested, but not charged
- being under 18 and receiving a pardon,
- being charged, but getting the charge dismissed,
- successfully completing a deferred sentence for a misdemeanor and one year has passed since case was dismissed,
- successfully completing a deferred sentence for a non-violent felony and five years has passed since the case was dismissed,
- being convicted of a misdemeanor and five years has passed,
- being convicted of a non-violent felony and five years has passed, or
- being a victim of identity theft.
If you qualify under § 18, then your attorney will petition the district court of the district in which the arrest information pertaining to your arrest is located. Upon the filing of a petition or entering of a court order, the court will set a date for a hearing and provide thirty days of notice of the hearing to the prosecuting agency, the arresting agency, the OSBI, and any other person or agency whom the court has reason to believe may have relevant information related to the sealing of such record. The clerk will provide a hearing date. Between the time that the clerk gives you the hearing date and the hearing, a copy of the petition to expunge must be served to District Attorney, the arresting agency, and the OSBI. Your attorney will bring that form to the hearing after receiving signatures from all those agencies.
“To determine whether you qualify for a section 18 expungement, you should contact an experienced Oklahoma expungement lawyer as expungement laws are complex.”
After all necessary parties have been notified, you will attend a hearing in front of a judge. You will answer questions from the judge at the hearing. The judge may also decide to remove only some of your records, and/or limit who can access your records. Upon a finding that the harm to your privacy or dangers of unwarranted adverse consequences outweigh the public interest in retaining the records, the court may order such records, or any part them except basic identification information, to be sealed. If the court finds that neither sealing of the records nor maintaining of the records unsealed by the agency would serve the ends of justice, the court may enter an appropriate order limiting access to such records. Any order entered will specify those agencies to which the order applies.
If you have multiple arrests to be expunged, then you may not have to file a petition for each arrest separately. Multiple arrests in the same county can be filed for in one petition. However, a separate petition must be filed for each county where you have records that you want expunged. The OSBI can object to your request, even if you qualify for an expungement. The state can object to your request, even if you are qualified to get an expungement.
The second type of expungement is a § 991c expungement. This type of expungement directs the Court Clerk to expunge all public records from that case. This prevents a person from obtaining court records from that case from the court clerk. To qualify for this expungement, you must complete all of the requirements for your deferred sentence. This includes completing all probation requirements and paying all court costs, probation supervision fees, and DA prosecution reimbursement fees. Next, you have to make sure the case is dismissed or follow the required procedures to get your case dismissed. This usually involves an agreed order between the prosecutor and defense attorney that is signed by the judge. This order directs the clerk to expunge the public records for that case.
Once the judge signs the order, it must be taken to the court clerk so they can begin the process of removing the case from public record. All references to the name of the defendant will be deleted and the public index of the charge will be expunged by deletion, mark-out, or obliteration. Upon expungement, the court clerk will keep a separate confidential index of case numbers and names of defendants that have been obliterated pursuant to the § 991c. No information concerning the confidential file will be revealed or released, except upon written order of a judge of the district court or upon written request by the named defendant to the court clerk for the purpose of updating the criminal history record of the defendant with the OSBI. Defendants qualifying under § 18 may petition the court to have the filing of the indictment and the dismissal expunged from the public index and docket sheet.
It is crucial that you seek quality legal representation to ensure your record is properly expunged. Failing to hire an experienced expungement attorney can result in lost opportunities. Joshua C. Smith has cleaned the records of hundreds of clients in Oklahoma. Contact us to get your record expunged.