Vacate, Seal and Expunge
If you have been convicted of a crime in Washington you may be able to Vacate, Seal or Expunge your record. We have handled a significant number of cases involving motions to vacate, seal or expunge a record. Call Edward Becker today for a free consultation to see if you qualify to have your record Vacated, Sealed or Expunged.
You are not alone in your quest to clear your record. Every day in Washington people just like you are having their record cleared for mistakes they have made in the past. There are many reasons people seek to clear their record or have their record modified. Having a conviction on your record can have a negative impact on many things. Reasons for people seeking to Vacate, Seal or Expunge their record includes being denied employment because of a background check, being denied an apartment lease, being denied admission to a college/university and a number of other reasons unique to each person.
Vacation of Conviction:
Having your conviction Vacated is important because it releases you from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the offense. Once a conviction is vacated, the fact that you have been convicted of the offense will not be reflected on your criminal history for purposes of determining a sentence in any subsequent conviction. For all purposes, including responding to questions on employment or housing applications, a person whose conviction has been vacated may state that he or she has never been convicted of that crime.
Vacation of a Misdemeanor Conviction:
Your eligibility to have a conviction vacated depends on several factors. Most importantly, you must have complied with your judgment and sentence. Additionally, you cannot have any criminal charges pending against you in any court in Washington or any other state or in any Federal Court. You also cannot have been convicted of a new crime in this state, another state or Federal Court since the date you were sentenced on the crime you are requesting to have vacated. Also, you must certify that you have never had a prior conviction vacate. Currently, you are only allowed to vacate one misdemeanor conviction in Washington. However, if you have a felony conviction you may be able to also vacate a felony conviction since that process falls under a different statute in Washington.
If your conviction involved a misdemeanor you must wait for a minimum of three years from the date you complied with your sentence and the termination of probation. Compliance also includes the payments of any legal financial obligations you had. However, if you were convicted of a misdemeanor involving a domestic violence offense you must wait five years from the date your probation ended. In addition, you cannot be currently restrained, and have not been restrained within five years prior to the vacation application, by a domestic violence protection order, a no-contact order, an antiharassment protection order, or a civil restraining order which restrains one party from contacting the other party.
Vacation of a Felony Conviction:
For felony offenses the time you have to wait to have a conviction vacated depends on the Class of the felony involved. A Class C Felony has a waiting period of five years from the date a certificate of discharge was filed with the court. A certificate of discharge is a document that is generated which signifies that you have satisfactorily completed all of the terms and conditions of your sentence. A Class B felony has a waiting period of ten years from the date a certificate of discharge is issued. A Class A felony is not eligible for vacation.
Other conditions to qualify for a felony conviction also apply: You have not been convicted of a new crime since the date you received the certificate of discharge, you do not have any pending criminal charges, you were not convicted of a serious violent crime or a crime against a person(s).
Since certain misdemeanor and felony offense are not eligible for vacation speak to an attorney to make certain the offense you have a conviction for qualifies.
Sealing a Record:
The process of sealing a record results in protection from examination of the record by the public. You can request to have an entire record sealed or parts of the record sealed. A record may be sealed permanently or for a proscribed period of time. The court will entertain a motion to seal if a conviction has been vacated or if there are compelling reasons in the interest of justice to do so. Sealing a record has become more important with the proliferation of the internet. If you have had a conviction vacated you may also want to have a motion filed to request that the record be sealed. Even if your record has been vacated it may appear on a computer database which can result in embarrassment or adverse consequences related to employment, housing, travel or for other reasons.
Expungment:
The purpose of requesting an expungment is to destroy the criminal record of a person who has been arrested for a crime where a conviction was never obtained. The reason for wanting a criminal record expunged is because government computers and background check systems may still list a crime in your file even though you may have been arrested but not convicted for the offense. If you are eligible to have your criminal record expunged the arrest record will be removed from the computer systems that contain the information.
To be eligible to have your record expunged you must have never entered a guilty plea to the crime you are seeking to have expunged. In addition, you cannot have any pending charges against you in any state or federal court. Also, two years must have passed since your case was dismissed or a verdict of not guilty was entered or three years must have passed since the day you were arrested or the case was filed. Lastly, you cannot have an outstanding warrant and you cannot have a case pending in any court.
If you or a family member are interested in seeking to have your record vacated, sealed or expunged in Washington contact the Law Office of Edward H. Becker III today for a free consultation. Contact us at (206) 799-8525 - 24 hours a day/7 days a week, we are ready to help.
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