Expungement

Tanya Helfand of Schenck Price has represented numerous people to obtain expungement.

An expungement is the extraction and isolation of all records on file with any court, detention or correctional facility, or law enforcement or criminal justice agency, concerning a person’s arrests, warrants, complaints, incarcerations, fingerprints, photos, rap sheets and judicial docket records.

Not all records of crimes or offenses can be expunged. There are specific time periods which must lapse before an expungement can be granted. The fact of expungement of prior offenses must be disclosed if the petitioner is seeking expungement of a subsequent crime. If a defendant is seeking to be admitted to a supervisory treatment program for subsequent charges, the defendant must disclose a prior expungement.

Information divulged on expunged records must be revealed if a person is seeking employment with the judicial branch or with law enforcement or corrections agencies. This information will provide a disability as provided by law.

The first step in the expungement process is to obtain the official criminal case history. The lawyer then analyzes whether an expungement can be obtained based upon the time frame from the disposition of the charge and whether or not there were other crimes or offenses for which the defendant was found or pled guilty.

If an expungement can be done, a petition is filed with the criminal case history in the Superior Court. Copies go to numerous entities for an opportunity for them to object. A hearing date is set by the court. If there are no objections, an expungement order should be granted. It is forwarded to all of the relevant entities to expunge the record.

It is of great value to someone seeking a job or school admission to not have a record of his conviction. Sometimes people make one mistake and the expungement can help the person move on to new opportunities.