A skilled Los Angeles County DUI attorney can help you have your DUI conviction expunged from your record.
If you have been convicted of a DUI, you may be concerned about the effects of that conviction on the rest of your life. Will you be able to seek employment? How will it affect your ability to travel internationally?
A criminal record can have long-term consequences for your life. While an expungement won’t erase all consequences of a DUI — such as increased insurance rates — it can improve your life in other ways. Most importantly, if your record is expunged, then you no longer have to report your conviction when you apply for a job. This is a significant advantage of a DUI expungement. Read on to learn more about the process.
What Is Expungement?
Expungement is a legal process by which a record of conviction is cleared. California law allows for expungement in most misdemeanor cases, including some DUI cases, as long as you meet the requirements.
California DUI Expungement
Expungement is available to anyone convicted of a DUI in California, as long as certain conditions are met. First, the conviction must have resulted in probation. Second, the person must have successfully completed probation. If you got jail time instead of probation (likely because the DUI was a felony) or if you violated your probation (such as by not paying the fines or attending class), you are not eligible for expungement.
The process for a DUI expungement is straightforward. Your Los Angeles County DUI attorney will file a petition with the court, asking for your conviction to be expunged. The judge will review the petition, and will grant or deny it. If the petition is granted, then you will have an opportunity to withdraw your plea and plead not guilty instead. The case will then be dismissed.
As mentioned above, an expungement is particularly valuable when it comes to employment, as the fact of your DUI can no longer be used against you in hiring decisions. You will not have to disclose that you got a DUI on job applications, and your employer cannot use the DUI conviction against you in hiring or promoting decisions. However, an expungement will still be considered when applying with state licensing boards for a new license or license renewal. It will also be considered in evaluating your ability to receive a teaching certificate.
It is also important to know that even after a DUI has been expunged from your record, it still exists for the purposes of future charges. This means that if you are arrested for a DUI or alcohol-related offense again, the expunged DUI will be counted as a prior offense if it occurred within the 10 years before the arrest. Both the court and the DMV will treat your most recent arrest as a report offense, even if the prior DUI was expunged from your record.
If you have been convicted of a DUI and sentenced to probation, it is very important that you successfully complete the terms of your probation. After it is completed (usually in 3 to 5 years), talk to your Los Angeles County DUI attorney about the possibility of an expungement. The Chambers Law Firm can assist anyone convicted of a DUI with the expungement process. Contact us today at 714-760-4088 or dchambers@clfca.com to learn more about how we can assist you. Initial consultations are always free!
