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Did you know that when you are arrested for a crime, records of your arrest and the crime you were charged with stay on your criminal history even if you are found not guilty of the crime? A criminal charge on your record can hinder you when applying for certain employers, attempting to get a home and applying for certain loans. To avoid having to disclose information about the arrest or the charge, you need to have the changed expunged. Expungement is a legal order that, if granted, requires that any and all records related to a criminal charge be removed from your record.
In Virginia, criminal records are only eligible to be expunged certain situations. Virginia Code § 19.2-392.2 states expungement is only available if the person charged with the crime is found not guilty of the crime, if the charge is nolle prosequi, or if the charge is otherwise dismissed. This means that if you are charged with a crime, and the court enters any sort of finding against the you for the charge, you are ineligible to have that crime expunged.
The process of expungement begins with a petition for expungement being submitted to the clerk of the circuit court of the city where the charge was disposed of. The Commonwealth Attorney for the city must also be served with the petition for expungement. The Commonwealth Attorney can object to expungement being granted. After submitting a petition for expungement, the court will hold a hearing and determine if the expungement should be granted. The court will hear testimony from the person looking to have their record expunged and decide, if based on that testimony, the continued existence of the arrest of the record would cause or may cause in the future a manifest injustice to the person looking to have their record expunged.
Understanding the criteria for expungement and the process of getting a charge expunged can be confusing. If you are interested in having a charge expunged, you should reach out to an experienced attorney. The attorneys at Hadley Law can help guide you through the process.
