Expungement Criminal Records Oklahoma
A criminal record can hamper your job prospects; prevent you from obtaining housing, or government benefits. Fortunately, our Oklahoma expungement attorneys can clean up your criminal record and help prevent your past from ruining your future. Contact us today for more information on how to expunge your criminal record in Oklahoma.
What is an Oklahoma Criminal Record Expungement?
An expungement results in the sealing of a public record such as a criminal arrest or conviction record. The record will not be destroyed but restricted from the general public’s access. Law enforcement agencies can still access the record to view your prior convictions. Having your criminal arrest and conviction record expunged allows you to truthfully state that you have never been arrested or convicted of a crime on a job or tenant application.
How Do I Qualify?
Violent felonies cannot be expunged under Oklahoma State law. Title 22 Section 18 expungement of the Oklahoma State Statues allows you to expunge your entire arrest record as follows:
Persons authorized to file a motion for expungement, as provided herein, must be within one of the following categories:
- The person has been acquitted;
- The conviction was reversed with instructions to dismiss by an appellate court of competent jurisdiction;
- The factual innocence of the person was established by the use of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) evidence subsequent to conviction;
- The person has received a full pardon on the basis of a written finding by the Governor of actual innocence for the crime for which the claimant was sentenced;
- The person was arrested and no charges of any type, or the prosecuting agency has declined to file charges;
- The person was under eighteen (18) years of age at the time the offense was committed and received a full pardon for the offense;
- The person was charged with a nonviolent felony offense, as set forth in Section 571 of Title 57 of the Oklahoma Statutes, the charge was dismissed following the successful completion of a deferred judgment or delayed sentence;
- The person was convicted of a misdemeanor offense, the person has not been convicted of a felony, no felony or misdemeanor charges are pending against the person, and at least ten (10) years have passed since the end of the last misdemeanor sentence; or
- The person has been charged or arrested or is the subject of an arrest warrant for a crime that was committed by another person.
Title 22 Section 991(c) allows you to expunge a plea if you received a deferred sentence. If granted, the deposition of your case will be updated to reflect the case has been dismissed. Section 991(c) will not expunge the arrest record. A petition must be made under both sections in order to have the arrest and conviction record expunged.
How Does the Expungement Process Work?
At our law office, our expungement attorney will first review your arrest record to see if you are eligible to have it expunged. If so, we will file a petition on your behalf in the county in which the arrest took place. A hearing date will be set. Our attorney will provide notice of the hearing to the district attorney, the arresting agency, and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. The judge will hear the matter and determine whether your privacy of the arrest outweighs the public interest in keeping the record. The judge can either issue an order to completely seal the record, seal part of the record, or limit access to the record.
In addition to filling a petition for the arrest record to be expunged, our attorney will also file a petition to have your criminal record expunged. The process to expunge your criminal record is the same for expunging an arrest record.
Hire Our Oklahoma Criminal Record Expungement Attorney
Our attorneys can help you clean up your arrest and criminal record. Contact us to help you get your affairs in order. We invite you to schedule a consultation. It is best to be represented by an experienced attorney when filing to have your record expunged. We can help you.
Expungement of Criminal Records Oklahoma
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