As soon as a person is arrested there is a permanent record of this arrest. Even if a person is arrested and then charges are not filed by the prosecutor, there is still a record of the arrest that will remain a permanent record. Therefore, if you were wrongfully arrested, your case was dismissed or you were found not guilty, contact our Miami Expungement Attorneys and Ft. Lauderdale Expungement Attorneys in order to expunge (erase) the arrest from your criminal record.
There are 2 options to try and prevent others from learning of criminal arrests, charges, and findings:
1. Expungement
2. Sealing
A criminal history record that has been ordered expunged by a court must be physically destroyed by any criminal justice agency having custody of such record. This includes the Clerk of Court, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the sheriff’s office, and local police departments. Only very basic information such as your name, charge, and date of arrest will remain held by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and will not be made available to anyone absent a court order. A person will be able to deny the arrest before any employer, landlord, and anyone except before a judicial officer, the Florida Bar, and any education employment with children among a few other exceptions.
For those who are ineligible for expungement, there is a process called sealing a criminal record. A criminal record that has been sealed is confidential and the public will be unable to access it. Only certain governmental agencies will have access to the information.
A person is only entitled to Petition the Court for expungement one time in their life and only in the following circumstances:
1. You are arrested and charges are never filed
2. You are arrested, charges are filed and at some point, the case is dismissed
3. You have a trial and are found not guilty.
In each of the above examples, a person arrested will have a criminal record for the public to see, even if they are found not guilty. If you are concerned about your record, then there are methods to Expunge (erase the record) or Seal (protect it from public view) which you may want to consider. Keep in mind that employers, landlords, lenders, and many other individuals choose to perform background checks on persons that they deal with. Therefore, if you are concerned about your criminal record, contact our Miami Expungement Lawyers and Ft. Lauderdale Expungement Lawyers today.
A person will be unable to expunge a record if he/she received a withhold of adjudication or if he/she was adjudicated guilty. On the other hand, if a person received a withhold of adjudication, he/she is eligible to have the record sealed. After 10 years of a record being sealed, he/she is eligible to have the record expunged. If a person is adjudicated guilty (does not receive a withhold of adjudication), he/she is ineligible to expunge or seal the record.
Not all charges are eligible for expungement or sealing. Florida Statute943.0585 is the expungement statute and Florida Statute 943.059 is the sealing statute and they explicitly state what charges are eligible for these processes. Contact Kreutzer Law Offices today, your Miami Expungement Attorneys, and Ft. Lauderdale Expungement Attorneys, to discuss your case to determine whether or not your case is eligible for expungement or sealing.
