If you have an arrest record, a court record, or a criminal conviction, you have likely dealt with some difficult circumstances as a result of that blemish on your history. Often, a criminal record can disqualify an applicant from getting a job, can prevent someone from securing a home or apartment lease, can cause difficulty in gaining admission to college, or keep someone from getting a financial loan. If you have ever faced such a situation, you know firsthand how important it can be to clear your criminal record.
Fortunately, Oklahoma law provides a couple of different ways a person may qualify for record expungement.
Perhaps the most common type of record expungement in Oklahoma is the expungement of the court record following a deferred sentence. This type of expungement, often called a Section 991c expungement, is available to defendants who receive a deferred sentence after pleading guilty to a crime and successfully complete the probation associated with the delayed sentencing.
In this type of situation, after the defendant enters a guilty plea, the judge does not immediately accept the plea and render judgement. Instead, he or she gives the defendant probation and defers judgement to allow the defendant time to complete probation. If the defendant fails to adhere to the terms of probation, the District Attorney will file a Motion to Accelerate (MTA) sentencing. The judge will likely then accept the guilty plea and sentence the defendant to jail or prison.
If the defendant complies with his or her probation, then at the end of the probationary term, the defendant's plea is changed to not guilty and the judge dismisses the case. There is no conviction and the defendant's name is stricken from court records.
Another type of expungement is called the Section 18/19 expungement, and this type of expungement is typically preferable, as it not only removes the defendant's name from the court record, but also erases the arrest record on file with the OSBI. Sometimes called a "full expungement," the Section 18/19 expungement is more difficult to obtain. In order to qualify, the petitioner must meet one or more of twelve criteria found in 22 O.S. § 18.
These criteria include acquittal, subsequent exoneration by DNA evidence, dismissal of the case after reversal on appeal, a full pardon by the governor with a finding of actual innocence, or no charges of any kind being filed after arrest.
However, there are also several instances in which a person's record may be expunged even if he or she was not found innocent or did not have all charges dismissed. These include nonviolent felony and misdemeanor convictions (or deferred sentences) that are accompanied by no further criminal activity within a specified period of time. Read the full list of qualifiers.
There are also ways to get record of a Victim's Protective Order (VPO) expunged. In some specific cases, a person may even petition for removal from the Oklahoma Sex Offender Registry. To learn more, contact Oklahoma criminal defense attorney Ryan Coventon at (405) 417-3842, or submit our online case review form to schedule a free, confidential consultation.
