How can I get my criminal record cleaned for the military?

Question

I was with my brother in Wal-Mart and he stole some dvds, and when we were leaving a store worker grabbed me and I pushed him up against the wall. They searched my brother and found the dvds on him, searched me and found nothing. Called the police, And I lied about my age by saying I was 17, but was still charged. I've never had a court date for the crimes, No warrant or anything. Reason for my question is I'm trying to join the military, but the charges came up when I had my live scan. I was wondering how can I get this mess taken care of or get any information on it. I went to the police station where they took us, but the police officer was being mean and didn't release any information to me. The clerk said the statue of limitations has passed. If so, why are the charges still showing up?  How can I get it taken care of?

Jared Austin · Answer

I would suggest calling the county prosecutor's office to find out what is going on. Were you charged or not? If so, then that is why it is showing up and you will need to get that matter resolved or else it will remain on your record. If you were not charged, I don't know why it would be showing up. Call the prosecutor to find out what is going on.

Seth Bloom · Answer

You may want to consider pursuing an expungement to have your record cleared of the charges. Contact a criminal defense attorney in your local area who will be able to assist you with this.  Expungements can be quite effective but for certain jobs, especially governmental ones, charges may still need to be disclosed. As long as you do not also have any convictions, you may not have any problems.  My office handles a large number of expungements on a regular basis. If you are interested in pursuing an expungement in this matter in Louisiana, I invite you to contact my firm at the information on this page for a free case evaluation.

Michael Palumbo · Answer

None of this makes any sense because there should be a warrant for your arrest if you had charges but never went to court. You will have to retain our office (i.e. pay us) to research this with the authorities for you.

Eric Sterkenburg · Answer

If all the facts are true you should not have a charge showing up on your record. It should only come up as a misdemeanor arrest with the charges drop or never filed. If this is keeping you out of the military then consult in person with an attorney and have him handle it for you.

Joshua Aldabbagh · Answer

It sounds like the record of your arrest is what is showing up. You can get your record sealed, which makes it so the arrest never occurred; you can truthfully answer "no" when asked if you have ever been arrested. An attorney can assist you in sealing your records, feel free to contact my office.

Steven D. Dunnings · Answer

Get a copy of your criminal history from the County Clerks office were the incident occurred. What might be showing up is a record of an arrest but not a conviction

Stephen Freeborn · Answer

I do not know what document you are referring to.  The matter would have to be charged to be of record, which would mean that there is a court case on record.  If so, I would have to see what the court case says.  Consult with an attorney.

Jeffery Cojocar · Answer

Retain an attorney.

Loren M. Dickstein · Answer

Your case sounds very interesting. If you never went to court, the offenses should not be showing as convictions on your record. On the other hand, I suspect the charges are coming up under the "charge" segment of the criminal history records system (LIEN) and the court failed to issue a warrant for you. The charges are probably still outstanding. Given the length of time that has passed and your desire to go into the military, the prosecutor may be willing to dismiss the charges or reduce them to something that will not prevent you from going into the military.

Michael J. Breczinski · Answer

Get an attorney to help you. He can check if there are warrants or charges against you. If there are he might be able to resolve the matter without a conviction.

Thomas Tomko · Answer

Thank you for your inquiry  If I understand your details, you appear to have been arrested but never charged.  If so, I do not know how this is showing up for purposes of the military.  If it shows as a contact, then it is with the individual police department.  If it is in the LEIN system, then it would show as an arrest and nothing in the charging or Court stage.  This can be explained to the military.  It may also lend itself to a Motion For Rut urn of fingerprints.  This would take the arrest out of the system.  I hope that this was helpful.

Robert Watkins · Answer

The process is called "annulment" and is explained in NH RSA 651. If   you were arrested but never convicted you are entitled to having the   record of arrested removed. The petition to annul must be filed in   the district court where the arrest took place. The clerk's office   has a form you can use.

Roianne Houlton Conner · Answer

Unfortunately in Alabama there is no statute which allows for expungement.

Michael Morgan · Answer

The charge would ordinarily not show up unless the case was filed-and it is when the case is filed and not when you first appear in court that determines if the statute of limitations has expired. It is possible you were never charged but the arrest is showing upand you can move to have an arrest expunged through WACIC.

Jason Savela · Answer

You can file to seal the record of arrest.  You have to petition the court - it does not happen automatically.

James Schoenberger · Answer

You need to seal non-conviction data. See http://www.courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/index.cfm?fa=newsinfo.displayContent&theFile=content/guideToCrimHistoryRecords

Michael Maltby · Answer

This is really a job for a lawyer.  A lawyer could help sort this out fairly easily and it would not be too expensive.  You have not given enough information at this point for any other advice.

Eric Schurman · Answer

I'm confused. If you never had a court date nor a warrant, then there should not be any criminal charges on your record.  Are you confusing  arrest record with criminal charges?

Jeff Yeh · Answer

Nothing you can do. Only convictions can get expunged. Since you weren't convicted or anything, there is nothing to expunge. The military will always be able to see that you were arrested (but not convicted).

Jared Altman · Answer

Did you ever have to go to court or appear in front of a judge? It's hard to tell what happened from the facts you gave. It sounds like a piece of the puzzle is missing.

Eric M. Mark · Answer

You can expunge the arrest from your record, but law enforcement will still be able to see it. Have you spoken to a military recruiter? If you do not have a conviction, there may be no problem. Your best best would be to hire a lawyer to obtain a disposition on the arrest and expunge the arrest from your record.

Cynthia Henley · Answer

You say that you lied about your age saying that you were 17 but do not say how old you actually were. At 17, you would be charged as an adult. If you were over 17, then it has no effect. If you were under 17, then the case should have been handled by the juvenile system.  If you were over 17, go to the clerk's office in the county in which you were arrested and see if there was a case ever filed against you. (I am assuming that it is above $50 value which means it would be county level. If it was below $50, then it would be municipal court or justice of the peace court.) If they do not have any record of charges against you, then the only thing on your "record" is your fingerprints. If there was a case, then you need to see what happened. Was it dismissed?   The bottom line is no matter what happened, as long as the case is not still pending & a warrant outstanding, you need to hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit in civil district court to expunge whatever records that there are (including the fingerprints) in order to completely remove the case from your criminal history. Unfortunately, this process generally takes several months so if you are in a hurry, you need to get someone hired immediately.

Terry Nelson · Answer

Cleaned?  You dont.  Arrests, convictions and pleas are generally on your record forever.    If there is a conviction on your record, you can consider getting the conviction expunged; which would help in obtaining and keeping employment. It sounds like there is no conviction to expunge.  Expungement does NOT clear,  'remove' or erase the conviction, but merely changes the record to show 'conviction reversed and dismissed by expungement'.  Sometimes the military will accept that expungement and allow enlistment.   If there is only an arrest, you can consider trying to apply through a Motion and court hearing for a declaration of factual innocence and then seek to have the arrest record sealed from public view.  Again, it doesnt disappear, and is accessible by law enforcement and government investigation.  However, the military would likely accept that as cleared, and allow enlistment.  It would require a showing that you actually were innocent, without validity to the allegations that got you arrested, and that no charges were filed, or were dropped, by the court and DA in the interests of justice.      If youre serious about doing this, and you think you qualify under those rules, feel free to contact me for the legal help you'll need.

Timothy Klisz · Answer

Hire an attorney to help you out. Could be quite tricky.

Jules N. Fiani · Answer

Hire a lawyer to have it expunged.

Leonard Harden · Answer

I will need more details to give you good advise. Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry smartphone

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How can I get my criminal record cleaned for the military?

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