Recent Changes to Louisiana’s Expungement Law – New Waiting Times Before Expungement Can Be Requested

This is the latest blog post regarding the Louisiana Legislature’s recent changes to the expungement law. The new expungement law, or rather laws, repeals LSA-R.S. 44:9 and replaces it with a whole host of new laws found in Code of Criminal Procedure Articles 971-995. There are many new changes and this blog will explain one important and beneficial change for people seeking to expunge their criminal conviction.

In order to be eligible for an expungement under the old law (44:9) it was required that you be sentenced under Article 893 (misdemeanor) or Article 894 (felony). Often though, this important detail was neglected either because the attorney forgot to request it from the judge or the judge declined to make it available. In my practice I get many phone calls from people who were not sentenced under the expungement article. Under the new expungement law these people are now eligible for an expungement if:

You were convicted of a misdemeanor and it has been at least 5 years since the end of your sentence/probation. For felonies the wait time is 10 years after the end of your sentence/probation In addition, during the 5 or 10 year waiting period you cannot have been convicted of an additional criminal charge (misdemeanor or felony) and have no pending criminal charges against you at the time of filing.

This is a great change to the expungement law and will benefit many people. If you need help expunging your criminal record of a misdemeanor or  felony conviction please contact attorney Rhett Spano at 225-387-8327 or rspano@gmail.com for a free consultation. You can also get more information from my website at www.rhettspanolaw.com.

Recent Changes to Louisiana’s Expungement Law – Expunging An Arrest From Your Criminal Record

We've been blogging about the recent changes to Louisiana’s expungement law. This blog explains how you can obtain an expungement for an arrest. Obviously if you have a conviction you want to get that expunged. However, not all arrests lead to convictions, or even a prosecution. Nevertheless, an arrest could cost you that new job you've worked hard to get so don’t take a chance – get it expunged.

Let’s say you went to a party with some friends and had a few drinks. On the way home you’re stopped by the police for suspicion of DUI. During the stop the police search your car and see drugs on the floorboard that one of your friends discarded. The friend remains silent and you have to take the charge because it’s your car after all. You’re arrested for DUI and possession of drugs. Obviously, this does not look good to prospective employers.

However, you hire an experienced criminal attorney (such as myself) and he convinces the District Attorney that the case against you is not a good one and you are not prosecuted: your attorney proves that the police officer forgot to calibrate the Intoxilyzer and thus the results are invalid. Also, your attorney proves that the drugs were located on the passenger side floorboard and that you were driving the car. Not likely that you put the drugs there and more likely someone who was in the back seat did. Boom! Out of the woods right?

Not really. Even though you were not prosecuted your criminal record still shows that you were arrested for DUI and possession of drugs. The vast majority of employers will take a pass on hiring you. What can be done about this?

You can get the arrest record expunged under Article 976. There is no set waiting time to get an arrest expunged if any of these conditions are met:

1.     You are not prosecuted for the offense and the time period that the DA has to prosecute you for the offense is expired. How long this time period is depends on the crime. It is longer for felonies than misdemeanors. An experienced attorney can tell you if this has occurred.

2.     The District Attorney declines to prosecute any offense arising out of the arrest.  If the DA goes on record as stating they are not going to prosecute then you don’t have to “run out the clock” on the time period. Again, an attorney can help you determine this.

3.     You are prosecuted but an attorney gets the case dismissed in court, gets the charges quashed or wins your trial. As you can see, hiring a good defense attorney has a direct effect on your ability to get an arrest expunged.

If you need help expunging your criminal record of a misdemeanor or felony arrest please contact attorney Rhett Spano at 225-387-8327 or rspano@gmail.com for a free consultation. You can also get more information from my website at www.rhettspanolaw.com.

Recent Changes to Louisiana’s Expungement Law – Online Criminal Record Searches

Recently the legislature passed a new law (House Bill 55) that makes many changes to Louisiana’s expungement law. One of the most important changes deals with internet based companies that sell criminal records to employers performing background checks on job applicants. Because even a minor offense on your criminal record can prevent you from getting a job, it is important that you understand how the new law affects your rights with respect to your criminal record and how you can protect your privacy once you have gotten an expungement.

It is a problem that I see often in my criminal law practice: someone is denied a job because their employer discovered they have a criminal record. More frequently in past years employers are purchasing criminal backgrounds over the internet from companies that buy them in bulk from the police department or clerk’s offices (some people say they may even hack into databases). Because of the huge amounts of criminal records obtained at a time it is not unheard for these companies to make a mistake in either identification or the type of charges. In other words, the criminal records these companies sell may not be completely accurate which could cost you a job.

The new law states that after you have an arrest or conviction expunged off your criminal record and you give any company proper notice of your expungement, they can no longer sell it to a prospective employer or maintain the information on their website. Any company that sells your criminal record after you have notified them of your expungement is liable to you for damages, court costs and attorney fees. In other words you can sue them.

Another important change to the expungement law is that you are not required to disclose to a prospective employer that you were previously arrested or convicted after you receive an expungement. This means that you can check “no” on a job application if it asks if you have been arrested or convicted.

It is important to understand that when your criminal record is expunged the record of it is not destroyed, but rather removed from public view. Public records are those kept by the clerk’s office or law enforcement and does not include online companies. After you receive an expungement you must take steps to inform these online companies that your criminal record has been expunged. Hiring an experienced criminal attorney can help ensure that a potential employer does not deny you a job because they have discovered you have a criminal record (that is now expunged) from one of the many online companies.

If you need help expunging your criminal record of an arrest or a conviction please contact attorney Rhett Spano at 225-387-8327 or rspano@gmail.com for a free consultation. You can also get more information from my website at www.rhettspanolaw.com.