My husband has an outstanding background according to the County Police Department.

QUESTION:      My husband has an outstanding background according to the County Police Department.  He had the opportunity to view his background from an attorney who emailed him 20 pages of criminal activity. Of those 20 pages only 5 were actual convictions. What are the necessary steps that we need to take in order to have all of the other fabricated incidents removed.  In our rights we are innocent until PROVEN guilty. What happens when 15 charges that have been dismissed are still appearing on every background that is conducted on him?  Are not those charges that were dropped supposed to be stricken from his record? Most of the incidents were not even arrested just charges. We do believe someone was also using his name in their criminal activity.

Do all arrests stay on one’s record?  And if so, how long?  Most importantly, it is not the arrests that he`s most concerned about, it is the charges that were dismissed and the activity that he has no knowledge of that makes him out to be monster.

ANSWER:         Start here: Your husband has five convictions. Irrespective of whether he has five felony convictions, five misdemeanor convictions or a mix of both, he has five convictions. Therefore, few, if any judges, want to address correcting his NCIC (criminal history). No judge cares about removing from his record five arrests that were eventually dismissed, because your husband has five convictions.  By analogy, it is like coming home and finding that the dog has chewed on all of your shoes and pissed on the couch. You are mad. Then your neighbor explains that everyone`s house on the block except yours has been burglarized.  Are you grateful for the dog at that moment, or are you still mad about the shoes and the couch?  Your husband has prior arrests, where the system worked, and charges were dismissed.  Few judges are going to help you expunge his record of dismissed charges, because he has a hard time finding work, because the judge knows that your husband may have committed the charges but the prosecutor could not put the case together. The point is the system worked, just like the dog in protecting your house. However, the system is clearly imperfect, like the dog chewing your shoes, because if it were perfect (perfect prosecutor, perfect witnesses) your husband might have nine convictions. I suspect that the question stems from his inability to find a good paying job. However, it is not just the criminal history that is preventing him from getting a job, it is the attitude and behavior that leads to 12 of 15 arrests (remember some were not him) and five convictions that prevents him from finding meaningful work. I also suspect that because he cannot find meaningful work, you will not be able to afford the attorney that could clear up ten arrests that either were not your husband or were dismissed. I would charge about $ 25,000, because I would have to research every offense and pull fingerprint cards and police reports. It is crazy amount of work. I wish you the best of luck.

Answered By Lawrence Lewis - Criminal Defense Attorney