It is official! at 5:15 p.m. on April 7, 2014, the governor of Alabama signed the expungement bill.  This means Alabama now has an expungement law.

This has been a long time in the making, and it brings long overdue relief for many good people who had the misfortune of being arrested and charged with a crime in the past.  While the new law does not allow a person to expunge crimes they were for which they were found guilty,  it will allow people to request expungement for non-violent criminal charges that were disposed of in pretty much any other fashion.  This obviously includes cases where the person was acquitted or found not guilty, but it also includes cases where the charges were nolle prossed or dismissed.  It even includes cases where the charge was dropped after a person completed a diversion or deferred prosecution program.  A diversion program is a court program that a person completes (usually involving classes, counseling community service, drug testing, etc.) with an agreement between the prosecutor, the court and the person charged that the person’s criminal charges will be dismissed upon completion of the program.  Many people have had criminal charges dismissed through diversion programs.  Now those people can not only get their charges dismissed but possibly expunged from their records.

A note of caution is important here.  Just because a person is eligible to request an expungement does not mean the court will automatically grant the expungement.  The process laid out in the new law for seeking an expungement is complex and is something you will definitely need to hire a lawyer to help you with.  Our law firm has reviewed the new law in great depth, and we would be happy to talk you about whether you are a candidate for expungement.  Give us a call today.