Nebraska Expungement of Criminal Records

 

If you are arrested and charged with a crime in the state of Nebraska, documentation of that crime will go on your permanent criminal record. It’s something you’ll have to deal with every time you go to apply for a job, try to get an apartment, attempt to sign up for a credit card or loan, and to obtain some licenses for professional organizations. Why? Because all of those things require you to go through a background check, and the second one of those agencies looks into your history, they are going to see the charges leveled against you. For most people, that is likely to cause them to refuse you service or go with a different candidate immediately.

 

For a charge to appear on your criminal record, you don’t even have to be convicted of it. A judge or jury can decide that you are innocent, but your criminal record may make it look like you are guilty to someone doing a background check.

 

This is why the federal government decided to allow a process called expungement. Essentially, it is a legal way to erase, eliminate, or otherwise destroy arrest and conviction records from your criminal history for individuals that have committed certain crimes in specific circumstances.

 

How does expungement work in the state of Nebraska?

 

Every state in the nation handles the expungement process differently. Nebraska law is interesting because for some specific cases, expungement is not even needed – they will be removed from your record automatically after a certain period of time passes. Examples of where this would occur include:

 

For cases that do not simply disappear from your record after a certain period of time, only cases where a person is put under arrest due to the error of a law enforcement officer or agency is eligible to petition to have his or her records expunged under Nebraska law. For a charge that falls under this category, the petition would need to be filed to the district court where the arrest of the individual occurred and include all necessary information related to the wrongful arrest. In addition, a petition must also be served to the county attorney, who must be named as the respondent.

 

Simply being eligible for expungement and turning in your petition does not mean that your records will automatically be granted erasure. In fact, the state of Nebraska believes that expungement is a privilege and not a right, and district courts have discretion in deciding whether or not they believe that the individual submitting the petition has given them clear and significant evidence of being wrongfully arrested by Nebraska law enforcement.

Registered Sex Offenders in Nebraska

Nebraska citizens who are required by law to register under the Sex Offender Registration Act are also eligible to file an expungement petition, so long as the nature of their crime does not require them to remain registered for the rest of their life. As soon as an offender’s registration requirement has ended, it is possible for expungement to be granted to them so long as they do not have any criminal charges pending, they are not under criminal investigation for any of the offenses covered under section 29-4003 for registration, and they are not considered to be a substantial risk to commit another offense that would require registration.

 

If expungement is granted under these circumstances, any criminal history of this nature would no longer be accessible by the public, including arrest notions. The only people who would have access would be those in agencies of criminal justice. However, if that individual has a separate arrest, decides to run for political office, if a notarized request is made for release to a specific person or agency, or if it is needed for files that summarize the arrest (including dates, reasons for arrest) to show the reasoning for not prosecuting certain cases, those expunged records may be allowed to resurface or have access be granted.

 

• Cases in which the prosecuting attorney determines that no charges were filed – because of this, after 1 year on the public record, the record of the arrest will be erased
• Cases in which a completed diversion caused no charges to be filed – because of this, after 2 years on the public record, the record of the arrest will be erased
• Cases in which charges were filed and subsequently dismissed by the court following a motion by the prosecuting attorney or resulting from not hearing the appeal’s subject – because of this, after 3 years on the public record, the record of the arrest will be erased