West Virginia Expungement of Criminal Records

 

No one wants to have a criminal record, but if you get arrested and charged with a crime in West Virginia, there’s no way of stopping that from happening. Even if you are ultimately found innocent of the crime, the charge still shows up in your history, and it will stay with you for your entire life!

 

Besides the stigma of having a record, the real reason that this is unfortunate is that it can negatively impact your ability to do things that you probably thought of as simple and commonplace before your arrest. From now on, whenever you fill out a job application, you will have to answer yes to having a criminal history.

 

And if potential employers, landlords, credit card companies, banks, or organizations offering professional licenses need to do a background check, say goodbye to your chances of getting what you want there. This is because the first thing your history will show them is your criminal record, and people with crimes in their past tend to be considered higher risks that people don’t want to do business with.

 

Which is where the legal process of expungement comes in. This is a very useful procedure whereby individuals’ criminal records may be made inaccessible to the general public. In West Virginia, this procedure may be granted to certain people in specific situations to make it easier for them to get back to living their lives and moving forward.

 

Who is eligible for expungement in West Virginia?

 

Obviously, West Virginia does not want to simply allow everyone who has committed a crime to hide the fact that they are a criminal, so the rules about who may petition for expungement only apply to a few. Situations where a person would qualify for expungement include:

 

• The individual was not convicted of the crime for which they were charged
• Individual convicted of certain specific offenses eligible for expungement under West Virginia law
• Individuals who are convicted as first-time offenders in certain drug-related crimes
• If an individual is pardoned by the governor or a judge
• Most crimes where the offender is a juvenile

 

What kind of crimes does West Virginia deem eligible for expungement?

 

The two main categories of criminal charges are felonies and misdemeanors, and certain crimes from both categories are eligible for expungement.

 

Misdemeanor offenses that can be expunged in West Virginia include:

 

• certain drug-related first-time offenses
• certain juvenile convictions of misdemeanors

 

While West Virginia law makes a good number of misdemeanor offenses ineligible for expungement, even fewer felonies meet the requirements. The only ones which can be expunged are certain first offenses involving drugs and certain records for juvenile offenders. The reason for this short list of eligible crimes is that the law states that no violent crime is eligible for expungement, including:

 

• murder in the various degrees
• manslaughter
• arson
• capital offenses
• rape

 

A type of crime for which there are particular complications and allowances is a driving under the influence (DUI) charge. While they are deemed expungeable, the state has set limitations in the circumstances under which expungement is allowed. If you are considering trying to get you DUI charge expunged, your best bet is to contact an experienced West Virginia DUI lawyer.

 

The three rules of West Virginia expungement

 

At its most basic, West Virginia expungement law can be broken down to three simple rules:

 

• violent crimes may ever be expunged
• The only offenses that are eligible for petitioning are certain first-time drug crimes
• Most juvenile offenses are eligible, but this depends upon the sentence that was imposed and the fact that that sentence was satisfactorily completed

 

Expunging arrest records in West Virginia

 

So long as the original arrest didn’t lead to further charges or convictions, individuals in West Virginia may have their arrest records expunged. It is also possible for a person to prove that the court made an error when it convicted them and have their criminal record reversed, get the charges dropped, and gain the ability to expunge their record.