Wyoming Expungement

 

If you are charged with a crime in the state of Wyoming, this will appear on your criminal record. As a result, you may have trouble finding a job, an apartment, or getting certain types of licenses since they will discover your criminal history if they do a background check on you.

 

In some cases, you may be able to avoid these troubles by having the record removed. The federal government allows for this in a legal process which is called expungement. Laws and processes for expungement are different in every state. In some cases, you will not be able to expunge your record at all, but if you are interested in pursuing expungement, you may want to hire a Wyoming attorney to find out if it’s possible for you and how to proceed.

 

What Does Expungement Mean in Wyoming?

 

If you are able to get your record expunged successfully in the state of Wyoming, this won’t necessarily mean that your records are physically destroyed. Instead, it means that the records are removed from access by the public – both the paper copies and the electronic copies.

 

These expunged files are still kept by the state central repository of the criminal investigation division. They are filed in a special way to ensure that they cannot be accessed for the purpose of dissemination. Instead, they will only be available to people who work for criminal justice agencies, on a federal or state level, for the purposes of criminal justice, such as evidence for another case or in the instance that you are charged with a crime again.

 

When a criminal record is sealed, the record itself isn’t destroyed, but under Wyoming Statues 14-6-240, evidence such as fingerprints, DNA samples, and other identifying records must be destroyed. Juvenile cases are often handled under this category, in order to protect the convicted once they have turned 18 years of age. However, if the child is found guilty of an adult felony, then this data will not be destroyed.

 

Also, felony cases where the conviction was dismissed or reversed can be eligible to have these types of records sealed, as long as the data is not related to any other crime.

 

Are You Eligible for Expungement?

 

Of course, the best way to understand your eligibility for expungement, and the likelihood of a successful petition, is to contact the lawyer who worked on your case initially or to work with an attorney who has experience with expungement cases.

 

Not everyone is eligible to have their criminal record expunged. Juvenile adjudicated delinquent files, which may include misdemeanors or municipal ordinances, can be sealed. But this option is only available if the convicted individual has turned 18 years old and also hasn’t been convicted of another felony since the original adjudication.

 

Additionally, he or she must have completed rehabilitation to the satisfaction of the court and the prosecuting attorney.

 

As stated under Wyoming Statues 7-13-1401, it is possible that you may also be eligible for expungement if you had your charges dismissed or waited 180 days after the arrest. If formal charges are still pending, you are not eligible. You must also show that you have no related dispositions, no filed criminal charges, and that all criminal proceedings filed against you were dismissed completely.

 

The Process for Expungement in Wyoming

 

You should be aware that expungement is a privilege, not a right. It is granted on an individual basis, so that means that even if you technically meet all the requirements, there is still a chance that the request will be denied.

 

In order to start the process, you might petition the applicable court with a formal written request. This petition will be denied if the form is not completed correctly or if it is decided that it is not in the “favor of the court.”

 

For verification purposes, you must also send a copy of the reversed or dismissed conviction. You may be charged filing fees for this procedure.

 

If you have been convicted of a crime as an adult in Wyoming, the only way to seek an expungement is to have the charges reversed. To find out if this is possible in your case, talk to a qualified Wyoming lawyer.