Monday, October 6, 2014

Seal / Expunge / FDLE / Criminal Records / Criminal History / Background Checks / Michael A. Haber, Esq. **ARRESTED / **305DUI

Sealing is available in a case where you received a withhold of adjudication, and expunction is available in a case which was dismissed, nolle pros'd, no actioned or where you were found to have been not guilty. In Florida you can only seal or expunge one eligible (non-disqualified) offense in your lifetime.

If you look at the following website you will learn everything you ever wanted to know about the sealing / expunction process:

http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/content/getdoc/c83dd888-ef7a-448e-9a96-ba69fc4181f7/Seal-and-Expunge-Home.aspx

The procedure is both quite detailed and somewhat painstaking but is also far from being rocket science. You can attempt to navigate it yourself (FDLE has tried to simplify it - again I refer you to the website above) but, assuming your eligibility, any criminal defense lawyer (anywhere in Florida - this can be done remotely and does not necessarily require a local attorney, although a local attorney may or may not be less expensive) will be able to accomplish the task with greater ease and likely in a shorter time period.

That said I suspect that it doesn't much matter where you were arrested, what you were arrested for, what the final disposition was or whether or not you sealed / expunged the record. This is 2014 and we are forehead deep into the internet age, where nothing is private, sacred or truly hidden from public scrutiny.

Sadly, sealing (and expunging) only applies to certain (not even to all) government agencies and has no effect whatsoever on private (er, extortionist) enterprise, who compile and maintain arrest information and then demand that you pay them off to remove your information from their database and public access. Worse still, after you "buy back your information", then you can count on there being another private company lurking, somewhere, sometime, somehow, just waiting for you to pay them off as well. Its a seemingly never-ending vicious cycle.

For better or for worse you are probably best advised to take the wind out of the sails by admitting your past issues / indiscretions to your present (or potential) employer, lender, landlord, etcetera, rather than waiting for them to find out on their own.

As for background checks, no lawyer can tell you either how thoroughly some other person / entity will go in conducting a background check or what such an examination may or may not reveal. 

That said, again, unfortunately, it is probably a safe bet to assume that if you were arrested anytime in the digital age then your criminal record will almost certainly remain with you forever. To some degree or another this is true regardless of whether your ultimately seal or expunge a case. All arrests are matters of public record, and, even if they are subsequently removed from the public record they still remain alive and well in various private records.  This is one down-side to technology. 

You might want to do your own background check to see what pops up. Forewarned is forearmed. If your prior indiscretion appears then, again, for better or for worse, you are probably best advised to take the wind out of the sails by admitting your past issues / indiscretions to your present (or potential) employer, lender, landlord, etcetera, rather than waiting for them to find out on their own, but that's a personal, not a legal, decision. 



Michael A. Haber, P.A.:  Zealous criminal defense advocacy since 1991 for both juveniles and adults, in both State and Federal Courts, in criminal cases ranging from DUI to drug trafficking and from misdemeanors to first degree murder.  At Michael A. Haber, P.A. "its all about reasonable doubt"!

At Michael A. Haber, P.A. "Its all about reasonable doubt"! 

Michael A. Haber, Esq. is prepared to speak with you about your case!

1-888-SHARK-8-1, 305-381-8686, 305-798-2220, **ARRESTED, **305DUI, **MIAMIDUI, **MIAMILAW or **HABERLAW.

Follow Michael A. Haber, P.A. on Facebook by going to the following link and clicking the "Like" button:  www.facebook.com/haberpa 


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