You are definitely not the only person in Minnesota to have faced a legal problem in life. If your situation was of your own making, you probably made choices you later regretted. Now you know that you would do things quite differently if you had it to do over again. In any case, you wound up facing charges and things did not pan out in your favor in court. You may be interested to know that it may be possible to move into the future with a clean record.
In certain circumstances, the court will grant an expungement. This means your criminal record would no longer be available for public review. You might think of it as sealing your files, although certain people, such as law enforcement agents or court officials, may still have access to it in specific circumstances. In order to seek expungement, you must satisfy eligibility requirements.
Key factors to keep in mind
You might be surprised how a criminal record can impede your future even if you fulfilled your sentence. Prospective employers and perhaps even work colleagues or landlords, etc., may change the way they act toward you if they know you were convicted of a crime. In fact, it can even hurt your chances of getting a job or renting an apartment. The following information explains more about the expungement process and may be useful in your situation:
- The expungement process varies by state and sometimes even by county. You’ll want to seek clarification of Minnesota laws, as well as laws in your particular county, to make sure you have current information for your area.
- How much time has elapsed since your arrest or conviction may affect your ability to seek expungement.
- Certain crimes make you ineligible for expungement right off the bat. Typically, this involves crimes of an extremely violent nature.
- Your most recent conviction is not the only determining factor for consideration concerning expungement. The court will likely take into account your entire criminal history.
- If you were a minor at the time of your arrest or conviction, officials may gauge your potential expungement process by a different set of rules.
Sometimes, removing an incident from your criminal record can really boost your chances of overcoming the possible long-term negative consequences of your situation, thus making it a lot easier to get life back on track. It can be a complicated process, however, and trying to submit a request for expungement on your own may prove quite stressful. Most Minnesota residents seeking expungements ask their defense attorneys to guide them through the process.