Are you being turned down for jobs, promotions, and loans? It may be your record haunting you.
Oklahoma expungement laws allow individuals with a criminal history to cleanse and sometimes completely erase their criminal record from the public eye. Oklahoma expungement laws frequently change; and, effective November 1, 2019, they are changing again. Virtually all recipients of deferred sentences for misdemeanors and non-violent felonies in Oklahoma will be eligible for a complete arrest expungement (One year after completion of their probation for misdemeanors, and 5 years after completion of probation for non-violent felonies). Also, a pardon is no longer a hurdle to expungement for those convicted of even two non-violent felony offense. These new provisions give hope to a vastly larger segment of the population than before.
If you were convicted if a felony drug crime, many of those crimes have been reclassified as misdemeanors. Now, those felonies can be removed from your record as well.
There are, essentially, two statutory schemes for getting rid of a criminal record. Expungement of state court records pursuant to 22 O.S. §991c.D, whereby, upon successful completion of a deferred sentence, the court withdraws your original plea of guilty or no contest and dismisses your case. Afterward, the clerk of the court removes your name and case from the public record. You can, then, legally state that you have never pleaded guilty to that crime. At this point, you may also have your OSBI criminal history for that crime updated to state: "Pleaded Not Guilty, Case Dismissed."
Expungement of arrest records pursuant to 22 O.S. §§18, 19 allows, in some circumstances, for all arrest information to be deleted from the records of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI), the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), publicly accessible records of all local police agencies involved, and the clerks of court. With an arrest record expungement, you may legally state that you have never been arrested for that crime.
This webpage offers a mere sample of the myriad of circumstances under which arrest expungements are warranted; thus, your best bet is to obtain a criminal history report from OSBI and have it reviewed by Pierce Law Firm PC. Under limited circumstances, if you will fax or email that report to us, Mr. Pierce will examine it and tell you just what the law will allow in your specific situation. Some of the most common situations that we see, where arrest expungements are allowed, are:
- 1 year has passed since successful completion of deferred sentence on misdemeanor;
- Immediately upon satisfaction of fine of where less than $501 fine was imposed pursuant to misdemeanor conviction;
- 5 years have passed since the end of a sentence for a misdemeanor conviction that resulted in imposition of either a fine of more than $500, a suspended sentence, or a jail term.
- 5 years have passed since successful completion of sentence or dismissal after deferred on non-violent felony;
- Person arrested, but no charges of any type were ever filed, nor will any ever be filed;
- Person charged, but charges dismissed sans plea and charges won't ever be filed again;
- Person pardoned by governor;
- Person charged and/or convicted and/or imprisoned, then innocence established by DNA; and,
- In cases of theft of your identity;
- Person convicted of non-violent felony offense that was later reclassified as a misdemeanor.
This list is not exhaustive, nor unqualified. Send your OBSI criminal history - Let's see what we can do.
Also, pardons are frequently granted in Oklahoma. Don't be fooled into thinking that pardons are only for the ultra-rich or the "connected". Pierce Law Firm can be your connection. It's time to get started now.