Salt Lake City Expungement

By Author: Rachel Moore
Total Articles: 14
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Is a mistake you made in your youth following you around in your adult life? Because it is common for employers and landlords to run criminal background checks on applicants, a past criminal conviction can prevent you from moving forward and achieving your goals. If an error in judgment made long ago is haunting your present, you may want to look into applying for a criminal record expungement.
If you have a criminal record in Salt Lake City, you will find your path to expungement to be just a bit smoother, as Utah has one of the most lenient expungement laws in the United States. Unlike in other states, the majority of criminal records in Utah are eligible for expungement, and once your criminal record is expunged, employers and landlords will not have access to it.
It is important to know that there are some limits and waiting periods involved that impact who can apply for Utah record expungement and when. First, there are limits for the number of cases you may have on your ...
... record at the time you apply. These limits are 5 or more felony and/or misdemeanor convictions of any degree, or 3 misdemeanor Bs if you have 4 or more convictions, or 2 misdemeanor As if you have 3 or more convictions, or 2 or more felony convictions. Next, you are required to wait a certain amount of time after a conviction to apply for Utah record expungement. For 2nd and 3rd degree felonies, the wait time is 7 years, for Class A misdemeanors, it is 5 years, for Class B misdemeanors, it is 4 years, and for Class C misdemeanors, and it is 3 years. For any alcohol related traffic offense, the waiting period is 10 years. For arrests that did not lead to a conviction, you may apply for expungement after the case is dismissed, or 90 days after the charges were not filed.
Your first step in the process is to obtain a certificate of eligibility from the Utah Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Once you have this in hand, you can file a petition for expungement with the Salt Lake County court where your case was, or would have been, tried. While it is not required for you to be represented by an attorney when you apply for expungement, it is recommended you allow an attorney to work through this process on your behalf. Having an attorney’s experience with applying for expungement in Salt Lake City will help you achieve your goal in the most efficient manner possible.