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Expungement
In Washington State, expunging a
record means to delete a record. The governing statute
is RCW 10.97.060, which is reproduced below.
In Washington, police and sheriff records and Washington
State Patrol records can be expunged or deleted
either 2 years after the date the case is dismissed or 3
years after an arrest was made if no conviction resulted
from the arrest. It is very important to note that
only "nonconviction" data can be expunged: this means
you cannot have your record expunged if you were
convicted of a crime. When we are hired to expunge
a record, we typically have the Washington State Patrol and
the arresting agency (usually a city police department or
county sheriff's office) delete their records. We then
follow up with several large, private data collection
companies to have the record deleted from their databases as
well.
Keep in mind that the last sentence of RCW
10.97.060 is very important. That sentence means that,
if a judge wants to, he/she can order a record deleted even
if it doesn't technically qualify for expungement.
RCW 10.97.060
Deletion of certain information,
conditions.
Criminal history record information which consists of
nonconviction data only shall be subject to deletion from
criminal justice agency files which are available and
generally searched for the purpose of responding to
inquiries concerning the criminal history of a named or
otherwise identified individual when two years or longer
have elapsed since the record became nonconviction data as a
result of the entry of a disposition favorable to the
defendant, or upon the passage of three years from the date
of arrest or issuance of a citation or warrant for an
offense for which a conviction was not obtained unless the
defendant is a fugitive, or the case is under active
prosecution according to a current certification made by the
prosecuting attorney.
Such criminal history record information
consisting of nonconviction data shall be deleted upon the
request of the person who is the subject of the record:
PROVIDED, HOWEVER, That the criminal justice agency
maintaining the data may, at its option, refuse to make the
deletion if:
(1) The disposition was a deferred
prosecution or similar diversion of the alleged offender;
(2) The person who is the subject of the
record has had a prior conviction for a felony or gross
misdemeanor;
(3) The individual who is the subject of the
record has been arrested for or charged with another crime
during the intervening period.
Nothing in this chapter is intended to
restrict the authority of any court, through appropriate
judicial proceedings, to order the modification or deletion
of a record in a particular cause or concerning a particular
individual or event.
Steve
Rosen
Attorney at Law
800 5th Avenue, 40th Floor
Seattle, WA 98104
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