Eligibility for Expungement or Sealing in Jacksonville

Jacksonville is the county seat of Duval County. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is a joint law enforcement agency that has the main responsibility for law enforcement in Jacksonville, as well as Duval County. It gives people several ways to conduct criminal history background checks. Jacksonville public records may be obtained online, in person, or by mail. In-person requests can be made at the Central Record Unit of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, which is located at 501 East Bay Street in Jacksonville. Florida criminal history records are public, except when a record is expunged or sealed. These procedures are governed by different code sections and entail meeting different requirements. If you are interested in exploring your eligibility for expungement or sealing in Jacksonville, you should consult the Jacksonville expungement lawyers at Hanlon Law.

Court-ordered expungement is governed by section 943.0585. You can be eligible to ask the court to expunge your criminal record if no charging document was filed or issued in the case that resulted in your criminal record, if a charging document was filed or issued but was nolle prosequi or dismissed by the statewide prosecutor or state attorney, if the case was dismissed by the court, or if the court rendered a judgment of acquittal or verdict of not guilty. This assumes that the criminal record is not ineligible for court-ordered expungement.

You can be eligible for expungement if you previously got a court-ordered sealing of your record for at least 10 years because adjudication was withheld or because all the charges based on the arrest or crime related to the expungement petition were not dismissed before trial, regardless of whether the outcome of the trial was something other than an adjudication of guilt. The requirement that the record was previously sealed for at least 10 years will not apply when a plea was not entered, when all the charges related to the arrest at issue were dismissed prior to trial, or when a judgment of acquittal or a not guilty verdict was rendered.

There are restrictions on eligibility for expungement or sealing in Jacksonville, and these will affect which is the appropriate measure. As mentioned above, you cannot expunge a criminal record that is ineligible for court-ordered expungement. Certain crimes for which you have received a conviction or determination of guilt are ineligible under section 943.0584, including terrorism, murder, illegal use of explosives, sexual misconduct, assault or battery, manslaughter, aggravated assault, stalking or aggravated stalking, luring or enticing a child, human trafficking under section 787.06, kidnapping, procuring a minor for prostitution, lewd and lascivious offenses, arson, home invasion robbery, and sexual performance by a child.

You also are not eligible for expungement if you have been adjudicated guilty of a crime or have been adjudicated delinquent of committing a felony or any of certain misdemeanors, except when the record of the adjudication of delinquency was expunged. You cannot be under court supervision that is applicable to the outcome of the arrest to which the petition to expunge relates.

You may be eligible to petition the court to seal your criminal record if it is not ineligible under section 943.0584. To be eligible for record sealing, adjudication of the criminal charge must have been withheld. If you were charged, you need to have either entered a plea or gone to a trial after which the court withheld the conviction. You cannot seal your record if you were adjudicated guilty or adjudicated delinquent in Florida for committing a felony or any of certain misdemeanor offenses, unless the record of adjudication of delinquency was expunged.

Eligibility for expungement and sealing is complicated. If you want to know more about your eligibility for expungement or sealing in Jacksonville, you should talk about your situation with a seasoned criminal defense lawyer. At Hanlon Law, we have sought and obtained expungements and sealings for thousands of criminal records across Florida. Call us at 800.373.1974 or contact us through our online form.