My roommate was convicted when he was 19 of selling bootleg CD's, he claims he wasn't even selling them he was just talking with his friend the ;woner' (who was a street merchant apparently, you know the guys with the tables set up selling all kindsa stuff) Regardless he is now 24, and this stupid conviction is really hurting him when finding a job.

I've been this guys roommate for 4 years, in that time I've never even seen this guy drink a beer and he goes to church every sundahy and bible study during the week, it seems there should be SOME way to get this petty conviction removed? It seems like a harmless enough thing to have done and this guy hasn't been near any criminal enterprises since then.

State is virginia, how would he go about getting something like that removed, or is it on there forever?

Hello loller:

Sure. He can apply for an expungment OR a pardon. A pardon is harder to get, but it removes the record and forgives the offenses. Then one can legally say that they've never been convicted of a felony.

An expungment only HIDES the record. It can still be used to enhance the sentence on a next conviction should there be one.

He'll need an attorney.

excon

Yes as excon said, you will need an attorney. An expungment will take any public record of the conviction off his record, but it is still there only "hidden" If he is trying to get a job with a law enforcement agency or with a firm that requires a government clearnance rating ( and there are more and more of them today) then even a expungment will show up.

What happens is on the NCIC report it will show expunged and the department handing out the record will remove it ( or they are suppose to remove it , errors do happen) from the report they hand to someone doing a back ground check.

And of course the physcial record of his court appearance, docket records and the such are still sitting in the court house if someone is researching him

When I was 18, I got a mindemenor concealed weapons ticket (a starting pistol). Like your roommate, it hurt me in the job market. I talked with my lawyer, he checked into the expungement process, called me up and said that there was about 15 different forms and letters that he would have to sift through, fill out, and send to places. He really didn't seem confident that it would be successful either. If I hired him, he wanted $1000 up front. I spent 2 years in construction electricity school, the union doesn't care about it. I'm 31 now, it's still on my record, coupled with another ticket "USE OF FIREWORKS". Got to love Minnesota.

I'm not sure about the legal technicalities of getting it sealed or expunged but I question that such a minor, one-time offense committed 5 years ago is hampering him all that much in his job search. Unless he is seeking a job requiring a top-level security clearance I really don't see how his job search efforts are compounded by this.

Not sure what state you're in, or if his conviction was a felony or mis. In Ohio, felonies can be expunged if a few conditions exist AND are met: you're a first time offender, you successfully complete all the terms of your PRC (Post Release Control... parole/probation combined into one now), you must wait 3 years after you have successfully completed your probation, and you must not have violated any laws post conviction.

NOTE- if your felony conviction has been expunged/pardoned, you should answer "NO" on job applications. Convictions that have been expunged/pardoned will NOT show up on a standard background report used by most employers. LEADS, NCIC, FBI, etc.. Will show them, but those are for authorized law enforcement officials use. If you're applying for a position that will require you to have certain govt. security clearance or the like, then most likely the application itself will tell you to disclose "expunged" convictions. It is not lying as others have mentioned. If your only felony(and in some rare cases felonies) is/are expunged, then for the most part, it does not exist.

Your friend with the conviction for bootlegging, if it is a mis, then he should stop putting it on his app as no consumer investigative report will find it if it is that old (again, your states laws or procedures may be different than Ohio's).