I was convicted in 4/02 of malicious wounding in the state of Virginia and served a five year sentence. I would like expungement of my criminal record. Can I get this done or not? If so, then what do I need to do?

I think you have to wait 7 years to expunge felony were someone was injured, if I'm right then that would make you eligible for expungment in approximately 4/09, an you yourself cannot expunge it, you have to hire a lawyer and get him to go file for expungment on your behalf, a friend of mine had malicious wounding last year his case was dismissed by lack of evidence but he still had to get it expunged from his record an it costed him some around $100-$150 so it wasn't expensive at all

Hello R:

Not all states have provisions for expungement. If your state does, I'd certainly hire an attorney to get it done. Why?? Because at the hearing, you're going to have a prosecutor telling the judge how BAD you are and how he SHOULDN'T grant your request... You're going to want somebody on YOUR side at the hearing telling the judge the opposite, aren't you??

excon

Wait 8 or 10 years, have a good history of paying off your fines, successfully completing probation, etc etc and get a good attorney to handle the hearing for you. The whole shebang could take up to 8 or 9 months to complete. It's way too early now to do anything about your problem.