Under Iowa law, you can expunge or expunge three types of criminal records:
1. Possession of alcohol below the legal age (PAULA), which are also known as Juvenile Possession Convictions (i.e. MIP), can be expunged in accordance with Iowa Code 123.47, provided 2 years have passed from the time of conviction and you have received no new citations (not including simple moving vehicle offenses) during the same two-year period. In most cases, it is high school and college students who receive such convictions and must remove them before submitting resumes for jobs, summer internships, higher education, or professional degrees. In today’s competitive marketplace, even a petty crime record could be a serious handicap.
2. Public intoxication– which describes drinking alcohol in public, being intoxicated outdoors, or simply pretending to be intoxicated in public – could be withdrawn pursuant to Iowa Statute 123.46 as long as 2 years have passed since the conviction and no other criminal has been received convictions (not counting motor vehicle misdemeanors) during that same 2-year period (these are exactly the same conditions for removing a PAULA in Iowa). You can receive a public intoxication quote regardless of age. Consequently, many adults who may have pleaded guilty to a public intoxication charge while partying or at a wedding party, for example, wisely do what is necessary to clear the record before it affects their employment, credit rating or even references.
3. Deferred sentences they are a form of judicial leniency that can be applied to a wide range of criminal offenses that are generally of a minor nature. In the usual deferred trial situation, an accused individual pleads guilty to the summons, but the judge postpones, or waits before entering, the guilty plea and orders parole. Granted that all conditions of probation are carried out correctly, then the record can be sealed from the public record.
The Iowa expungement process: The Iowa expungement process is reasonably simple and can be summarized in three basic steps.
First, it is the writing of a legal document called a petition, or request to the judge, seeking the expungement of criminal records. The petition must contain the relevant facts along with the appropriate sections of the Iowa code regarding your case.
Second, after the petition or application has been duly drafted, must be presented in the corresponding court (Each of the ninety-nine counties in Iowa has its own court building) and was sent to the appropriate prosecutor’s address.
Finally, if you complete the correct submissions and meet the expungement prerequisites, the judge rules on your petition and will often grant expungement without a hearing by filing an order requiring the clerk of court and necessary state agencies to expunge or seal the record on the case.
You have the right to handle your own expungement or hire an attorney. The choice is yours. Generally, the more intricate the legal matter, the more you need an attorney. Fortunately, expungements in Iowa are usually relatively simple; In other words, if you meet the Iowa code expungement requirements, the judge must grant your request. All you need to get the removal is to file the correct legal documents with the court clerk and send them to the correct parties. With the right resources, many people can successfully file their own expungements in Iowa at a fraction of the cost of hiring an attorney.
