San Diego Expungement Attorney

People come to this after the case is long over. Probation was completed, the fines were paid, and life moved on — until a background check surfaced the conviction during a job application, a rental screening, or a licensing review. California provides a path to relief, and for most people who completed their sentence it is available.

The relief is commonly called expungement, though the statute never uses that word. Under Penal Code section 1203.4 the court sets aside the plea or verdict and dismisses the case. Marc Kohnen has been practicing criminal law in San Diego since 2008, and record relief is some of the most concretely useful work in the practice — the case is over, the risk is low, and the effect on someone's ability to work is immediate.

What Expungement Actually Does

The honest version matters here, because expungement is oversold constantly and clients make decisions based on the exaggerated version.

What it does: the conviction is set aside and dismissed. For most private employment purposes you may lawfully answer that you have not been convicted of that offense, and California law separately restricts what private employers may ask about and act on. The record shows a dismissal rather than a conviction, which is what a background check will report.

What it does not do — and this list is the part people are rarely told:

• It does not erase or destroy the record. The case file still exists and the disposition is updated, not deleted
• It does not restore firearm rights where the conviction removed them
• It does not relieve a duty to register as a sex offender
• It does not prevent the conviction from being used as a prior in a future case, including as a DUI prior or a strike
• It does not remove a DUI from your DMV driving record, so the ten-year window for counting DUI priors is unaffected
• It does not let you withhold the conviction when applying for public office, for a state or local license, or to contract with the California State Lottery

Who Qualifies

The basic requirement under section 1203.4 is that you were granted probation and completed it — or were discharged early — and that you are not currently charged with an offense, on probation, or serving a sentence in another case.

Different statutes cover different situations, and using the right one matters:

• Penal Code 1203.4 — convictions where probation was granted and completed
• Penal Code 1203.4a — misdemeanors and infractions where no probation was granted, generally available one year after judgment
• Penal Code 1203.41 — certain felonies resolved with a county jail sentence under realignment rather than probation
• Penal Code 851.91 — sealing an arrest record where there was no conviction, including cases that were dismissed or never filed
• Penal Code 1170.18 — reclassifying eligible felonies as misdemeanors under Proposition 47
• Health and Safety Code 11361.8 — relief for cannabis convictions under Proposition 64

Reduce the Felony First

If your conviction was for a wobbler — an offense that could have been charged as either a felony or a misdemeanor — the sequence matters. A motion under Penal Code section 17(b) asks the court to reduce the felony to a misdemeanor, and it should generally be brought before or together with the dismissal petition.

The reason is that reduction reaches consequences dismissal does not. It removes the felony designation itself, which is often the specific thing blocking a licensing application or a housing approval, and depending on the offense it may restore firearm rights that a felony conviction removed. Filing for dismissal alone, when reduction was available, leaves value on the table. Getting this order right is most of the skill in record relief.

Still on Probation? Ask to End It Early

You cannot petition under section 1203.4 while you are still on probation, but you do not necessarily have to wait out the full term. Penal Code section 1203.3 lets the court terminate probation early, which starts the clock on eligibility immediately.

These motions succeed on a record: all conditions completed, restitution and fines paid in full, no new contacts with law enforcement, and a concrete reason the probation is now interfering with work, school, licensing, or travel. Recent changes to California law also capped probation terms for most offenses — one year for most misdemeanors and two years for most felonies — so it is worth confirming that a longer term imposed under the older law is still enforceable at all.

Automatic Relief Does Not Cover Everyone

California has moved toward granting some record relief automatically, without a petition, for many arrests and convictions. That is a genuine improvement and it means some people are already covered without doing anything.

It is not a reason to assume your record is handled. Automatic relief excludes serious and violent felonies and offenses requiring sex offender registration, it applies to defined date ranges, and in practice state records are not always updated correctly or promptly. It also does not accomplish a section 17(b) reduction, which is frequently the relief that actually matters. The starting point for any record cleanup is pulling your own record and reading what it currently says, rather than assuming.

If You Are Not a Citizen, Get Advice Before You File

Immigration consequences follow their own rules, and a state court dismissal under section 1203.4 does not necessarily eliminate a conviction for federal immigration purposes. Filing the wrong petition can waste the one opportunity that would have worked.

There is a separate remedy built for this. Penal Code section 1473.7 allows a person no longer in custody to move to vacate a conviction that was obtained without a meaningful understanding of its immigration consequences. That is a different motion with different requirements and a different effect, and which one to bring should be decided before anything is filed.

What the Petition Involves

The mechanics are manageable but exacting. The court needs the correct case number and disposition, proof that probation was completed and financial obligations satisfied, and the petition filed in the court that entered the conviction — which in San Diego County may be the downtown Central Division or a branch in Vista, El Cajon, or Chula Vista. The prosecution can oppose, and where relief is discretionary rather than mandatory the judge weighs your conduct since the case ended.

That discretionary posture is where representation earns its keep. A petition supported by employment history, education, treatment records, letters, and a clear account of what has changed reads very differently from a bare form. Marc handles these personally, including the section 17(b) reduction where a wobbler is involved.

If you have a San Diego County conviction you want cleared, call (619) 398-2500 for a free, confidential consultation. Bring what you have on the case and Marc will tell you which relief actually applies.