Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Change of statute

18 years ago I was convicted of a crime in California under one statute. Since then the crime I was convicted of has been removed from the first statute and placed under a different statute however, the record still reflects that I was convicted under the first statute of a much worse offence that I didn�t commit.

My question is can I have the record amended to reflect the true offence that I was convicted of.


Asked on 8/08/06, 6:28 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: Change of statute

Your conviction reflects the statute under which you were convicted, which is how it should be. Even if the crime is now part of a different statute, that is not the statute you were convicted of violating. Law enforcement and the courts understand that statutes change and will readily understand what happened in your situation.

Besides, if every change in statutes required the kind of changes in the records of every person convicted under the old version, courts would be overburdened every time the legislature amended any statute. Determining whether a given case was affected by the changes would often be quite difficult and would often require costly litigation. These expenses would likely make the legislature less willing to change statutes even when the changes are important.

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Answered on 8/08/06, 7:48 pm
Jay Leiderman Leiderman Devine LLP

Re: Change of statute

It sounds like an expungement, if available for that ststute, will clear the mess from your record. You can e-mail call me with any questions.

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Answered on 8/08/06, 9:09 pm


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