Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Depends on the felonies.

Some offenses, commonly called "wobblers," can be charged as felonies or misdemeanors. You can tell if an offense is a wobbler by looking it up in the code books. If the punishment is jail OR prison, the offense is a wobbler. If it's only prison, the offense is "straight felony" that cannot be reduced.

If you were convicted of a wobbler as a felony and sentenced to state prison -- even if the sentence was suspended and you got probation -- it cannot be reduced to a misdemeanor.

Otherwise, you can file a motion with the court to reduce your wobbler to a misdemeanor. You could try it yourself, but you're more likely to be successful if you have an experienced attorney to help you.

Many felony and misdemeanor convictions [not infractions] can sometimes be 'expunged' from criminal records by proper application and Petition to the court, but only if there was no prison time served, or even sentenced and reduced to probation, if it was not for certain sex and Domestic Violence crimes, if all terms of sentencing and probation [and at least one year of probation] are completed and finished, and if there are no new charges pending. If successful, the conviction would be retroactively reduced to a misdemeanor and then withdrawn and the charges dismissed. That does not 'remove' the conviction, but merely changes the record to show 'conviction reversed and dismissed by expungement'. When applying for a job in the private sector, you generally do not have to disclose a conviction if it was expunged. However, the conviction is still a 'prior' or 'strike' for purposes of repeat offense, and must be disclosed on any application for government and professional employment and licensing, bonding, security clearance, etc. The licensing agency and employer then can decide whether you are barred from licensing and employment because of your conviction. If you�re serious about doing this, and you think you qualify, feel free to contact me for the legal help you'll need.

This page is a good place to start if you are going to do it yourself:

http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/other/crimlawclean.htm

Mr. Nelson apparently has not been keeping up on new developments in California law.

As of January 1, 2011, many infractions can now be "expunged."