Legal Question in DUI Law in California

You may or may not be able to, without reading your court documents, and knowing more about your case, no attorney can answer this effectively. The answer is maybe, with the information you have provided.

Best guess, you are going to have to wait out the 18 months and file a motion; and most likely your felony will still show up and you won't be able to get a job anywhere, forever, period. It's called, or at least I call it, the Economic Death Penalty.

"Can you?" will be answered by the judge after hearing the motion[s] your attorney will bring. Many convictions can sometimes be 'expunged' by proper application and Motion to the court, but only if there was no prison time served or even sentenced, if it was not for certain sex and Domestic Violence crimes, if all terms of probation [and at least one year] are completed and finished, and if there are no new charges pending. If successful, the conviction would be retroactively withdrawn and the charges dismissed. That does not 'remove' the conviction, but merely changes the record to show 'conviction reversed and dismissed by expungement'. If expunged, you would be able to say 'no' to conviction on most private employment applications. However, the conviction is still a 'prior' for purposes of repeat offense, and must be disclosed on any application for government and professional licensing, bonding, security clearance, etc. In your case, if the court specifically said you must wait 18 months, then that is likely what they will stick to. It would be difficult to persuade the court to allow this after only 12 months; your difficulty in finding employment is to be expected, that is a natural consequence of having a felony record, and the court was well aware of that at the time of sentencing. If you�re serious about trying this now, or after the 18 months stated, and you think you qualify, feel free to contact me for the legal help you'll need.