Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

Re: 5th degree assault

If you were convicted of a fifth degree assaault, there is no basis to expunge the record. If you were charged with a fifth degree assault and a fifth degree domestic assault, and, as a plea, you were found guilty of only the fifth degree assault while the domestic assault was dismissed, you may be able to expunge records related to eth domestic assault charge, but not the fifth degree assault.

For a consultation call 612.240.8005.

Re: 5th degree assault

This is a complicated area of law, making a simple (short) answer next to impossible -- as to expungement. Suffice it to say that under current law expungment under Minnesota Statutes Chapter 609A, the best kind of expungement, that relief is not avaialbe to anyone who pled guilty to any crime, unless it was a juvenile certified as an adult or certain first time drug "crimes." As a result, it would make no difference, for purposes of expungment analysis, whether the conviction was for Assault 5th Degree or misdmeanor domestic assault.

As far as "could I expunge this?" -- it is complex. You would need to discuss this with a criminal defense lawyer like me, but suffice it to say for now that in some situations, certain types of expungment relief may be possible to get, but these might not be helpful, or get the results a person would normally be seeking. Hopefully the laws will be changed and made more fair one day.