Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

Expunging of record of felony conviction

In 1999 my then 19 yr. old son was convicted of 2 felony counts of B&E. He was sentenced to 20 years with all of it suspended except for 30 days. It was a very harsh sentence for a first time offender who commited an act of youthful stupidity. He was with two other guys. While they were trying to break into a gun cabinet (unsuccessfully) my son was in the kitched eating cookies. Unfortunately they arrived and left this home (home owner was the aunt of one of the other boys) in his vehicle. We had terrible legal representation which was so ironical as my father is a retired J&D judge in Charlottesville, VA. My son is fully cognizant of the error of his ways and now feels as if this conviction is going to haunt him for the rest of his life. We would very much like to see his record expunged. He has not been in any trouble since then. It is a shame that he has never been able to vote. How do we begin the process? Thank you for your attention to this matter.


Asked on 12/05/02, 12:25 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: Expunging of record of felony conviction

I invite you to review S19.2-392.1 of the Virginia Code of Criminal Procedure governing the expungement of criminal records in the Commonwealth, which basically says that unless a person was innocent and later found to have been wrongfully convicted and, as a result, has received an absolute pardon, or, in the case of certain misdemeanor offenses, has had his case dismissed by way of what's known as an accord and satisfaction, the record of the conviction will not be expunged.

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Answered on 12/05/02, 9:15 am


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