|
Expungements
All petitions for expungement must contain the information required by the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. Please see
the PA Bulletin dated Saturday, October 9, 2010 for the changes
regarding expungements adopted by the PA Supreme Court at the following link -
http://www.pabulletin.com/secure/data/vol40/40-41/1920.html
It
should be further noted that it takes approximately six
months to a year to have a record completely expunged and in
some instances the expungement process can take
significantly longer. If all the required criteria are met
and all case financials have been resolved
(no outstanding costs,
fines and/or restitution and all restitution checks cashed),
the Clerk's office submits
the expungement Order to the Administrative Office of PA
Courts (AOPC) for immediate removal from the Common Pleas
Case Management System (CPCMS or statewide docketing
network) and from the UJS Portal.
In
addition to servicing the expungement order on AOPC the
Order is provided to the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP)
Central Repository where an expungement Order may experience
a substantial delay in being processed. At times PSP - at
the direction of their Chief Counsel - will reject an
expungement as the charge(s) are not considered legally
expungable.
At the PA Supreme
Court's direction, the Administrative Office of
Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) has developed petition forms
or templates for use by petitioners in requesting the
Court to have their record expunged available at the
following link -
http://www.pacourts.us/Forms/Default.htm. Please
note that the petition pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 490
relates to SUMMARY offenses ONLY and the petition
pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 790 relates to CRIMINAL
(misdemeanors, felonies, AND summary offenses if
included with other offenses). The petition pursuant to
Pa.R.Crim.P. 790 is to be used for partial
expungements as well.
You MUST attach the required
Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) background check as per
Pa.R.Crim.P. 490 and 790. Disregard the last box on the
form petition(s) that inaccurately makes it appear that such
a petition can be successfully filed without the required
background check. Please see PSP website for additional
information:
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=4451&&PageID=491401&mode=2
Further information
regarding your case(s) and offenses to include the Offense
Tracking Number (OTN) can be found on the case docket sheets
available at the PA Unified Judicial System's website at the
following link -
http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/. See "Reference Guides"
on the menu bar located on the left side of the screen for
information on how to navigate to both the Magisterial
District and Common Pleas Court case docket sheets.
Expungement petitions and
the required PSP background check attachment are filed upon
payment of the $74.00 filing fee with the Clerk of Courts
office open Monday - Friday 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. excluding
holidays. The Clerk's office is located on the first floor
of the York County Judicial Center at 45 North George
Street, York, PA. A copy of the petition and attachment
MUST also be delivered, by the filer, to the District
Attorney's office located on the third floor of the Judicial
Center.
NOTE - by law, expungements
of criminal offenses (misdemeanors/felonies) may only be
considered for expungement if the charges were either
dismissed, withdrawn, nolle prossed, found not guilty. The
ONLY exception a guilty disposition may be considered, by
law, is if the defendant is 70 years of age or older and has
not committed any new offenses in the past ten years
following any period of incarceration.
NOTE - by law, expungements
of summary offenses with a guilty disposition may only be
considered if the defendant remains free of arrest or
prosecution for five (5)years following the conviction.
To learn more please review
the expungement law -
Act 134
of 2008 - originally House Bill 1543 of 2007.
The directions and links above provide information about the
law and expungement process designed to help filers address their
own legal needs. But legal information is not the same as legal
advice – the application of the law to an individual’s specific
circumstances. Although we go to great lengths to ensure our
information is accurate and useful, we recommend you consult a
lawyer if you want professional assurance that our information, and
your interpretation of it, is appropriate to your particular
situation. We cannot provide legal advice and to do so would be
considered the unauthorized practice of law.
|
