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An actual innocence expungement lawyer in DC is available to assist if you can prove you were factually innocent of a crime for which you were charged. An attorney can look at the facts surrounding your case and help to have your record sealed, as DC council has authorized the sealing of criminal records but not total expungement. To learn more call today and set up a free consultation.
An actual innocence claim is filed pursuant to DC Code Section 16-802, which is the law that the DC Council passed, which gives the courts authority to seal a record based on actual innocence. That means that a person needs to prove that they are factually innocent of the crime of which they were charged. Typically, they need to prove that they did not commit the crime or their conduct did not rise to a criminal level.
The nice thing about an actual innocence claim is if it’s granted it is treated more like an expungement in many other states. The court orders the destruction of all paper and computer records at the courthouse. The same thing goes for prosecutor’s and law enforcement records.
If an innocence motion is granted, then a person could answer on a background or security clearance check that they’ve never been convicted of a crime and pretend that it never happened. They’re restored in the contemplation of the law to the status they held before they were arrested.
The main advantage of having legal counsel is it allows that client to take advantage of the attorney’s knowledge of the intricacies of the system. The DC record sealing statute is very complicated compared to a lot of other state’s statutes. There are a host of issues that could make somebody ineligible to file an interest of justice motion.
People need to make complex legal arguments in an actual innocence motion about why they are innocent. An attorney has the experience and the training to really make those arguments in a way that is most likely to be successful. Also, hiring an attorney will really save a person, who’s looking to seal their record, a lot of time. The record sealing process is very time and effort intensive. It really is going to take a solid six months of following up with courts and the prosecutors, of investigation, of drafting the motion, and all of these things really just add up to hours and hours of work and time that many busy people really don’t have the time to do.
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