Domestic Violence Conviction, Long Beach, Expunged

In October 2008, our client, then 20 years old, was arrested by the Long Beach Police Department for domestic violence.  The alleged victim was our client’s ex-girlfriend, who called the police and later recanted her story, but police and the Long Beach City Prosecutor’s office deemed her recanting as unreliable.

Our client placed in jail and unable to post bail, which was set by police at $50,000, the felony domestic violence level for Los Angeles County.      

Approximately five days later, still stuck in jail, he pled no contest to count one, a violation of Penal Code § 273.5(a), and count three, a violation of Penal Code § 236 (false imprisonment), both as misdemeanors.  This plea was negotiated by our client’s public defender.  This was his only way of immediately extricating himself from jail and getting back to work so he was not fired.
 
The terms of the plea bargain were that our client was placed on thirty-six months of summary probation, conditioned upon serving 45 days in county jail (less credit for five days), performing two hundred hours of Cal-Trans, enrolling in and completing a 52-session batterers program and making a $200 donation to a battered women’s shelter.

In November 2011, probation expired naturally upon three years passing from the date of the conviction.

In 2021, almost ten years later, the client called Greg Hill & Associates and explained how he needed the two convictions expunged because he was under consideration for an important promotion at work.  

Greg Hill from our office explained that expungement would not erase or delete the conviction from the client’s record, but would return his last plea to not guilty and show that the case was dismissed.  Greg explained further that if the convictions were expunged, the client would enjoy the legal right to state he was never convicted in the case.  

The client was somewhat disappointed that the entire case could not be erased from his record, which Greg explained was only possible through sealing the record, which our client was not eligible for because he was actually convicted at one time.  

Greg also explained, as matter of due diligence, that expungement of the domestic violence conviction would not restore his right to buy, own or purchase a gun, which did not concern our client too much anyways, he commented, because he had never owned a guy and had not interest in this anyway.

The client then agreed to move forward with expungement and our office prepared the petition to withdraw his “No Contest” pleas and dismiss the Complaint under Penal Code § 1203.4(a).

The petition explained how our client, now thirty-three, had shown that he was committed to turning his life around and living in a positive, productive direction and explained he was being considered for a big promotion for work, so having the convictions removed from his record would be helpful.  The petition also explained that he had successfully completed all the terms of probation.

The petition included a supplemental memorandum setting forth the applicable law for relief under Penal Code § 1203.4(a), including a supplemental declaration from our client stating why he was now seeking relief and that he was not now on probation in any other case, on parole, post-relief community supervision or facing an open case.  The declaration also attached a few letters of support for the client, attesting to his reputation for patience, accountability and reliability in general.

Our office then filed the petition for dismissal, with the supplemental memorandum, in the Long Beach Superior Court and paid the $120 filing fee for this in Los Angeles County (in other counties it is more).  We also served the petition for dismissal, with the supplemental declaration, to the Long Beach City Prosecutor’s Office.