I have a felony conviction from 30 years ago that was reduced to a misdemeanor, expunged and sealed from the public.
I am going to ask the court but I doubt there are any physical records other than the court transcript, a listing of the charge, pleas and dispositions. I could swear when I asked the court clerk when I had it "expunged" that the physical records were already destroyed.
In this case, with no other records, what else am I required to submit? Other than what you provide, where does the bar get its criminal history records from? Because the DOJ and the FBI are only summaries of arrests, charges and dispositions that are the same as the courts have.
I can give my narrative, but what would they compare that against if the records have been destroyed?
California Moral Character Application 30 year old conviction Forum
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addision
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Anonymous User
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Re: California Moral Character Application 30 year old conviction
Just tell the bar the truth. Say that you don't have access to the records because they were expunged. You don't say what the actual crime was; without that information, no one here can give you well-informed advice.
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Anonymous User
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Re: California Moral Character Application 30 year old conviction
If the records don’t exist, they don’t exist (and it’s completely understandable that they don’t). The bar isn’t going to magically conjure them up - they don’t have access to anything more than the FBI/DOJ/courts have - and they can’t hold it against you that you don’t produce records that no longer exist. Answer what is asked to the extent you can, explain what you did to try to get the records and why it didn’t work, and don’t worry about it. You won’t be the first person who’s in this situation.
