Pennsylvania Judge’s Denial of Unopposed Expungement Request Reversed

Posted in Expungement on December 29, 2024

A Pennsylvania expungement destroys records of a case so that charges do not appear on criminal background searches. In order to obtain an expungement, a person must first be legally eligible, meaning the law must allow it. Only if a person is eligible can they file an expungement and then try to convince a judge to grant the request. Many people mistakenly think that expungements are based upon need, meaning a judge can grant an expungement to allow a person to get a job, enter the military, or restore gun rights. That simply is not the case. If a person is not eligible to expunge, then a judge cannot grant an expungement.

An expungement is rarely available for misdemeanor or felony convictions. In order to expunge those offenses, a person must be dead for three years or be over 70 and have stayed out of trouble for 10 years. A summary conviction can be expunged if a person has stayed out of trouble for five years from the date of conviction. Dismissed or withdrawn charges are NOT automatically expunged and instead remain on the records. But a dismissed or withdrawn charge is eligible to be expunged. As a State College criminal defense lawyer, I represent many first time offenders that complete first time offender programs that result in a dismissal of the charges. I routinely file expungements to have records of those cases destroyed.

Not Entitled to Expunge All Charges or Convictions

It must be emphasized that expungements are discretionary and not a right or entitlement. Just because a charge is dismissed does not mean that a person is guaranteed to have the case expunged. Just because a person is eligible to expunge a summary conviction after five years does not guarantee that the expungement request will be granted.

PA Expungement Process

In order to seek an expungement, a petition must be filed in accordance with the Rules of Criminal Procedure and filed in the county in which the case occurred. Different counties in PA often have different processes for an expungement. In many counties, the district attorney’s office reviews the expungement and then either opposes or does not oppose the expungement. If the expungement is not opposed, then a judge normally grants the request. If the expungement is opposed, then the judge normally schedules a hearing. At the hearing, the person appears to present testimony as to why the expungement should be granted, and the prosecutor argues why they oppose the expungement. The judge then determines whether or not the expungement should be granted.

Judge Denies Unopposed Expungement

In the case of Commonwealth v. Trimble, the defendant tried to expunge his arrest record for charges that had been dismissed. The district attorney advised that they were not filing a response to the expungement, meaning they did not object. The judge still denied the expungement. The defendant appealed.

The appellate court noted that the Commonwealth bears the burden of proof to convince a judge why an arrest record should not be expunged.  In this particular case, the Commonwealth did not present any evidence and did not actually oppose the expungement. Therefore, the Superior Court ruled that the lower level court erred in denying the expungement request.