Expungement of Your Criminal Record and Your Right to Have a Hearing
·By Ronald S. Chapman, P.A.
When someone seeking to have her criminal-history record sealed or expunged files the appropriate paperwork with the Court including a certificate of eligibility issued by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, that person is legally entitled to have her record sealed unless the judge hearing the case finds that there is a good reason to not do so. But when a judge fails to schedule a formal hearing to consider the request, that case may very well be reversed on appeal. A look at one such case appears in an article I posted on my Florida Criminal Records FAQ website.