Expungement is a legal process that allows a conviction or plea of either Guilty or No Contest in a criminal case to be set aside and the case dismissed. Having a criminal record can hurt your chances for a new job, a better life, and it stays with you wherever you go. An expungement will clear your criminal record, effectively giving you a second chance. Once a record has been expunged, the defendant is relieved of certain penalties and disabilities that result from a criminal action, such as having to divulge a criminal record on employment applications or in other similar situations. Once a felony or misdemeanor conviction is expunged, a prospective employer is barred from using it against you in hiring decisions…or even asking you about it in the interview, for that matter.
Successful completion of probation: The person must have successfully completed their probation. If a person was sent to a California State prison, either at the time of judgment, or because of a probation violation, they do not qualify for an expungement. “Successfully completing your probation” means that:
The list of offenses that can be charged as either a felony or misdemeanor includes crimes under:
Only these types of felonies may be reduced to misdemeanors. Crimes that can only be prosecuted as felonies are not eligible for a misdemeanor reduction.
The second requirement is that probation must have been granted in connection with the felony conviction. If the court denied probation (or probation was violated), and the sentence included time served in the California State Prison, a reduction of the crime from a felony to a misdemeanor cannot be obtained. Serving time in a county jail is okay and does not affect eligibility.
In order for a felony conviction to be reduced to a misdemeanor, both of these requirements must be satisfied.