The Alabama legislature, in a 2021 legislative session, passed into law an act that will allow many criminal convictions to be expunged. When criminal arrests and now convictions are “expunged” the result is supposed to remove these sensitive records from public access. This new law which went into effect August 1, 2021, even includes many felony convictions. This means that felony convictions that did not include a violent crime can be removed from access by most everyone.
The expungement law, which can be found via the internet I located in Section 15-27-1 et seq. of the Code of Alabama, 1975. There is a partial list of violent crimes that cannot be expunged found in Section 12-25-32(15) of the Alabama Code.
In felony conviction expungements, one must first obtain a pardon from the State of Alabama. We do not know how this will play out since according to sources, only 20 pardons were issued in the whole year of 2020!
Unfortunately, DUI convictions were excluded from this new expungement law, so that a DUI conviction, whether it was a felony or misdemeanor, cannot be expunged. DUI cases there were resolved in the citizen’s favor, however CAN be expunged.
Anyone seeking to obtain an expungement, whether convicted or not, should consult a lawyer who does this type of work.
Phillip B. Price
Price Law Firm, P. C.