Five Expungement Cases Granted (Three of them DWIs)
This week, Attorney Robert Ambrose obtained five expungements in separate cases for one client. Three of those were for separate gross misdemeanor DWI convictions. All occurring in the same county. All for the same client. Notably, these were not expungements on cases that resulted in favor of his client. None of them were dismissed cases, stays of adjudications, or continuances for dismissal. Expungements on matters like those are easier to obtain because the burden is on any objecting party to show why the dismissed charge should stay on a person’s record. When a conviction occurs, the burden is on us (the petitioning party, defendant, person asking for the expungement).
A lot of the credit goes to our client. She turned her life around and showed significant rehabilitation since the date of the offenses. They all occurred when she was in her late teens and early twenties. Nearly thirteen years later from the latest offense, she was able to show the positive things she has done; and the hardships she has been facing in gaining stable and meaningful employment. Expungements like these will give her another chance to reach her goals.
Another factor in her favor was that no party came forward to object to her expungement requests. Often, judges will take a closer look when a party objects and weigh whether we meet our burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that granting the expungement would yield a benefit to our client commensurate with any disadvantages to the public and public safety.
Last, we had a judge who showed compassion, empathy, and reasonableness in deciding to grant all five expungements. Judicial officers are the final arbiters of whether we win or lose on expungements. For many different reasons, they can deny or grant expungements. Here, everything fell into place on the right side and our client obtained a tremendous benefit.
For a consultation at no charge to discuss your chances of expungement, please call or text us at 612-547-3199 or email: ambroselegal@icloud.com
Robert H. Ambrose is a criminal defense attorney and expungement lawyer in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Super Lawyers named him a Super Lawyer for the past four years and a Rising Star for six years prior. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. DWI Attorney Minneapolis MN, Criminal Defense Attorney Wisconsin, Expungement Lawyer Minnesota.