- 1). Gather all the vital information. The information needed to begin the process includes the date of the arrest, the offense you were arrested for, the original summons, warrant, complaint number or indictment. Also needed are the dates of the disposition or the date of the plea of "not guilty," as well as the specific punishment rendered by the court.
- 2). Fill out the forms. There are six forms that need to be filled out and filed for criminal record expungement. The forms include the following: 1) Request for Police Records, 2) Petition for Expungement, 3) Order for Hearing, 4) Expungement Order, 5) Cover Letter and 6) Proof of Notice.
- 3). File the forms and have them served to the proper destinations. Three copies should be made of the Petition for Expungement, the Order for Hearing, and the proposed Expungement Order. Once the forms have been filed, you will receive copies of the forms mentioned above with docket numbers stamped on them, and they will be marked as filed.
- 4). Make seven copies of each of the three forms mentioned in Step 3. The seven copies should be mailed to the following government agencies via certified mail: The Attorney General, the Superintendent of State Police-Expungement Unit, the County Prosecutor, the Court Clerk, the Chief of Police where the offense was committed, the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the state where the offense took place, and the warden of any institution where the person in question was incarcerated. The county probation office should be notified if the case involved a conditional discharge or pretrial intervention.
- 5). Wait for your hearing to be set. Not all jurisdictions require attendance, but it would be in your best interested to attend, arrive early and be well dressed. If there is no opposition presented against the expungement, your record will more than likely be cleared by the judge. If there is an opposition, most likely from a law enforcement officer, the judge will hear his side of the story and then make the final decision.
- 6). Receive a copy of the expungement order; this is signed by the judge and stamped as filed by the court. Make copies of this form and mail it to the government agencies listed in Step 4, plus the records division of any institution where you were incarcerated, as well as the identification bureau where the arrest was made.