Congratulations! Your drug case in Alabama was dismissed after you completed a Drug Court. But what about the Record of Arrest from the drug charge on your Background Check?

If your Alabama Drug Court case or DUI was dismissed after you successfully completed a drug court or other court approved diversion program and a year or more time has passed, then you may be eligible to petition the proper court for an expungement (or clearing) of the records of your arrest.

Alabama’s Expungement Law that became effective in July, 2014 governs the eligibility of a person who successfully completes a drug court program (resulting in a dismissal of the charge) to be able to petition the Circuit Court of the county for an expungement (or clearing) of the record of arrest from the charge.

Alabama’s Expungement Law provides, in pertinent part:

“ Petition for expungement of record of a felony offense. (Effective July 6, 2014)

(a) A person who has been charged with a felony offense, except a violent offense as defined in Section 12-25-32(14), Code of Alabama 1975, may file a petition in the criminal division of the circuit court in the county in which the charges were filed, to expunge records relating to the charge in any of the following circumstances: … (4) a. The charge was dismissed after successful completion of a drug court program, mental health court program, diversion program, veteran’s court, or any court-approved deferred prosecution program after one year from successful completion of the program . …” Code of Ala. § 15-27-2 (2014).

If you were arrested for a drug charge in Alabama and successfully completed one of the drug court programs in Alabama you are to be congratulated. Hopefully you learned a lot in the drug court program and were able to have your case dismissed by the court. If so, that is great. However, you should take the additional step to now seek to petition the court for an expungement of the record of your arrest for the drug charge under Alabama’s recently passed expungement law. Even if your drug case was dismissed by the court, the record of your arrest will appear on your criminal record that may be accessible to a person or company that runs a background check on you. If you are eligible and are granted an expungement by the court, the expungement order would clear or clean (expunge) the record of your arrest from your criminal record to the extent allowed by the law.

A dismissal is great, but an expungement is even better. A clear background check is important to your future. If you have successfully completed a drug court program in Alabama and are now applying for a job, a job promotion, applying for college, considering a professional career, or applying for a loan, you may want to see if you qualify to petition the proper court to clear (expunge) you arrest record.

Contact Attorney, Jordan M. Copeland of ExpungementAlabamaLawyer.com to determine if you are eligible to seek an expungement of your Alabama arrest record. Email us at Jordan@ExpungementAlabamaLawyer.com or call our Alabama Expungement Law offices today: (256) 378-6087 or (205) 924-3839.

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