VACATING MISDEMEANOR AND GROSS MISDEMEANOR CONVICTIONS

Washington law permits the vacation (removal) of some misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor convictions.

Vacation of a conviction releases you from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the offense.  Once a conviction is vacated, the fact that you have been convicted of the offense shall not be included in your criminal history for purposes of determining a sentence in any subsequent conviction.   For all purposes, including responding to questions on employment or housing applications, a person whose conviction has been vacated may state that he or she has never been convicted of that crime. Vacation of a conviction, however, does not affect or prevent use of the conviction in a later criminal prosecution.  Vacation of a conviction does not automatically restore your right to possess a firearm.

Check the following criteria to see if you are eligible to have your record vacated:

1.  There are no criminal charges pending against you in any court of this state or another state, or in any federal court.

2.  You have not been convicted of a new crime in this state, another state, or federal court since the date you were sentenced on the crime you wish to have vacated.

3.  You have never had the record of another conviction vacated.

4.  You are not currently restrained, and have not been restrained within five years prior to the vacation application, by a domestic violence protection order, a no-contact order, an anti-harassment protection order, or a civil restraining order which restrains one party from contacting the other party.

5.  The conviction you are seeking to have vacated is not for one of the following crimes:

Driving while under the influence (“DUI”), RCW 46.61.502

Actual physical control while under the influence, RCW 46.61.504

Operating a railroad, etc., while intoxicated, RCW 9.91.020

A violation of chapter 9A.44 RCW (sex offenses)

A violation of chapter 9.68 RCW (obscenity and pornography)

A violation of chapter 9.68A RCW (sexual exploitation of children)

A violent offense as defined in RCW 9.94A.030 or an attempt to commit a violent offense

6.   If the crime you are seeking to have vacated involved domestic violence, you must:

You must not have been convicted of any other domestic violence offense arising out of any other incident.  (If the current application is for more than one conviction that arose out of a single incident, none of those convictions counts as a previous conviction.)

Five years have elapsed since you completed the terms of the original conditions of the sentence, including any  financial obligations and successful completion of any treatment ordered as a condition of sentencing.

7.   If the victim of the crime you are seeking to have vacated did not involve domestic violence, three years must have elapsed since you completed the terms of the original conditions of the sentence, including any financial obligations.