 Hi, I'm Attorney Kevin Hazelett and I want to talk to you for a minute about having your criminal case sealed or expunged. Every week here at my office or on my radio show, I get people calling me and asking me if they qualify to have their case sealed or expunged. And I wanted to give you the three most common scenarios that would prevent you from having your criminal case sealed or expunged. The first is if your case resulted in you being convicted or adjudicated guilty of the crime. In most states, there's a couple of ways to have your case resolved. Number one is it gets dismissed at jury trial, you get found not guilty, or the judge dismisses the case. You could enter a diversion program which dismisses at the end providing you certain things. The other way is to have your case receive a withhold of adjudication or a no-low where no formal adjudication and no conviction results in your case. What you want to avoid in a scenario that cannot result in getting your case sealed or expunged is if your case ends with a conviction or adjudication of guilt. The second most common fact scenario that will prevent you from having your case sealed or expunged is if you went to jail or prison. If you were sentenced to jail or sent to state prison, that means that you did have an adjudication of guilt or your case resulted in a conviction. Jail time, prison time, you can't get your case sealed or expunged. The third most common scenario that prevents you from having your case sealed or expunged is if you've had a previous seal in your expungement. If you've had a case sealed or expunged in another state or in this state or had another crime sealed or expunged, you can only have it happen one time. Remember if you have multiple criminal charges, you receive a withhold, no contest please on them and they all qualify, you can only pick one. So remember in most cases if your case resulted in a conviction or adjudication of guilt or you were sentenced to prison or county jail or you've had a previous case sealed or expunged, those scenarios prevent you from having your current case eligible for either a sealing or an expungement.