Florida Administrative Expungement

Administrative Expungement

Arrests by mistake can be expunged. (Authority: § 943.0581, Fla. Stat.)

Usually, people expunge prior arrests because they have made a mistake in their past - they committed a youthful mistake and want to move on.  However, sometimes law enforcement makes the mistake!  If you have been arrested BY MISTAKE (warrants for another person - same name/misidentification/ etc.) you may be eligible for an administrative expungement of your criminal history record.  Mistaken arrests are arrests whose probable cause basis is subsequently proven to be incorrect.  These are not all arrests that result in a dismissal.  Specific factors must accompany the ultimate result of the arrest.

Even if you were arrested by mistake and never charged you may still have a record.

Administrative Expungements are not limited in number or by time.

Great News!

The legislature in 2006 has finally passed a bill (House Bill No. 41) that will seemingly make it easier for people to administratively expunge a mistaken arrest from their record.  Below is the Bill that was passed into law on June 7, 2006.  This should make it easier to expunge arrests made by mistake or contrary to law (Of course, "contrary to law" and "by mistake" will require some judicial opinions to define).  Ominously, subsection (2) allows the law enforcement "agency" to use its "discretion" in determining what these terms now mean.  Subsection (5) is a needed addition, making it easy for law enforcement to cope with these admissions.

Section 1. Section 943.0581, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
20 943.0581 Administrative expunction.--

21 (1) Notwithstanding any law dealing generally with the
22 preservation and destruction of public records, the department
23 may provide, by rule adopted pursuant to chapter 120, for the
24 administrative expunction of any nonjudicial record of an arrest
25 of a minor or an adult made contrary to law or by mistake.

26 (2) A law enforcement agency shall apply to the department
27 in the manner prescribed by rule for the administrative
28 expunction of any nonjudicial record of any arrest of a minor or
29 an adult who is subsequently determined by the agency, at its
30 discretion, or by the final order of a court of competent
31 jurisdiction, to have been arrested contrary to law or by
32 mistake.

33 (3) An adult or, in the case of a minor child, the parent
34 or legal guardian of the minor child, may apply to the
35 department in the manner prescribed by rule for the
36 administrative expunction of any nonjudicial record of an arrest
37 alleged to have been made contrary to law or by mistake,
38 provided that the application is supported by the endorsement of
39 the head of the arresting agency or the state attorney of the
40 judicial circuit in which the arrest occurred.

41 (4) An application for administrative expunction shall
42 include an affidavit executed by the chief of the law
43 enforcement agency, sheriff, or department head of the state law
44 enforcement agency in which the affiant verifies that he or she
45 has reviewed the record of the arrest and that the arrest was
46 contrary to law or was a mistake. The affidavit shall include
47 the date and time of the arrest, the name of the arresting
48 officer, the name of the person arrested, and the crime or
49 crimes charged.

50 (5) No application, endorsement, or affidavit made under
51 this section shall be admissible as evidence in any judicial or
52 administrative proceeding or otherwise be construed in any way
53 as an admission of liability in connection with an arrest.

54 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.

Although still full of holes, this is a good beginning.  Now it is time for the lawyers and courts (and, of course, our clients, upon whose backs weigh the cost) to fill in the blanks.

The Cost

The cost for administratively expunging a record is still a bit higher than the normal method of expunging or sealing a record.  This is because there is a lot more variables that must be accounted for for administrative expungements. 

I will split the fees into payments like the regular expungements and is based on progress of the case.  Expect the fees to come down as the process solidifies into a stable procedure.  I still expect law enforcement and the State Attorneys of the state to fight it tooth and nail.  Their reasoning escapes me.

If you are interested in getting an arrest administratively expunged please call or fill out your information here.