Ventura Expungement Lawyer

Saving a Client from a Long Jail Sentence After He Turned His Life Around

One client was charged with a violation of probation and facing an original sentence recommendation of thirty days in order to “terminate” probation. This was a case where a client was convicted for first-offense DUI 10 years ago and was sentenced to 3 years of probation. He complied with the terms of his probation in important ways: he paid off court-ordered fines and fees, and he successfully participated in the First Offender Alcohol Education Class—a standard condition of DUI probation. However, as he went on with his daily life, he lost touch with probation. By the time the client came to us, he was labeled as “absconding” from probation; in essence, he had “disappeared” and failed to allow probation to supervise him under the terms of his sentence.

In such a scenario, where a defendant has in effect “disappeared” and is considered not to be amenable to the supervision of probation, the client is normally looking at a hefty jail sentence. This was a case where the client, now a successful local business owner, had not only complied with the other terms of probation, but he had, since then, turned his life around.

Every year, his business participated in a charitable Christmas toy drive that showed his commitment to giving back to his community. Further, as we pointed out, our client was a kind-hearted person and a devoted family man who was well-liked and respected by employees and business associates alike. By highlighting the important ways in which our client complied with probation and building a persuasive case about our client’s positive role in the community, we were able to resolve the case with no jail time and a successful termination of probation. The court even reflected when pronouncing its sentence that he had “closed a chapter” on that past part of his life and was now a different person from the man who “absconded” from probation all those years ago.

After this successful termination of probation, we are pleased to say that we then achieved an expungement for this same client to fully clear his record and give him a well-deserved “fresh start.”

Helping a Young Ex-Service Member Access New Opportunities

We once had a client who was in the military who, unfortunately, suffered a “severance” of his service due to more than one DUI conviction on his record. The one DUI in which we represented him involved a BAC of over .20%. In this case, we achieved a sentence that involved community service instead of any additional jail time. We were later able to obtain a successful early termination of probation on the same case.

This client, a young man who had devoted his life to serving his country, had already lost so much. However, he never gave up and struggled to re-build, going to school locally and seeking employment. In turn, we never gave up on him throughout his trials. It was the probation and conviction on his record that, despite all his efforts, was limiting his options. We successfully obtained an expungement to clear his record and provide him with a fresh start.

Today, we are pleased to say that he has a good job and is moving forward in a positive direction. This is the kind of real help that an early termination of probation and an expungement can offer our clients. If you want to know if expungement and early termination of probation is possible for you, call us for a free, confidential consultation.