I know there are a lot of people reading this who are under the impression that when they are arrested for a minor traffic violation, they are automatically given a ticket and they are not allowed to enter any type of financial debt. I am not sure how common this is in our society, but I am certain that the police will always make an exception, regardless of what they are charged with.
This is an example of the fallacy of the “I can’t because I don’t have a felony” excuse. The charge was for reckless driving, which can be a misdemeanor (not a felony) or a felony depending on the amount of alcohol in the defendant’s system. The way I read the law is that when you’re arrested for driving with a blood-alcohol level of.08 or above, you are not allowed to have any type of financial debt. That’s it.
So if you have a blood alcohol level of.08, you are not allowed to have financial debt. You can do what you want, you are just not allowed to have a financial debt. In the case of a felony for reckless driving, the fine is $1000, so he could have paid off his car registration bill and other debts, but not his financial debts.
Weirdly, I get a lot of offers for a free car registration, but I usually refuse. I have a pretty strong distrust for government and government-run things. Thats why I use credit cards as much as possible.
Of course, if you are the same person who can’t pay your car registration bill and are convicted for reckless driving, then you have the option to have your criminal record expunged. It might take a few months, but it’s pretty common. But you’ll want to make sure that your credit isn’t completely ruined before you do this.
This is pretty much the same as getting rid of a criminal record. But, there are a few more hoops you have to jump through, like filing an expunge application and paying $10 to get your record expunged. Thats pretty much the only difference.
There are some exceptions. There are some people who can get their criminal record expunged simply by showing up to their court hearings and saying, “Yeah, I was driving too fast, and let me drive to the hospital.” That doesnt sound too bad. But there are also people who can’t do it because the law says it cant be done, and they need to prove it.
The law is clear that you can expunge a felony if you go to your state’s DMV and submit your driving record to them. That’s pretty much the only difference. There are some people who cant get their felony expunged simply by showing up to court and saying, Yeah, I was driving too fast. That doesnt sound too bad. But there are also people who cant do it because the law says it cant be done, and they need to prove it.
I think for most of us there is a fine line between being able to do something and being able to prove it. It is rare, but possible, that you will get a positive expunge at some point. As a rule, if you can prove it in court, you can expunge a felony.
If you can prove it in court, you can expunge a felony. But there are also felony expungees who can’t prove it in court, and the courts won’t allow it. So if you are getting your felony expunged, you are going to have to prove it in court. That is a huge and important part of the process.
