Can a judge deny my request to seal or expunge my criminal record without a hearing?
When someone seeking to have her criminal-history record sealed or expunged files the appropriate paperwork with the Court, that person is legally entitled to have her request heard by a judge. When a judge fails to set a formal hearing to consider the request, that case may very well be reversed on appeal.
That is precisely what happened in the case of Orozco v. State of Florida. In that case, Ms. Orozco pled guilty to the crime of petit theft, and adjudication was withheld. Sometime later, she filed a petition to seal her criminal record along with all the necessary paperwork including a certificate from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement stating that she was legally eligible to have her record sealed. Instead of scheduling a hearing to decide Orozco’s petition, however, the judge hearing her case simply entered an order denying her petition.
On appeal, Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed the lower-court decision stating that since Orozco complied with all the necessary requirements, the judge deciding her case should have ordered that her record be sealed unless there was a good reason to deny it. The court of appeal, therefore, sent Orozco’s case back to the lower court to have a hearing to decide whether or not such a reason existed.
