Expungements

An Expungement is an action to delete all police and court records pertaining to a criminal case when any of the following has occurred:

• Absolute pardon
• Acquittal
• Dismissal
• Identification used without consent (§19.2-392.2(B)
• An individual's name is used in error or wrong person arrested (§19.2-392.2(H)
• Nolle prosequi

Expungements are not available for those persons whose criminal case resulted in deferred dismissal following a finding of evidence sufficient to convict the defendant. Dismissals pursuant to Virginia Code Section 19.2-151 are eligible for expungement. When a record is expunged, it is not destroyed but removed from public access and sealed.

Procedure to Expunge Record

• A Petition (PDF) accompanied by warrant or indictment must be filed along with fees in the Circuit Court Clerk's Office. Petition should contain file number, date of arrest, name of arresting agency, specific charge to be expunged, date of final disposition, petitioner's date of birth, and full name used by the petitioner when charge was made. If the information is not available, then petitioner must state why this information is unavailable.
• Copy of Petition is served on the Commonwealth's Attorney.
• Petitioner must also provide a copy of the Petition to the Virginia State Police to obtain finger print card to be submitted to CCRE.
• The Virginia State Police will forward to the Clerk's office, under seal, the criminal background history and the set of fingerprints.

You will be notified that this has been received and the date and time of your hearing before the Judge, if applicable. If no hearing is required, please submit your Order of Expungement to the Court. You and the Commonwealth's Attorney will need to endorse the order prior to presenting it to the Judge for entry. 

Upon entry, you will be given a certified copy. The Clerk's Office will send a copy to the Virginia State Police. They will notify all agencies to expunge your record. Please note that this process may take a few months.