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Sealing and Destroying a Criminal Record

For those who were charged, but never convicted, Arizona law allows the possibility that all records of the allegations be sealed and destroyed. This means that any public record of the charges is destroyed. Courts are no longer allowed to maintain a public record of the case charges or history and the police department may no longer disseminate any information regarding the investigation.

Having records sealed and destroyed is only available to those people who are wrongfully accused of a crime and who are not convicted of any crime. That also means that they cannot have accepted a plea to a lower charge.

Until an innocent person succeeds in having their record sealed and destroyed, police are free to disseminate the report to anyone who makes a request for it through the proper process. Courts may still have the record on public websites, which makes it easy for a potential employer or anyone else to find.

To find out about how to have your record sealed and destroyed call Tait & Hall for a free consultation at: (480) 405-6767.  

Who Can Reform the Criminal Justice System?

Consider the following people:

  • The President of the United States
  • The Pope
  • The Attorney General of the United States
  • The Head of the FBI or CIA
  • The Speaker of the House
  • The Senate Majority Leader
  • Any of the 50 State Governors
  • Any of the 50 State Attorney Generals
  • The Head of the NAACP or the ACLU
  • The Dean of any Law School
  • The State or Federal Head of Prisons
  • The Head of the Democratic or Republican Party
  • Your Local Mayor
  • Your Local City Council President
  • The Editor in Chief of Your Local Paper
  • A Major Tech CEO
  • Chief of Police.

So what do all of these people have in common?

Answer: Not a single one of them is the most important person to reform the criminal justice system.

Sure, these people are influential. They can all DABBLE in the justice system and/or influence it in one way or another. However, there is one person who has a much larger impact on the criminal justice system than you may realize. This person has so much power that’s it’s almost unbelievable.

Who is it?

Your local prosecutor.

In most areas, they’re referred to as District Attorneys or DAs for short. Some states even call them the Commonwealth’s Attorney. Other states call them the State’s Attorney. Essentially, it’s all the same position; this person is the elected prosecutor for your city or county, depending on where you live.

No single position has more power to drastically alter the criminal justice system than your locally elected prosecutor.

In understanding that, here are a few things that are being done with respect to this space:

National DA Database

 Assembling a national DAs database will not only help you identify your local District Attorney, but it will also allow people to assess their positions on a myriad of issues, as well as provide you with important dates and voting information.

New Candidates

 In addition to creating an accessible database, there will be help in recruiting exciting new candidates for local DA races. There will be a nationwide awareness campaign to help encourage attorneys focused on reform to enter the race to modify the justice system.

Direct Campaign Work

Finally, there will be a significant amount of work done on these candidates’ campaigns to ensure that they are elected. Unsurprisingly, this is where most of the real work is. Since DA races are often an afterthought in the U.S., people will be working hard to bring the prosecutorial races into the light.

As it stands, the United States has more than 2,400 elected prosecutors. These people are truly the gatekeepers of the justice system, and there will be an impactful and positive change happening with respect to our prosecutors very soon.

Scam Stemming from Gila County Sheriff’s Office

It’s unfortunate, but it happened.

Charlie Beier, a dentist in Payson, fell for the scam. After all, the male scammer had most of Beier’s contact and personal information.

 

“You may say that this will never happen to you, but I was shocked at how real this all seemed,” said Beier.

Beier couldn’t believe how easily he was scammed. However, he soon realized that this type of scam has been rampant, especially because the scam appears to be very realistic.

It all started with a voicemail on March 9th when Beier received a message from a Gila County Sheriff’s Deputy.

Beier came home and listened to a very official sounding Chief Deputy Carl Saunders. It noted that he had an outstanding warrant because he failed to appear in court for jury duty. He soon learned more about what his crime entailed.

Beier was fined twice: once for failure to appear for jury summons and the other for contempt of court. Both fines totaled $5,100.

Ultimately, Beier had two options. He could either stay on the line with him while he drove to the Sheriff’s Office for fingerprinting, or he could pay 10% of the fines at a kiosk at the Globe office of the Gila County Sheriff’s Department.

Beier felt pressure, noting that the deputy informed Beier that he had to stay on the phone in order to avoid facing further consequences. Ultimately, keeping Beier on the line was essential to keeping the scam from falling apart.

Beier was instructed to purchase a Green DOT MoneyPak card at either Walgreens or Giant. Since 10% of $5,100 is $510, the deputy informed Beier that the additional $10 will be waived. This, of course, was another indication of the whole thing being a scam.

That’s when Beier finally figured out he was being conned and decided to drive to the police station to see if there were any warrants out for his arrest.

It turns out, of course, that he was clean.

Soon after, the scammer was off the phone. Beier was told that the police department doesn’t just call people to tell them they have a warrant out for their arrest. Furthermore, funds are never exchanged over the phone.

Although Beier may face some ridicule, he felt it necessary to inform others about his situation. This is a very realistic scam on which people need to be educated.

Sure, he may have lost $5.95 and a bit of dignity, but he saved a lot more than that.

In order to avoid this scam, Gila County’s Sheriff suggests that you say you’re personal friends with the sheriff and that you will get back to him (the scammer) right away. That will surely drive the scammer away immediately. If you want to find out whether you actually do have a warrant, it’s always safest to have an attorney look into it so that you can respond to the situation in the best possible way.

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