692.1 DEFINITIONS OF WORDS AND PHRASES. As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. "Adjudication data" means information that an adjudication of delinquency for an act which would be a serious or aggravated misdemeanor or felony if committed by an adult was entered against a juvenile and includes the date and location of the delinquent act and the place and court of adjudication. 2. "Arrest data" means information pertaining to an arrest for a public offense and includes the charge, date, time and place. Arrest data includes arrest warrants for all public offenses outstanding and not served and includes the filing of charges, by preliminary information when filed by a peace officer or law enforcement officer or indictment, the date and place of alleged commission and county of jurisdiction. 3. "Conviction data" means information that a person was convicted of or entered a plea of guilty to a public offense and includes the date and location of commission and place and court of conviction. 4. "Correctional data" means information pertaining to the status, location, and activities of persons under the supervision of the county sheriff, the Iowa department of corrections, the board of parole, or any other state or local agency performing the same or similar function, but does not include investigative, sociological, psychological, economic, or other subjective information maintained by the Iowa department of corrections or board of parole. 5. "Criminal history data" means any or all of the following information maintained by the department or division in a manual or automated data storage system and individually identified: a. Arrest data. b. Conviction data. c. Disposition data. d. Correctional data. e. Adjudication data. f. Custody data. 6. "Criminal investigative data" means information collected in the course of an investigation where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that specific criminal acts have been committed by a person. 7. "Criminal or juvenile justice agency" means an agency or department of any level of government or an entity wholly owned, financed, or controlled by one or more such agencies or departments which performs as its principal function the apprehension, prosecution, adjudication, incarceration, or rehabilitation of criminal or juvenile offenders. 8. "Custody data" means information pertaining to the taking into custody, pursuant to section 232.19, of a juvenile for a delinquent act which would be a serious or aggravated misdemeanor or felony if committed by an adult, and includes the date, time, place, and facts and circumstances of the delinquent act. Custody data includes warrants for the taking into custody for all delinquent acts outstanding and not served and includes the filing of a petition pursuant to section 232.35, the date and place of the alleged delinquent act, and the county of jurisdiction. 9. "Department" means the department of public safety. 10. "Disposition data" means information pertaining to a recorded court proceeding subsequent and incidental to a public offense arrest and includes dismissal of the charge, suspension or deferral of sentence. 11. "Division" means the department of public safety, division of criminal investigation. 12. "Individually identified" means criminal history data which relates to a specific person by one or more of the following means of identification: a. Name and alias, if any. b. Social security number. c. Fingerprints. d. Other index cross-referenced to paragraph "a", "b", or "c". e. Other individually identifying characteristics. 13. "Intelligence assessment" means an analysis of information based in whole or in part upon intelligence data. 14. "Intelligence data" means information on identifiable individuals compiled in an effort to anticipate, prevent, or monitor possible criminal activity. 15. "Public offense" as used in subsections 2, 3, and 10 does not include nonindictable offenses under either chapter 321 or local traffic ordinances. 16. "Surveillance data" means information on individuals, pertaining to participation in organizations, groups, meetings or assemblies, where there are no reasonable grounds to suspect involvement or participation in criminal activity by any person. Contact Attorney Mark Thompson with questions.
Category: Record Expungement
692.17 EXCLUSIONS -- PURPOSES. 1. Criminal history data in a computer data storage system shall not include arrest or disposition data or custody or adjudication data after the person has been acquitted or the charges dismissed, except that records of acquittals or dismissals by reason of insanity and records of adjudications of mental incompetence to stand trial in cases in which physical or mental injury or an attempt to commit physical or mental injury to another was alleged may be included. Criminal history data shall not include custody or adjudication data, except as necessary for the purpose of administering chapter 692A, after the juvenile has reached twenty-one years of age, unless the juvenile was convicted of or pled guilty to a serious or aggravated misdemeanor or felony between age eighteen and age twenty-one. 2. For the purposes of this section, "criminal history data" includes the following: a. In the case of an adult, information maintained by any criminal justice agency if the information otherwise meets the definition of criminal history data in section 692.1, except that source documents shall be retained. b. In the case of a juvenile, information maintained by any criminal or juvenile justice agency if the information otherwise meets the definition of criminal history data in section 692.1. In the case of a juvenile, criminal history data and source documents, other than fingerprint records, shall not be retained. 3. Fingerprint cards received that are used to establish a criminal history data record shall be retained in the automated fingerprint identification system when the criminal history data record is expunged. 4. Criminal history data may be collected for management or research purposes. Contact Attorney Mark Thompson with questions.
In Iowa, the most common method for expunging a criminal case is with a deferred judgment.
A deferred judgment is a sentencing option that a defendant enters into with the court. If the defendant successfully completes a period of probation, the court will expunge the file and the defendant will never be convicted of the offense. If the defendant fails probation, they are subject to a permanent conviction and jail time.
Deferred judgments are available for almost all criminal offenses, from simple misdemeanors to felonies. However, certain crimes are not eligible for deferment, such as forcible felonies, several types of OWI offenses, and traffic tickets.
The biggest problem with looking to expunge a case with a deferred judgment is that it has to be agreed upon prior to conviction. You cannot go back in time and get a deferred judgment to expunge an old case. Therefore, it is very important to discuss this option before a case is resolved.
There are rare cases where a deferred judgment is left “dangling.” This would be where the term of deferment has passed, but the parties took no action to finalize the case. This is seen more often in simple misdemeanors where the Department of Corrections is not monitoring the case. In those cases, there may be something our firm can do to help you out, by picking up that dangling file and bringing it back to the courts attention. Otherwise, expungement with a deferred judgment is something we can only help you out with prior to sentencing.
Attorney Mark Thompson can help you get a deferred judgment. Visit his website for details.