The process of legally destroying or erasing arrest and conviction records found in files and on computers is known as expungement. This can also include any other files related to a person’s criminal history.
Eligibility for Nebraska Expungement
In Nebraska, anyone who has been arrested as a result of a mistake by the law enforcement system can have his or her records expunged. A petition for an order of criminal history expungement can be filed in district court. This will contain all of the information related to the wrongful arrest. Petitions must be filed in the district court of the county where the arrest occurred. A petition must also be served on the county attorney, who must be named as a respondent.
A petition will be granted by the district court only if the individual in question has provided significant and clear evidence that he or she was wrongfully arrested by a law enforcement agency.
Known Sexual Offenders
Anyone who is required to register under the Sex Offender Registration Act may also file an expungement petition in district court. Individuals who are required to register under the Sex Offender Registration Act for the rest of their lives are not included. Expungement may be granted in these circumstances if: an individual’s need to register has expired; an individual no longer has pending criminal charges or is under criminal investigation for any offense listed in section 29-4003 for registration; and an individual is not a substantial risk of committing another offense to be registered.
Following expungement, no part of this type of criminal history, including any arrest notion, will be accessible to the general public, but only to those working for criminal justice agencies. Such records may resurface if the record becomes the subject of correctional control or prosecution as a result of a separate arrest; if the individual announces candidacy for public office; if a notarized request for the release of the record to a specific individual is made; or if the filed information is used to summarize the dates of arrest, the reasons for arrest, and the nature of the dispositions for not prosecuting the cases at hand.
There is no need for expungement.
Even after an arrest is made and the record becomes public, there are times when expungement is not required to remove the record from public view. These include an arrest where no charges were filed as determined by the prosecuting attorney and the arrest record will be erased after one year on the public record; an arrest where charges were not filed due to a completed diversion and the arrest record will be erased from the public file after two years; and an arrest where charges were filed and dismissed by the court as motioned by the prosecuting attorney or as a revoked arrest record. In this final case, all evidence of the arrest will be removed from public records after three years.