Torrance, Expungement in Three Different Cases Granted.

In 2007 and 2008, our client was 18 and 19 years old.  In the matter of just over a year, she managed to be arrested and convicted of shoplifting twice, once at Macy’s and once at Von’s, and arrested for DUI.  The DUI  was ultimately resolved for a wet reckless.  All three cases took place in the Torrance Superior Court and all three cases were prosecuted by the Torrance City Prosecutor’s Office.

Our client resolved her shoplifting case arising out of Macy’s, wherein she was also charged with battery (Penal Code § 242) and disturbing the peace (Penal Code § 415) for just petty theft (Penal Code § 484(a)).  However, she was placed three years of summary (informal) probation, conditioned upon some very heavy terms.  She was required to pay a court fine of $300, plus penalties and assessments ($1,235 total), perform 154 hours of community service, perform ten days of Cal-Trans labor, pay a City of Torrance booking fee of $339 and stay away from all Macy’s for three years.

In the second shoplifting case, arising out of a Von’s in Torrance, our client was also placed on three years of summary probation with an obligation to pay a court fine of $300 plus penalties and assessments ($1,245), perform ten days of Cal-Trans labor, stay away from all Von’s for three years and pay the City of Torrance booking fee of $339.00.

In the client’s wet reckless matter, she was originally charged with violating Vehicle Code § 23152(a) (driving while under the influence of alcohol), 23152(b) (driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.08% or higher), 21658 (unsafe lane change, an infraction), 23111 (throwing a lighted cigarette out of a car, an infraction), 23140(a) (DUI by a person under age with a BAC of 0.05% by weight, an infraction), 23136(a) (DUI by a person under age 21 with BAC of 0.01% by weight, an infraction) and 23103 (reckless driving, a misdemeanor).

In each case, she used a public defender, not private counsel.

In all three cases, our client successfully completed probation, albeit with several violations and always being reinstated on probation.

She also graduated from UCLA while juggling her probation obligations, which was quite a feat.

Fast forward to 2024 and our client is 35 years old and living outside California and struggling to find a job due to these three convictions, although there were well beyond the ten-year window California’s labor law excludes from consideration by most employers.

The client then called Greg Hill & Associates and asked about expungement of each conviction.  She explained what had happened in each case, although the passage of sixteen and seventeen years dimmed her memory somewhat.  It was also relevant that at the time, our client was still a teenager and simply did not understand what was happening due to her youth.

Greg then explained to the client what expungement did and did not do.  He explained that expungement did not erase, delete or remove a record of the case being filed, but it did return the original not guilty plea to being the last plea and the case would be dismissed.  Most importantly, expungement gave the client the right to legally state the conviction did not occur, which could help our client in her employment situation, in housing or in volunteering.  

The client then retained Greg Hill & Associates to file the petition for dismissal in each case in Torrance.  In 2024, there no longer was any filing fee.  Our filing in each case included not only the judicial counsel form, CR-180, but also a short memorandum of points and authorities with a short declaration from the client explaining why she sought expungement.

Greg then attended the hearing on each petition, which were all set for the same day with the same judge.  The assigned Torrance City Prosecutor did not oppose any of the three petitions and the judge granted each petition.

Our client was extremely happy with these rulings and Greg emailed her a pdf copy of the signed order in each case.