Is your Iowa criminal record hurting your ability to apply for good jobs, housing, loans, insurance, or school?  Having your Iowa criminal records legally expunged or sealed by a licensed Iowa attorney can help clear your Iowa criminal record, providing freedom, peace of mind, and a clean slate. 

Mark R. Hinshaw, is a licensed Iowa attorney helping clients across the state of Iowa expunge and seal their Iowa criminal records from Iowa court files and databases.  You have a legal right to expunge certain Iowa criminal records.  Contact Mark R. Hinshaw now to see if you are eligible to have your Iowa criminal record expunged and receive a free quote.  All matters are quoted on a flat fee basis.  Your contact information will be kept confidential.

Criminal records don't automatically go away with the passage of time.  People, even with minor convictions, have to take actions in order to expunge their past criminal records.  

By retaining Mark R. Hinshaw to legally expunge your Iowa criminal record, you will you have an experienced licensed Iowa attorney working to make sure your record is cleared to the fullest extent possible, as fast as possible.

The Iowa Supreme Court recently ruled that Iowa courts are not required to expunge dismissed charges. The decision can be found at http://tinyurl.com/3ncx6pw. Part of the Court's reasoning was that the legislature had not made clear that expungements of dismissed charges were required in the statute at issue. Earlier this year, a bill that would have allowed for the expungement of dismissed charges was introduced in the legislature but failed to be signed into law. If you would like to see the law changed to allow expungement of dismissed charges, contact your representative in the Iowa legislature and ask them to back this bill. The ruling does not affect the right in Iowa to expunge MIP (Minor In Possession), PAULA (Possession of Alcohol Under the Legal Age), or Public Intoxication charges so long as certain statutory requirements are met. You can contact me by phone or email through this site if you have questions on expunging these charges.

The Iowa Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments regarding whether records of dismissed criminal charges should be expunged from the court's records. The ruling will require interpretation of existing Iowa statutes and will clarify the lower courts' ability to expunge these records. Currently, dismissed charges may remain a part of the court's public records even after they are dismissed. Persons with these dismissed charges, who are still presumed innocent, may be unfairly stigmatized or 'criminalized' by the public's access to these records. The Des Moines Register covered the arguments here: http://tinyurl.com/3fflx3y. I will be keeping an eye on the ruling since it will affect a large number of Iowans who have been charged but never convicted of a crime. Stay tuned.

I have had the pleasure of successfully representing clients from around the state in expunging or sealing a wide variety of records: PAULAs, public intoxications, juvenile records, deferred judgments, and dismissed charges. I have also been contacted by a number of potential clients who attempted to handle their own expungements without success, and seek representation only after their request has been denied. The risk in this approach is that a a self-prepared request for expungement may be deficient and thus denied by the court. Further, a court may be less likely to change its ruling once it has made a decision on your case, and the time for asking the court to reconsider its decision may pass before the potential client contacts an attorney to straighten the matter out. I have also seen that the courts do not always apply the law similarly to these requests depending on the nuances of a case. The result is that the self-represented client may make mistakes in their self-representation that result in losing the chance to have the record expunged. These factors weigh in favor of first consulting with experienced counsel before proceeding with self-representation. If you are considering representation on an important expungement matter, I am happy to provide a free quote on your case. Just email me or call the number above.