Expungement of Records in Louisiana

[worriedMRS]

hello,
my husband currently have an H1-B Visa.
he was arrested last Feb of 2004 for RS:14:82 in Louisiana, was sentenced of 3 months, suspended and placed on probation for 6 months, which is INACTIVE.
he paid fines and all...
and filed for expungement of records last March of 2005, which his lawyer said could take anywhere from 2 - 4 weeks to be completed.

my question is: we are applying for permanent residence this year 2007. there is a question if BEEN ARRESTED, CONVICTED etc...
will he answer YES or NO?

PLEASE HELP.... i'm worried for him...

THANKS!

[aaron]

You don't indicate whether or not expungement was granted.

But one way or another, from what you say he was arrested. Whether or not he was convicted? If you mean by "suspended" that he had a deferred sentence and successfully completed that sentence, such that no conviction was entered by the court, then he would not have been convicted. However if he stated facts sufficient to constitute the offense as part of his plea, the USCIS may nonetheless treat him as having been convicted.

[worriedMRS]

thanks for the reply...

how will we know if expungement was granted? we already moved out of Louisiana and can't get hold of his lawyer anymore.

is it advisable to get a new lawyer to look into his case to get a new expungement motion?

[aaron]

Check his Louisiana criminal history, or see if you can find out from the court.

[worriedMRS]

hello again!
we already found our missing lawyer in Louisiana. He sent the letters that states that there are:

MOTION TO SET ASIDE THE CONVICTION - GRANTED
MOTION FOR EXPUNGEMENT - GRANTED

dated: 05/16/2005

we are now processing I-485 or Change of Status. within this form there is a questionaire that asks arrest, conviction etc, should he answer YES when expungement was granted?

what bothers us is with the lawyers letters are letter from the Police Department that say POLICE DEPARTMENT TAKE'S NO POSITION ON THE EXPUNGEMENT OF THE ARREST INFORMATIONS. does that mean when my husband makes the BIOMETRICS his arrest records will show up? and will this be a big problem and could cause his deportation?

please help!

really worriedMRS

[Mr. Knowitall]

You would answer all questions truthfully.