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Drunk in Public
My question involves criminal law for the state of: California
My friend was arrested for being drunk in public at a concert. She was not charged with anything but she was taken to jail for four hours until I was allowed to pick her up. She was booked and a misdemeanor does go on her record. Since there are no charges, there is no court date, fines, etc. I know certain misdemeanors can be cleared from your record. How could she get this removed from her record?
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Re: Drunk in Public
either she was charged or not. If she wasn't, there would be an arrest on her record but no guilty finding of any crime. If she was charged, then either she plead guilty in an initial arraignment or she has yet to go to court. You can't have it mixed in the manner you state.
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Re: Drunk in Public
all i know is what i was told by the police officer arresting her and the what she told me when she was released. there is no court date, no arraignment, no anything like that, but they said she would have a misdemeanor on her record which did not make sense to me as there is no court date. that cleared up a lot of confusion. thank you.
i guess this brings up a second question. what are the consequences of having an arrest on her record but no guilty finding of any crime? and can the arrest on her record be cleared?
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Re: Drunk in Public
I suspect they simply took her to the drunk tank to sober up and no charges were brought against her. If so, there should not be any conviction on her records but the arrest for a misdemeanor could be.
You might want to hang on for CDWJava. He's a California cop and understands what they do out there better than most here. He pops in and out so not sure when he will be back.
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Re: Drunk in Public
I suspect what happened here is that she was released pursuant to PC 849(b). That means that the arrest will be deemed a detention only.
If no charges are filed - and very often they are not in these circumstances - your friend can possibly apply to have the record purged pursuant to PC 851.8. However, that is not likely to be granted at least not initially, but she can apply.