Reasons to Reduce Your Los Angeles Felony

If you were convicted of a felony in Los Angeles, you may not be able to have your felony conviction expunged from your record, or there may be a long waiting period to expunge your felony. Fortunately, as per California Penal Code Section 17(b), you may be able to reduce your felony to a misdemeanor, which may allow you to expunge the offense from your criminal record, or at least reduce the waiting period to expunge the offense. A reduction may also restore certain rights, and will remove the felony from your record.

To be eligible to reduce your Los Angeles felony to a misdemeanor, your felony must be what is known as a “wobbler,” which is an offense that is to the discretion of a judge to sentence as a misdemeanor or a felony, resulting in either jail time or prison. If you were sentenced to a felony that is a wobbler and you were not sentenced to state prison, you may be eligible to reduce your felony. If, however, you were sentenced to prison, even if the prison sentence was a suspended sentence, your felony conviction is not eligible for reduction.

It is important to keep in mind that reducing your felony to a misdemeanor will not expunge your offense from your criminal record. If the petition for the felony reduction is granted, your felony will be reduced to a misdemeanor and your record will no longer show that you were convicted of a felony. That being said, you will still have a conviction of a misdemeanor on your criminal record. The only way to clear the misdemeanor from your criminal record after the reduction is to have the offense expunged. Felony reduction and expungement are two separate processes, though you may be able to file both petitions together.

How Reducing Your Felony may help to Restore Civil Rights

Getting your Los Angeles felony reduced may help to restore your right to own firearms. In California, if you have been convicted of a felony, you lose your firearm rights. You may also lose your firearm rights if you have been convicted of a violent misdemeanor or a misdemeanor involving domestic violence. Therefore, if you were convicted of a felony, reducing your felony to a misdemeanor will restore your right to own firearms, unless your offense also falls under one of the two other circumstances.