I want to get my felony “wobbler” expunged. What are the steps to getting it reduced to a misdeameanor so that it is then eligible for expungement?

Having a felony conviction on your record (even after the conviction has been expunged) can be much more damaging than having only a misdemeanor. Reducing your felony “wobbler” conviction to a misdemeanor, whether or not you have it expunged, changes your criminal record so that—going forward—you no longer have a felony conviction on your record.[3070]

Here are the benefits of reducing your felony “wobbler” to a misdemeanor:

    You can say that you were never convicted of a felony when applying for most jobs, housing, public benefits, loans, etc.;[3071]
    You will no longer be disqualified from getting most professional and occupational licenses because of a felony conviction;[3072]
    You may get back your state gun rights back;[3073] AND
    You will get back your right to serve on a jury.[3074]

IMPORTANT: FELONY REDUCTIONS & IMMIGRATION ISSUES: As of January 1, 2015, the maximum jail time that a person can be sentenced to for a misdemeanor is 364 days—one day short of a full calendar year. This is important if you are at risk of being deported because of a felony conviction, and your conviction can be reclassified or resentenced as a misdemeanor under Prop. 47. When you get your felony conviction reclassified or resentenced, it is recommended that you ask the judge to say on the record that the maximum sentence for your conviction is now 364 days. This might help you avoid certain negative immigration consequences that are tied to a sentence of 365 days or more.[3075] Learn more in the chapter on immigration issues starting on PG. 1105.

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  1. 3070

    People v. Gilbreth (2007) 156 Cal. App. 4th 53, 57. ("[O]nce a court has reduced a wobbler to a misdemeanor pursuant to . . . [Cal. Penal Code] section 17, the crime is thereafter regarded as a misdemeanor 'for all purposes.' This unambiguous language means what it says, and unless the Legislature states otherwise, a person such as [defendant] stands convicted of a misdemeanor, not a felony, for all purposes upon the court so declaring.") ↑

  2. 3071

    A few licensing boards/agencies can still consider a conviction as a felony, even after the conviction has been reduced to misdemeanor under 17(b). For example: Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 6102 (Cal. State Bar—licensing of attorneys) and Cal. Gov’t Code § 1029(a)(3) (disqualification from employment as peace officer). ↑

  3. 3072

    Cal. Penal Code § 1203.4; see, e.g., 10 Cal. Code Regs. § 3723(a)(3) (discipline of real estate appraisers—criteria of rehabilitation includes “[j]udicial relief from the consequences of criminal conviction”). ↑

  4. 3073

    Cal. Penal Code § 29800 imposes a lifetime ban on owning or acquiring a firearm for individuals with felony convictions. It also imposes a 10-year firearm ban for certain misdemeanor convictions. If your conviction is reduced to a misdemeanor that does not carry the 10-year ban, your firearm ban will be automatically lifted. If your conviction is reduced to a misdemeanor that carries a 10-year ban, your prohibition will be lifted after the 10-year period. See People v. Gilbreth, 156 Cal. App. 4th 53, 57 (2007) (a reduction of a felony offense to a misdemeanor precludes its use as a predicate offense under the felon-in-possession statutes). ↑

  5. 3074

    Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 203(a)(5). ↑

  6. 3075

    Telephone interview with Rose Cahn, Project Leader, Immigrant Post-Conviction Relief Project, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in the San Francisco Bay Area. ↑