New Iowa law allows dismissed charges to be expunged

The measure will give individuals the opportunity to have criminal charges that were dismissed or resulted in acquittal expunged from their records.

The law requires that those individuals must wait a minimum of 180 days since the entry of judgment of acquittal or of the order dismissing the case relating to the criminal charges before filing to have the records expunged. Under previous Iowa law these types of cases could remain on a person’s records indefinitely.

The bill was one of 14 that were signed into law by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad on May 1, and will take effect in 2016.

Source: The Daily Nonpareil, 5/1/2015

Posted: May 7, 2015