District Court

• Vacation of Misdemeanor and Gross Misdemeanor Convictions - Instruction Sheet
• Motion and Declaration for Order Vacating Conviction
• Notice of Hearing - Motion for Order Vacating Conviction  
• Order on Motion Regarding Vacating Conviction  

Washington law permits the vacation of some misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor convictions.

Vacation of a conviction releases you from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the offense. Once a conviction is vacated, the fact that you have been convicted of the offense shall not be included in your criminal history for purposes of determining a sentence in any subsequent conviction. For all purposes, including responding to questions on employment or housing applications, a person whose conviction has been vacated may state that he or she has never been convicted of that crime. Vacation of a conviction, however, does not affect or prevent use of the conviction in a later criminal prosecution. Vacation of a conviction does not automatically restore your right to possess a firearm.

The new law does not automatically vacate your conviction. If you want to have a conviction vacated, you must file a motion with the court. The following information will assist you in deciding whether the law applies to your situation and, if so, how to ask the court to vacate your conviction.

If you meet the following criteria, a court may, in its discretion, vacate the conviction.

1. No criminal charges are pending against you in any court of this state or another state, or in any federal court.
2. You have not been convicted of a new crime in this state, another state, or federal court since the date you were sentenced on the crime you wish to have vacated.
3. You have never had the record of another conviction vacated.
4. You are not currently restrained and have not been restrained within five years before the vacation application, by a domestic violence protection order, a no-contact order, an anti-harassment protection order, or a civil restraining order that restrains one party from contacting the other party.
5. The conviction you are seeking to have vacated is not for one of the following crimes:

• Driving while under the influence ("DUI"), RCW 46.61.502
• Actual physical control while under the influence, RCW 46.61.504
• Operating a railroad, etc. while intoxicated, RCW 9.91.020
• A violation of chapter 9A.44 RCW (sex offenses)
• A violation of chapter 9.68 RCW (obscenity and pornography)
• A violation of chapter 9.68A RCW (sexual exploitation of children)
• A violent offense as defined in RCW 9.94A.030 or an attempt to commit a violent offense

If the crime you are seeking to have vacated involved domestic violence, you must:

1. Provide the prosecuting attorney's office that prosecuted you with timely notice of your motion and declaration for an order vacating the conviction and file the original notice with the court.
2. You must not have been convicted of any other domestic violence offense arising out of any other incident. (If the current application is for more than one conviction that arose out of a single incident, none of those convictions counts as a previous conviction.)
3. Five years have elapsed since you completed the terms of the original conditions of the sentence, including any financial obligations and successful completion of any treatment ordered as a condition of sentencing.

If the crime you are seeking to vacate did not involve domestic violence, three years must have elapsed since you completed the terms of the original conditions of the sentence, including any financial obligations.

If you can satisfy each of the above requirements with respect to the conviction you are asking the court to vacate, your next step is to complete the form CrRLJ 09.0100, Motion and Declaration for Order Vacating Conviction. This form will allow the court to determine whether you are eligible to have your conviction vacated. You may want to review the court file or the court docket for the offense you are asking the court to vacate to obtain the information you need to fill out the form. Chelan County District Court requires that you obtain copies of your criminal history records and attach them to your motion. Once you have completed and signed the Motion and Declaration form, make at least two copies.

The next step is to take your paperwork to the District Court Clerk's office on the 4th level of the Chelan County Courthouse, 350 Orondo Ave., Wenatchee. You can then complete form CrRLJ 09.0150, Notice of Hearing - Motion for Order Vacating Conviction, and the clerk will schedule a hearing date and time. Make at least two copies of the notice. File the originals of the Motion and Declaration and the Notice of Hearing with the court. On the same day that you file those documents with the clerk of the District Court, you must also provide a copy of the documents to the prosecuting attorney's office that prosecuted you. (Either the Chelan County Prosecuting Attorney or the City of Wenatchee Prosecuting Attorney.) Keep a copy of all documents for your file.

The judge will hear your Motion for Order Vacating Conviction on the day scheduled for the hearing. You will need to attend the hearing and bring with you the Order on Motion Re: Vacating Conviction form. If the motion is granted, the judge will complete the order vacating your conviction.  The clerk of the court will send a copy of the order to the Washington State Patrol and the local law enforcement agency, if any, which holds criminal history information about you.

Posted: 02/03/2015 01:39 PM
Last Updated: 12/08/2023 05:19 PM