# Full Faith and Credit re: expungement **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 14, 2009, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-faith-and-credit-re-expungement/513775 "2009-10-14T13:38:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-faith-and-credit-re-expungement/513775/21 "2009-10-15T16:30:48Z")
Wouldn’t the case be handled in an administrative setting, rather than a civil one? I don’t know about other states but in Florida criminal verdicts are admissible in administrative courts (although in most ways the administrative courts follow the applicable rules of civil procedure). ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-faith-and-credit-re-expungement/513775/22 "2009-10-15T17:41:14Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Wouldn’t the case be handled in an administrative setting, rather than a civil one? I don’t know about other states but in Florida criminal verdicts are admissible in administrative courts (although in most ways the administrative courts follow the applicable rules of civil procedure). Depends on the context, and the jurisdiction. Compare the two scenarios I outlined. In one case, the guy gets elected. A challenge to his qualifications will be reviewed by a court. In the other, he is administratively denied a place on the ballot. In that case, the initial review will probably be adminstrative. It will ultimately be reviewed by a court, and that review might be _de novo_. Also, criminal convictions \*are \*admissible, subject to some special relevancy rules, in civil and criminal cases. See [FRE 404(b)](http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rules.htm#Rule404) The cases discussed in my previous post deal specifically with acquittals and dropped charges. Certainly there is no constitutional \*bar \*to admitting an acquittal, it’s just that the acquittal doesn’t establish anything other than that the defendant wasn’t convicted–it doesn’t establish that the defendant is factually innocent. So it’s possible that an administrative body would consider an acquittal, but IME, they tend to follow the caselaw. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-faith-and-credit-re-expungement/513775/23 "2009-10-15T22:59:15Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Interesting - I didn’t know that. I disagree with the holding, though. This is one nation. An expungement or pardon in one state should be an expungement or pardon for all. If the state in which the offense was committed is willing to let bygones be bygones, why shouldn’t the other 49? This is where I get confused as well. It seems as if the neighboring state says “Ok, we agree with the first court regarding the conviction, but the second court that did the expunging, well, it doesn’t get our blessing”. In my example, if the state of West Virginia did such a bang-up job of doing the convicting of the original offense, then why deny the same court system the power to say that it wipes the conviction off of the books? (or the arrest, or whatever else) It seems that an unjust conviction could follow a person forever. I get convicted of Murder One in WV and serve 6 months. Then I am found innocent by DNA evidence/another man confesses/Jesus tells people the truth/God returns/heavens open. The prosecutor drops the case, the trial judge releases me and vacates the conviction. The governor pardons me for good measure and the record is ordered sealed, expunged and burned. But, in Florida, I still have to say that I am a convicted murderer on a real estate loan application…it’s crazy.. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-faith-and-credit-re-expungement/513775/24 "2009-10-15T23:28:55Z")
Yes, but there’s always a box so you can explain the circumstances and presumably a conviction that was reversed on appeal or vacated wouldn’t count against you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-faith-and-credit-re-expungement/513775.md?page=1)