That we don't know but that's the scarey part of these USA mugshot sites--you see it and think he got convicted but all they are are mug shots from arrests, no mention of how these arrests were disposed of in court, convicted? Not convicted? Nada. But thanks to Randy for turning us on to these sites. If you are from Canada or elsewhere, the following won't be of any assistance unless you got arrested in the states, so you can skip the rest.
Wow, the mug shot removal sites are expensive--$400.
The way expungments work in most states (those that have a law that provide for it--not sure all do) is if you have
never been convicted of a crime, then all of your arrests can get "cleared" so to speak. Those arrests info should then be unavailable if an agency runs your name thru whatever database (except maybe the FBI's data base: the NCIC --don't know, but see
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ncic). Anyway, the state expungment order should keep you off of these mugshot websites.
But, generally, if you
ever have been convicted of
one crime, than
none of your arrests can get cleared even if you weren't convicted on the others. That's the general rule, always exceptions.
The exceptions that I know of are too long to go into and state specific, but I'll give you a few, again generally speaking depending on where you are from:
If you rec'd some type of a deferred prosecution, like be a good boy for a while and then this will go away, those kind of dispositions won't be expunged
if it's for certain sex or drug crimes or DUI's because of the enhancement provisions of a 2nd offense later. With DUI e.g. in my state, you can get the criminal arrest record expunged and the arresting agency and the state police will send you all of the originals: arrest report, fingerprint cards, mugshots. But the Dept of Motor Vehicle people will know whether you blew or didn't blow, were suspended, and whether you got court supervision/deferred prosecution on the DWI. In my state, and probably all, you can't get that DMV part expunged from their database because in my state you can only get court supervision/deferred prosecution 1x in your life for a DUI. So, since they need to know if you already got your one and once in a lifetime Christmas present, you're not getting that erased. But there's no mugshot with that and is generally speaking inaccesible. E.G., if an insuance company runs you, that DUI court supervision/deferred prosecution is not going to pop up, at least where I live, because after your succesful time on supervision, it goes down as a not guilty, kind of a legal fallacy because if you catch another DWI, different ballgame--you cannot get a deferred prosecution or supervision---you have to go to trial and win(or maybe plead out to a reduced charge of a Reckless Driving). If you don't win, you are inelgible for supervision and your DL is revoked. Eligible to re-apply for your DL in one year but good luck with that. Maybe 3,4,5,6 years? I've heard horror stories like that.
Complicated, but worth the effort to expunge if you fit. Google your state and expungment, probably can do it yourself if you are still living where it happened, forms you need are often on line. Otherwise probably need to hire someone, alot of leg work getting the right documentary proof to go with the Petition to Expunge. My hunch is if you qualify and get your stuff expunged, those arrest.com websites and their copy cats will have to voluntarily take it off their site at your insistence without you having to pay an internet wipe company any $.
Also, regardless of whatever relief you can get thru your state statute, the FBI is not subject to your state court's expungment order, and there is no Fed expungment statute, so they will have your arrest info from, eg, Ohio. That's even though an Ohio court expunged and/or sealed your arrest record (s), if your arresting agency reported it to the Feds which is most likely if they ran your prints thru the NCIC computer. Been thirty-two years since I was really up on what takes place in the lock-up re: how the police give and take what info and techmology has changed so much, but maybe active or more recent guys can chime in.
I hope all of this is not interpreted by the board as me trying to cover for bad guys, I am not. My view is an arrest is not a conviction and we (USA guys) all know of our 5th Amendment presumption of innocence guarantees. These mugshot websites tend to counter that, eg, Randy's original post said he thought Metz was convicted. Easy mistake when viewing these sites and not his fault.
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