questions & answers

Question: If an undesignated felony 6 is dropped to a misdemeanor; is that person still considered a felon? Are they still required to report a felony conviction or can they legally state they are not a felon? What are the benefits of getting a felony dropped to a misdemeanor? I understand the expungement and set aside concepts but if a background check still shows a felony even though it was dropped to a misdemeanor and set aside what do we have to do to get it to show accurately and display the conviction as a misdemeanor? Whats the point if getting it dropped and set aside if it shows a felony?

Answer: Once your undesignated felony is dropped to a misdemeanor, you are no longer a felon and can truthfully report that you have not been convicted of a felony on an application. Additionally, all rights lost as a result of being a felon (firearm rights (unless the conviction was for a domestic violence case in which case you still need to set it aside before getting your firearm rights back), voting rights, etc., are restored. Consistent with that fact, background check companies are required to truthfully report that it is a misdemeanor rather than a felony. If they do not, you should send them a letter challenging it and providing a copy of your misdemeanor designation. Every once in a while, the Court's website (docket) will still show felony even after it's been designated a misdemeanor. Sometimes you need to ask the court to fix that so that the background check companies pick it up correctly.