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                                                                    RECORD DESTRUCTION                                                                            

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     Arrest records can be ordered destroyed when no accusatory pleading was filed against the arrestee, an accusatory pleading was filed but the arrestee was not convicted and the case was dismissed, and when the arrestee went to trial and was acquitted. However, the remedy of record destruction is available only when the arresting agency agrees that the arrestee was factually innocent, or a court finds that “no reasonable cause exists to believe that the arrestee committed the offense for which the arrest was made” and the person arrested was  factually innocent. If the arrestee’s innocence is contested by the arresting agency or the prosecution, an evidentiary hearing is held to determine whether the legal remedy of record destruction is justified by the factual findings of the court which heard the case. Those seeking to have their arrest records sealed and destroyed must file a petition seeking those remedies within two years from the date of their arrest or the date an accusatory pleading was filed, whichever is later, unless the time limit for filing was waived “upon a showing of good cause by the petitioner and the absence of prejudice” to the other party.