Can I re-open an old case once I have been convicted?

Florida law does provide a mechanism to to "vacate" or "set aside" a conviction once the case is closed but it subject to some strict requirements.

This procedure is most often successful in misdemeanor cases when misdemeanor cases are closed at the first appearance without the assistance of an attorney. For example, a person is arrested for a misdemeanor and spends the night in jail. The next day the person is brought before the bond hearing judge and may be offered, "credit time served" by the judge. Wanting to get out of jail, the person accepts the CTS offer and the case is closed. Unfortunately, this CTS plea is a conviction under Florida law and the person is then ineligible to seal or expunge that case or any other case they may have been eligible to seal or expunge had it not been for the CTS conviction.

In this type of situation, a motion  may be made to set aside the conviction may be filed by the person because the plea at the bond hearing is essentially made involuntarily, unintelligently, and unknowing because the person didn't have the assistance of counsel when taking the plea and there was no waiver of counsel as well. This is the typical situation. Each case must be analyzed individually to determine if the person qualifies to vacate the plea and set aside the conviction. There is also a time component that applies.  The basic requirements are:

1. The person was not represented by counsel when they took the plea, and;

2. There was no formal waiver of counsel in writing AND by plea colloquy (the judge explaining to you orally that you are waiving yoru rights including your right to counsel).;

3. It has been 2 years or less since the judgment of conviction.

**Even if over 2 years a motion to at least modify the conviction to a withhold of adjudication can be accomplished as long as the state attorney agrees. Many times they do. If the conviction is changed to a withhold of adjudication, that may be the only thing the person needs in order to qualify for a record sealing or expungement.

Remember that vacating a conviction may be good or bad. Vacating a conviction will put the case back in the original posture it was before it was vacated. That means when it recloses, you may get a worse sentence if convicted. The goal is to either have the case dismissed, dropped, not filed, or at least close it to a withhold of adjudication so you can then qualify to seal/expunge the case.

The same requirements apply to felony cases however it is very rare to close a felony case during the first appearance so you almost never see a plea taken on a felony case without a lawyer.

There may be other methods to challenge a conviction, such as ineffective assistance of counsel, but that's for another blog.