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Attorney Arnie Klein specializes in cleaning up criminal records. More than 600 people have contacted him this year to have their records expunged.

Innocent until proven guilty?

Chris Floyd, 31, of Lincoln-Lemington, said he knows better.

He won a court order last week to remove any official reference to charges filed in April after a booby trap intended to scare intruders instead frightened police officers responding to a burglar alarm. The case was dropped at a preliminary hearing.

"Even though charges were dismissed, to employers it shows you're under indictment," Floyd said. "You can't buy a gun. You can't do nothing with that."

Criminal records in Pennsylvania include information about a defendant's arrest even if the charges never led to a conviction. Someone could be found innocent in the eyes of the law but still look suspicious to law enforcement agencies, employers and friends.

Erasing those records before anyone finds them out has become an obsession in Allegheny County and throughout the state, statistics show.

"It's just crazy how many people have arrest records with charges they were never convicted of," said Arnie Klein, a Pittsburgh-based attorney who specializes in expungements and pardons.

The number of people seeking to clear their names in Allegheny County has more than tripled from 261 in 2000 to 981 last year. That number does not include hundreds who receive automatic expungements by successfully completing pre-trial diversionary programs for nonviolent, first-time offenders, according to the clerk of court's office.

Court clerks in Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties said they also have experienced spikes in the number of people seeking to erase criminal charges.

Statewide, the number of criminal records erased by Pennsylvania State Police has more than doubled in the past five years, from 16,500 in 1999 to a projected 36,000 this year.

"People got paranoid," said state Trooper Mark Van Buskirk, a records supervisor in Harrisburg. "It's become a lot easier for corporations to go in and get the stuff. The Internet has made it exponentially easier."

County clerks typically offer a routine process for expunging criminal charges, ranging in cost from $25 to $55, depending on the county. Allegheny County Clerk of Courts George Matta's office, which charges $50 for every expungement, distributes a flier describing how to obtain one.

Federal courts do not make expungements so easy. They do not offer a routine process and files are rarely erased, said Colleen Willison, chief deputy clerk at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Requests can only be made by filing a motion, and Willison said she cannot recall anyone winning an expungement in her 18 years of service.

Pittsburgh attorney Ronald Koerner represented a retired Penn Hills police officer who had been acquitted of charges stemming from an accidental shooting in 1971. The charges remained on his record and initially prevented him from buying a gun, Koerner said.

"A conviction is one thing but when you're acquitted, there's no logical reason," Koerner said. "I would argue it's a denial of due process to continue to punish someone (for) something they didn't do."

Thanks to the Internet, criminal records often can be accessed in the time it takes to log on line. The Pennsylvania State Police offer a new Internet service that instantly provides criminal records at $10 a search.

Most criminal attorneys offer to do expungements, but Klein specializes in them. He usually charges $300 to $500 each, and more if the district attorney objects to the filing.

When Klein started running radio ads in January that offered to "wipe out" criminal records, 22 people called the first day. More than 600 have contacted him since.

"People just want this off their record," Klein said.

Convictions, no matter how minor, can only be removed by a governor's pardon.

Anyone in Pennsylvania who has been acquitted at trial, pardoned by the governor or passed the age of 70 has an absolute right to have his or her criminal records removed from the justice system.

Expungement requests for charges that end short of acquittal, however, can be challenged.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said his office evaluates each expungement filing to determine whether to fight it. His office does not keep track of the number of expungements it challenges, but said it is not uncommon.

Zappala's office typically challenges expungement petitions from defendants who have plea bargained to lesser charges and want the more serious offense removed. He also said he would challenge cases of a sex-related arrest involving a child who cannot testify, cases in which witnesses die or refuse to testify, or cases with defendants who are considered dangerous or violent.

"When this guy comes up at a later day, you can provide that information to a sentencing judge," Zappala said.

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