Is a criminal conviction expunged under section 1203.4 of the California Criminal Code?

shall thereupon dismiss the accusations or information against the defendant and except as noted below, he or she shall thereafter be released from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the offense of which he or she has been convicted...." ( 1203.4, subd. (a); see People v. Butler (1980) 105 Cal.App.3d 585, 587.)

Here, it is undisputed that Holstein suffered a felony conviction in 2003, and that the conviction was expunged in 2006. The question before the court was whether an expungement under section 1203.4 resulted in the fact of the conviction ceasing to be public information. The trial court properly ruled that it did not.² That Holstein was a felon was public information available to respondents through a routine background check.³ While section 1203.4 results in an expungement of a conviction, it does not release the offender from all consequences of a conviction. (People v. Sharman (1971) 17 Cal.App.3d 550, 552.) In particular, it does not seal the offender's record of conviction. (Id. at pp. 552-553.) "The fact information in the records is accessible to the public, of itself, is not a penalty or disability." (Id. at p. 552.)