PC 484 misdemeanor
Clearing a petty theft conviction
A theft conviction does more employment damage per day of sentence than almost anything else on a record, because employers read it as a statement about character rather than about one bad afternoon.
What makes this charge different
- Proposition 47 reclassified some theft felonies as misdemeanours where the value was $950 or less, so an old felony theft may be reducible first
- Theft convictions are treated as crimes of moral turpitude, which matters for professional licensing and for immigration
- Many petty theft cases ended with a fine and no probation, which puts them under the separate 1203.4a statute that people rarely know about
What this charge is
Penal Code 484 defines theft, and section 488 makes it petty theft where the property is worth $950 or less. It covers shoplifting from before that was its own offence, taking property from a workplace, and most of what people mean when they say they got caught taking something.
Felony or misdemeanour?
Petty theft is a straight misdemeanour. Theft above $950 is grand theft under section 487 and can be a felony, and that is a different page.
Which relief applies
If you were placed on probation and finished it, the petition goes under Penal Code 1203.4. If the case ended with a fine and no probation — which is very common for petty theft — it goes under 1203.4a instead, which requires a year to have passed since the judgment. The relief is identical; only the statute cited changes.
The thing to watch out for
Theft is treated as a crime involving moral turpitude. That matters for professional licensing, where boards weigh whether an offence is substantially related to the work, and it matters a great deal for immigration. If you are not a US citizen, do not file anything in a criminal case without talking to an immigration lawyer first — a dismissal under 1203.4 is generally not effective for federal immigration purposes.
The law that applies
- Expungement (PC 1203.4) — The court lets you withdraw your plea or sets aside the verdict, then dismisses the case, which releases you from most of the penalties of the conviction.
- Dismissal without probation (PC 1203.4a) — It gives the same dismissal as section 1203.4, for misdemeanour and infraction convictions where the court never granted probation.
Our flat fee for a case like this is $599, all in, with the court filing fee included. What that covers.
Common questions
I only paid a fine. Can it still be cleared?
Yes, and this is the most common version of this case. Penal Code 1203.4a exists specifically for convictions where the court never granted probation. The only extra requirement is that a year has passed since the judgment.
Will a dismissed theft still stop me getting a retail job?
It should not. A California employer with five or more employees may not ask about or consider a dismissed conviction. In practice the problem is often a commercial background check reporting stale data, which is exactly what having the court order solves.
Does a theft conviction affect a professional licence?
It can, because boards look at whether an offence is substantially related to the work and theft frequently is. But a board may not deny a licence based on a conviction dismissed under section 1203.4, provided you can prove the dismissal.
Legal information on this page was last checked against primary sources in October 2026. California law changes; if you are reading this long after that date, confirm before you rely on it.