J-S09022-17

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF

PENNSYLVANIA

Appellant

v.

MEGAN LANCIANO

Appellee No. 218 EDA 2015

Appeal from the Order Entered December 16, 2014

In the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County

Criminal Division at No: CP-23-CR-0007797-2010

BEFORE: SHOGAN, STABILE, and PLATT,*JJ. 

MEMORANDUM BY STABILE, J.: FILED MAY 24, 2017

The Commonwealth appeals from the December 16, 2014 order of the 

Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County (“trial court”), granting Appellee 

Megan Lanciano’s petition for expungement. Upon review, we vacate and 

remand. 

On March 21, 2011, following the Commonwealth’s refusal to admit 

Appellee into the accelerated rehabilitative disposition (“ARD”) program, 

Appellee entered into a negotiated guilty plea to driving under the influence 

(“DUI”), highest rate, under 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3802(c). Pursuant to her 

negotiated guilty plea, Appellee was sentenced to six months of intermediate 

punishment (with the first ten days of electronic home monitoring). 

____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
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On March 26, 2014, Appellee petitioned the trial court for 

expungement of her 2011 DUI conviction. The trial court granted her 

petition for expungement. The Commonwealth timely appealed. 

On May 14, 2015, during the pendency of the appeal, the trial court 

issued an order memorializing the Commonwealth’s and Appellee’s 

stipulation that the trial court had erred in granting Appellee’s petition for 

expungement. On May 24, 2016, the trial court issued an order, rescinding 

its order granting Appellee’s petition for expungement.1 

On appeal,2the Commonwealth argues that the trial court erred as a 

matter of law in granting Appellee’s petition for expungement because she 

“did not satisfy any of the qualifications for expungement enumerated in 

Section 9122,” 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 9122. Commonwealth’s Brief at 4. We agree.

Addressing the law regarding expungement of criminal records 

generally, our Supreme Court has explained: 

There is a long-standing right in this Commonwealth to 

petition for expungement of a criminal arrest record, a right that 

is an adjunct of due process. Carlacci v. Mazaleski, [] 798 

A.2d 186, 188 ([Pa.] 2002). The decision to grant or deny a 

____________________________________________

1 The trial court’s May 14, 2015 and May 24, 2016 orders have no legal 

effect because they were issued during the pendency of the instant appeal. 

See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5505 (“Except as otherwise provided or prescribed by 

law, a court upon notice to the parties may modify or rescind any order 

within 30 days after its entry, notwithstanding the prior termination of any 

term of court, if no appeal from such order has been taken or allowed.”) 

(emphasis added). Accordingly, the trial court was without jurisdiction to 

rescind the December 16, 2014 order granting expungement. 

2 Appellee declined to file a brief on appeal.
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petition to expunge rests with the sound discretion of the trial 

court, and we review that court’s decision for abuse of 

discretion. Commonwealth v. Waughtel, 999 A.2d 623, 624–

25 (Pa. Super. 2010); Commonwealth v. A.M.R., 887 A.2d 

1266, 1268 (Pa. Super. 2005).

Judicial analysis and evaluation of a petition to expunge 

depend upon the manner of disposition of the charges against 

the petitioner. When an individual has been convicted of the 

offenses charged, then expungement of criminal history records 

may be granted only under very limited circumstances that are 

set forth by statute. 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122; Hunt v. Pennsylvania 

State Police, [] 983 A.2d 627, 633 ([Pa.] 2009). 

Commonwealth v. Moto, 23 A.3d 989, 993 (Pa. 2011) (emphasis added). 

“[A] guilty plea is equivalent to a conviction” under Section 9122. 

Commonwealth v. Furrer, 48 A.3d 1279, 1282 (Pa. Super. 2012), appeal 

denied, 62 A.3d 378 (Pa. 2013).

Section 9122 of the Criminal History Record Information Act provides 

in pertinent part:

(a) Specific proceedings.--Criminal history record information 

shall be expunged in a specific criminal proceeding when:

(1) no disposition has been received or, upon request for 

criminal history record information, no disposition has 

been recorded in the repository within 18 months after the 

date of arrest and the court of proper jurisdiction certifies 

to the director of the repository that no disposition is 

available and no action is pending. Expungement shall not 

occur until the certification from the court is received and 

the director of the repository authorizes such 

expungement;

(2) a court order requires that such nonconviction data be 

expunged; or

(3) a person 21 years of age or older who has been 

convicted of a violation of section 6308 (relating to 

purchase, consumption, possession or transportation of 

liquor or malt or brewed beverages), which occurred on or 

after the day the person attained 18 years of age, petitions 

the court of common pleas in the county where the 

conviction occurred seeking expungement and the person 

has satisfied all terms and conditions of the sentence 

imposed for the violation, including any suspension of 
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operating privileges imposed pursuant to section 6310.4 

(relating to restriction of operating privileges). Upon 

review of the petition, the court shall order the 

expungement of all criminal history record information and 

all administrative records of the Department of 

Transportation relating to said conviction.

(b) Generally.--Criminal history record information may be 

expunged when:

(1) An individual who is the subject of the information 

reaches 70 years of age and has been free of arrest or 

prosecution for ten years following final release from 

confinement or supervision.

(2) An individual who is the subject of the information has 

been dead for three years.

(3)(i) An individual who is the subject of the 

information petitions the court for the expungement 

of a summary offense and has been free of arrest or 

prosecution for five years following the conviction for 

that offense.

(ii) Expungement under this paragraph shall only be 

permitted for a conviction of a summary offense.

18 Pa.C.S.A. § 9122(a),(b). 

Instantly, the parties and the trial court agree that Appellee failed to 

plead and prove any subsection of Section 9122 under which she was 

entitled to have her 2011 DUI conviction expunged.3 Accordingly, we agree 

with the Commonwealth that the trial court erred in granting Appellee’s 

petition for expungement. 

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3

In its Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion, the trial court stated “[t]o ensure the 

original grant of expungement is properly vacated, and rescinded, the trial 

court is respectfully requesting the above matter to be remanded to the 

jurisdiction of the undersigned for disposition in accordance with the parties’ 

intentions pursuant to the ‘stipulation and order.’” Trial Court Opinion, 

8/8/16, at 2. 
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Order vacated. Case remanded. Jurisdiction relinquished. 

Judgment Entered.

Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.

Prothonotary

Date: 5/24/2017