It can be, if the case ends the right way. Virginia expungement law, Va. Code § 19.2-392.2, allows a person to petition for expungement when a charge ended in an acquittal or a nolle prosequi or was otherwise dismissed. What does not qualify is a conviction, and Virginia does not expunge convictions no matter how minor or how old. A dismissal that came after a guilty plea, or after the court found the evidence sufficient for guilt, is also generally ineligible.
This makes the endgame of a disorderly conduct case unusually important. Because these charges are often weak on the legal merits, outright dismissals and dropped charges are common outcomes for represented defendants, and those outcomes preserve expungement eligibility. A defendant without counsel who pleads guilty to be done with it, or accepts a deferred deal with the wrong terms, gives up that possibility without ever knowing it existed.
The expungement itself is a separate civil case filed in circuit court, involving a petition, fingerprints, and review of the record, and it normally takes around six months start to finish. Once granted, the arrest is removed from public view, which is exactly what you want when employers and graduate programs run background checks.
Joel handles both halves of this process, defending the charge in a way that preserves eligibility and then filing the expungement petition. Call him at 540-961-5297, and read more about expungement in Virginia and disorderly conduct charges in Blacksburg.