I used one of those online legal advice sites to find out about this. The lawyer made it sound like it is actually really hard to get your record changed in California.

It bugs me because this is such common and simple mistake people make all the time. The cop should have just warned me or at least told me that it could turn into something serious.

I was told I would have to hire a criminal defense attorney with knowledge of records to handle this and go before a judge. That it would take months and months. That is just too much for me to handle--money, time and stress.