Records of an Arrest That Did Not Result in a Conviction A person may file a motion to expunge a record of his arrest for a felony or misdemeanor offense that did not result in a conviction if any of the following apply:
(1) The person was not prosecuted for the offense for which he was arrested, and the limitations on the institution of prosecution have barred the prosecution for that offense.
(2) The district attorney for any reason declined to prosecute any offense arising out of that arrest.
(3) Prosecution was instituted and such proceedings have been finally disposed of by dismissal, sustaining of a motion to quash, or acquittal.
(4) The Person was judicially determined to be factually innocent and entitled to compensation for a wrongful conviction pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 15:572.8. Under this section, the person can seek to have the arrest and conviction expunged without the limitations or time delays imposed by the provisions of this Article or any other provision of law to the contrary.
Source: Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 976A
Records of an Arrest and Conviction of a Misdemeanor OffenseA person may file a motion to expunge his record of arrest and conviction of a misdemeanor offense if either of the following apply:
(1) The conviction was set aside and the prosecution was dismissed pursuant to Code of Criminal Procedure Article 894(B).
(2) More than five years have elapsed since the person completed any sentence, deferred adjudication, or period of probation or parole, and the person has not been convicted of any felony offense during the five-year period, and has no felony charge pending against him.
Source: Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 977A
Records of an Arrest and Conviction of a Felony OffenseA person may file a motion to expunge his record of arrest and conviction of a felony offense if either of the following apply:
(1) The conviction was set aside and the prosecution was dismissed pursuant to Code of Criminal Procedure Article 893(E).
(2) More than ten years have elapsed since the person completed any sentence, deferred adjudication, or period of probation or parole based on the felony conviction, and the person has not been convicted of any other criminal offense during the ten-year period, and has no criminal charge pending against him.
Source: Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 978A
Records of a Conviction of a Felony Crime of Violence
Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, after a contradictory hearing, the court may order the expungement of the arrest and conviction records or a person pertaining to a conviction of aggravated battery, second degree battery, aggravated criminal damage to property, simple robbery, purse snatching, or illegal use of weapons or dangerous instrumentalities if all of the following conditions are proven by the petitioner:
(1) More than ten years have elapsed since the person completed any sentence, deferred adjudication, or period of probation or parole based on the felony conviction.
(2) The person has not been convicted of any other criminal offense during the ten-year period.
(3) The person has no criminal charge pending against him.
(4) The person has been employed for a period of ten consecutive years.
Source: Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 978E
Records of an Arrest for a Felony When Conviction is for a MisdemeanorA person may file an interim motion to expunge a felony arrest from his criminal history when that original arrest results in a conviction for a misdemeanor. In such cases, only the felony arrest may be expunged.
An interim motion to expunge shall not be subject to the time limitations of 5 or 10 years for misdemeanor or felony expungements and there shall be no restriction on the number of interim expungements which may be granted.
Source: Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 985.1A & D.
Records of Certain Controlled Dangerous Substance Convictions
Convictions for the following violations of the Controlled Dangerous Substances Law may be expunged under the following circumstances:
(1) A conviction for possession of a controlled dangerous substance as provided for in R.S. 40:966(C), C.Cr.P. 967(C), 969(C), or 970(C).
(2) A conviction for possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute.
(3) A conviction for a violation of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law which is punishable by a term of imprisonment of not more than 5 years.
(4) A conviction for a violation of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law which may be expunged pursuant to Article 893(E).
Source: Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 978B(3).
Expungement by Redaction
If a record includes the name of more than one individual and one or more of the individuals is entitled to an expungement of an arrest or conviction, any individual entitled to an expungement may petition the court to have records related to the arrest or conviction of the individual expunged by redaction.
Source: Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 985.
Further Limits on Expungement(1) Expungement of a record of arrest and conviction of a misdemeanor offense shall occur only once with respect to any person during a 5-year period, unless the person was sentenced pursuant to Code of Criminal Procedure Article 894(B).
(2) Expungement of a record of arrest and conviction of a misdemeanor offense of operating a vehicle while intoxicated shall occur only once with respect to any person during a 10-year period.
Source: Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 977D
Expungement of a record of arrest and conviction of a felony offense shall occur only once with respect to any person during a 15-year period.
Source: Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 978D
