Expunging or Sealing a Felony in Louisiana

A felony arrest and conviction can be expunged if: the conviction was set aside and the case dismissed after a deferred sentence (Article 893(E)); more than 10 years have passed since the person completed the sentence, deferred adjudication, probation or parole, with no other conviction in those 10 years and no pending charge; or the person qualifies for a first-offender pardon for an offense that is not a crime of violence or a sex offense. Not eligible: crimes of violence, sex offenses or offenses against a minor victim, domestic abuse battery, and most drug-law violations. Drug possession, possession with intent to distribute, and drug offenses carrying up to 5 years can be expunged. After a hearing, a court may expunge some listed violent offenses (such as aggravated or second-degree battery, simple robbery, purse snatching, aggravated criminal damage to property, and illegal use of weapons) after 10 years with no other conviction and no pending charge. More than one eligible felony may be expunged in a 10-year period.

File a motion to expunge with the clerk of the district court in the parish of the arrest or conviction, using the mandatory forms written into the Code of Criminal Procedure (Articles 986–995). The clerk serves the motion on the district attorney, the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information and the arresting agency. Each has 60 days to object, extendable by up to 30 days. If anyone objects, the court holds a contradictory hearing, and the objecting agency must show by a preponderance of the evidence why expungement should be denied. If no one objects, the person may waive the hearing and the court grants the motion if the person is entitled to it.

An expunged record is confidential and no longer public, but it is not destroyed. Law enforcement, prosecutors and courts can still get it, and it can be used as a prior offense, including under the Habitual Offender Law. Certain licensing boards and entities named in the law can get it confidentially on written request, and news organizations are not restricted in their use of it. Apart from those exceptions, a person whose record was expunged does not have to tell anyone about the arrest or conviction or the expungement. Expungement does not end sex offender registration duties.