How to File for Expungement in Louisiana

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.

Total costs generally may not exceed $550: $250 to the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information, $50 to the sheriff, $50 to the district attorney, and up to $200 to the clerk. Fees are collected at filing and are not refunded if the motion is denied. Offenses from the same arrest require only one fee. No fees are charged when the district attorney certifies the person has no felony convictions or pending felony charges and the person was acquitted, the case was dismissed or not prosecuted (without pretrial diversion), or the person was an identity-theft victim. Also exempt: human trafficking victims with certification, people found factually innocent, people granted a pardon (but not a first-offender pardon), graduates of juvenile drug court, and expedited expungements. Others may ask to proceed in forma pauperis (without paying because they cannot afford it).

A person may move to expunge a felony or misdemeanor arrest that did not lead to a conviction if the time limit to prosecute ran out, the district attorney declined to prosecute (including after a completed pretrial diversion program), the case was dismissed, quashed or ended in acquittal, or the person was found factually innocent of a wrongful conviction. There is generally no waiting period. One exception: after a DWI arrest handled through pretrial diversion, the record cannot be expunged until 5 years after the arrest. Fees are waived in some no-conviction cases when the district attorney certifies the person has no felony convictions or pending felony charges.

Louisiana State Police, Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information, keeps state criminal history records. To get a copy of your own record, use the Right to Review form with your fingerprints. In person at LSP Headquarters the fees are a $10 fingerprint fee and a $31 processing fee (two separate money orders, cashier's checks or business checks, or a credit card). By mail, send the form with two FBI FD-258 fingerprint cards and a $31 money order, cashier's check or business check to LSP Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information, P.O. Box 66614 - Box A-6, Baton Rouge, LA 70896.