Expunging or Sealing a Felony in New York

Under the Clean Slate Act, a felony conviction is sealed automatically at least 8 years after the person's last release from incarceration for that sentence, or after sentencing if there was no incarceration. There must be no pending New York charge and no current supervision for that conviction. Excluded: sex offenses and sexually violent offenses, and class A felonies other than class A drug felonies. Under CPL 160.59, one felony (and no more than two convictions in total) may be sealed by application after 10 years. Sex offenses, sexual performance by a child, homicide, violent felonies and class A felonies are ineligible.

Clean Slate sealing happens automatically, without an application. To seal by application under CPL 160.59: get a certificate of disposition for each conviction, complete and sign the Unified Court System's CPL 160.59 application, and gather supporting documents (such as a Certificate of Relief from Disabilities or Good Conduct, employment, treatment or education records, and reference letters). Serve a copy on the prosecutor in each county, then file the original with the court where you were convicted. The court must obtain a fingerprint-based rap sheet, so you may need to be fingerprinted.

When a conviction is sealed under the Clean Slate Act, courts, police, prosecutors and other agencies must mark the records, fingerprints and photographs as sealed and may not use or access them unless the law allows. Sealed records stay available to the person, to courts and prosecutors in pending criminal cases, to law enforcement agencies within their duties, to agencies licensing firearms, to employers of police and peace officers, to the state education department and certain other licensing and care agencies, and to entities required by federal law to consider sealed convictions. To the extent federal law allows, a sealed conviction may not be treated as a conviction that bars employment, licensing or clearance. DNA database and DMV records are not sealed. The courts state that CPL 160.59 sealing does not seal a conviction for immigration purposes.