Adult Conviction Expungement and Record-Sealing Eligibility in Louisiana

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Relief name and legal effect

Louisiana expungement removes the record from public access; Article 972 expressly says it does not destroy the record. Article 973 makes the record confidential and generally lets the person decline to disclose the arrest, conviction, or expungement outside the statute's exceptions.

Automatic or clean-slate relief

Louisiana does not currently have a generally effective self-executing conviction-clearing system. Article 985.2 describes a request-based automated process, but the Legislature's current page says the article takes effect only upon an appropriation and remains subject to necessary implementation funding.

Article 985.3 is different: a court may order immediate expungement when an otherwise eligible person successfully completes the court-ordered probation or alternative-sentencing program that resulted from the violation. That is a discretionary court shortcut, not statewide automatic database clearing.

Convictions eligible by petition

Article 977 provides two main misdemeanor paths: the conviction was set aside and prosecution dismissed under Article 894(B), or the person satisfies the ordinary five-year completion-and-record test. A first marijuana-possession misdemeanor has a separate 90-day path.

Article 978 provides felony paths after an Article 893(E) set-aside and dismissal, after the ordinary ten-year completion-and-record test, or when the person is entitled to a qualifying first-offender pardon. Since August 1, 2024, six named violent felonies—aggravated battery, second degree battery, aggravated criminal damage to property, simple robbery, purse snatching, and illegal use of weapons or dangerous instrumentalities—may use a special ten-year contradictory-hearing route.

Excluded offenses and statuses

Misdemeanor expungement excludes a conviction arising from a sex-offense arrest, domestic abuse battery, and stalking. The felony exclusions cover crimes of violence except for Article 978(E)'s special list, sex offenses and crimes against a minor subject to the old-carnal-knowledge exception, most controlled-substance felonies outside the statute's listed exceptions, and domestic abuse battery.

Article 975 also prevents a person in Department of Public Safety and Corrections physical custody serving a hard-labor sentence from filing.

Waiting period and when it starts

The set-aside-and-dismissal and qualifying first-offender-pardon paths do not state an additional numbered waiting period in Articles 977 or 978. The ordinary routes require more than five years after completion of a misdemeanor sentence, deferred adjudication, probation, or parole, and more than ten years after the same completion event for a felony.

A first-offense marijuana-possession misdemeanor uses 90 days from conviction. Article 985.3 may allow immediate relief at successful completion of a qualifying court-ordered program when the person is otherwise eligible.

Sentence, restitution, and new-record conditions

The ordinary misdemeanor route requires no felony conviction during its five-year period and no pending felony charge. The ordinary felony and special six-offense routes require no other criminal conviction during ten years and no pending criminal charge. A district-attorney certification accompanies the ordinary five- or ten-year motion.

Articles 977 and 978 do not state a separate universal restitution-payment condition. Their ordinary clocks begin only after completion of the applicable sentence, deferred adjudication, probation, or parole.

Petition process and decision standard

Article 986 requires use of the statutory forms. The clerk serves the motion on the parish district attorney, the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information, and the arresting agency.

An agency ordinarily has 60 days to object, with a possible extension of no more than 30 days. A timely objection produces a contradictory hearing where the agency must prove by a preponderance why relief should not be granted. If no agency objects, the person may waive the hearing and the court must grant when it determines the person is legally entitled.

The ordinary total cost may not exceed $550 and is nonrefundable even if the motion fails; in-forma-pauperis treatment is available. The special $300 cap for a first marijuana-possession misdemeanor remains current only through July 31, 2026: Article 983(M) terminates on August 1, 2026.

Who can still see or use the record

Article 973 preserves written-request access for criminal-justice agencies and prosecutors, court-ordered access after a good-cause hearing, access by the person and counsel, and confidential access by specified regulators and background-check recipients. The record may still be used for later criminal law purposes, predicate-offense and habitual-offender treatment, authorized license investigations, and by defined news-gathering organizations.

Boundaries and alternative relief

This page excludes Article 976 non-conviction relief, Article 985.1 interim removal of a felony arrest after a misdemeanor conviction, and Article 999's age-17 non-conviction expedited route. Article 983(H) separately waives time delays and fees for a certified human-trafficking victim; that specialized route does not replace the general conviction rules above.

What trips people up

Expungement is confidentiality, not destruction. The conviction can still matter in later criminal proceedings and specified licensing investigations.

The automated article is funding-contingent. Its January 2025 request date does not override the current official note that Article 985.2 takes effect only upon appropriation.

The first-marijuana fee changes soon. The $300 cap terminates August 1, 2026; the 90-day eligibility rule in Article 977(D) does not carry that sunset.

Common questions

Can more than one felony be expunged? Yes, if each felony is independently eligible. Article 978(F) expressly allows more than one eligible felony in a ten-year period.

Who must prove the case when an agency objects? The objecting agency bears the preponderance burden to show why the motion should not be granted.

Does a pardon automatically erase the record? No. A qualifying first-offender pardon is an eligibility route under Article 978(A)(3); the record still requires expungement under this Title.

Statutes and sources

• La. C.Cr.P. art. 972 — definition and no-destruction rule. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=919663 (accessed 2026-07-19)
• La. C.Cr.P. art. 973 — confidentiality, disclosure, later use, licensing, and news access. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=919664 (accessed 2026-07-19)
• La. C.Cr.P. art. 977 — misdemeanor routes, five-year and marijuana clocks, later-record test, and exclusions. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=919669 (accessed 2026-07-19)
• La. C.Cr.P. art. 978 — felony routes, ten-year test, exclusions, six-offense special route, and multiple eligible felonies. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=919670 (accessed 2026-07-19)
• La. C.Cr.P. art. 975 — hard-labor custody filing bar. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=919666 (accessed 2026-07-19)
• La. C.Cr.P. art. 979 — clerk service on the district attorney, state bureau, and arresting agency. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=919671 (accessed 2026-07-19)
• La. C.Cr.P. art. 980 — objections, burden, and hearing. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=919672 (accessed 2026-07-19)
• La. C.Cr.P. art. 986 — mandatory statutory forms. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=919679 (accessed 2026-07-19)
• La. C.Cr.P. art. 983 — fees, one-arrest fee rule, in-forma-pauperis route, trafficking relief, and August 1, 2026 marijuana-fee sunset. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=919675 (accessed 2026-07-19)
• La. C.Cr.P. art. 985.2 — funding-contingent automated process. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=1335802 (accessed 2026-07-19)
• La. C.Cr.P. art. 985.3 — discretionary immediate relief after qualifying program completion. https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=1386721 (accessed 2026-07-19)