Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure 985.2 – Automated expungement of qualifying records
Terms Used In Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure 985.2
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Records: includes any incident reports, photographs, fingerprints, disposition, or any other such information of any kind in relation to a single arrest event in the possession of the clerk of court, any criminal justice agency, and local and state law enforcement agencies but shall not include DNA records. See Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure 972
- Sequester: To separate. Sometimes juries are sequestered from outside influences during their deliberations.
Art. 985.2. Automated expungement of qualifying records
A. The Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information shall identify within its criminal repository database all records with a Case Management Information System (CMIS) number and final dispositions for individuals eligible for an expungement pursuant to the provisions of Articles 976, 977, and 978.
B. Beginning January 1, 2025, a defendant may submit a request through the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information for expungement through the automated process. The form shall contain the defendant’s name, date of birth, last four digits of their social security number, arrest date, and case number. Within thirty days of receipt of the request, the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information shall expunge any eligible records identified in Paragraph A of this Article and shall send the records with a Case Management Information System number and final dispositions to the Louisiana Supreme Court Case Management Information System.
C. Within thirty days of receipt of records from the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information, the Louisiana Supreme Court Case Management Information System shall send notice by United States mail or electronically of all records identified pursuant to Paragraph A of this Article to be expunged by automation to the clerks of the district courts of Louisiana. The clerks of the district courts of Louisiana shall verify and identify such records and mark those records as expunged by automation. If a clerk of a district court is unable to verify and identify any record identified for automatic expungement, the clerk shall notify the Louisiana Supreme Court Case Management Information System within thirty days of receipt of the notice required pursuant to the provisions of this Paragraph, who shall then notify the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information that the record is not expunged by automation.
D. The clerks of the district courts of Louisiana shall send notice by United States mail or electronically of all records expunged by automation to the district attorney of the parish of the person’s conviction, the sheriff of the parish of the person’s conviction, and the arresting agency. The district attorney, sheriff, and arresting agency shall acknowledge the records as expunged by automation according to Article 973. Nothing in this Paragraph shall be construed to require the arresting agency, booking agency, or the district attorney to manually segregate or sequester upon acknowledging or identifying the records.
E. The Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of state police, is hereby authorized to adopt and promulgate rules and regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act to carry out the provisions of this Article for criminal records in district courts of Louisiana which date back to January 1, 2006.
F. Nothing in this Article shall prevent an otherwise eligible individual from obtaining an expungement pursuant to any provision in this Title. An individual eligible for an automated expungement under this Article shall not have a cause of action for any damages resulting from the omission of their records in the process provided by this Article.
G. This Article shall be subject to the appropriate funding necessary for implementation and provided for in the executive budget for Fiscal Year 2025-2026.
Acts 2023, No. 454, §1, see Act.