When the expungement laws were updated in 2014, all expungement forms were statutorily codified and are currently available at La. C.Cr.P. arts. 987–997. Clerks are allowed to amend these forms, but they cannot refuse to accept the statutory ones that are available online. Many clerk of court websites will provide these forms as does the website of the Louisiana Clerk of Court Association. Some offices will also provide hard copies in person.
A single expungement includes all charges that result from an arrest. For example, if a person is arrested on 3 charges on a specific date, but the district attorney only brings charges for 1 of the offenses, and the person is arrested on a warrant due to a failure to appear on the charge, but later pleads guilty to a lesser offense in the court, the expungement packet must include the 3 arrest charges (which include the DA’s charge in court), the arrest information and charge for the warrant, and the charge the person ultimately pleaded guilty to. This means that the forms may include more than 1 arrest date, more than 1 arrest and item number, and more than 1 docket number if charges were bifurcated into felony and misdemeanor cases. Review the court records and background check information carefully when completing the forms to ensure completeness because anything not included on the forms will remain unexpunged and visible until corrected.
Specific Forms:
- La. C.Cr.P. art. 987 - Motion to Set Aside Conviction and Dismiss Prosecution: this form is required if the person pleaded under Articles 893 or 894 and is trying to expunge a record before the 5- or 10-year cleansing period.
- La. C.Cr.P. art. 989 - Motion for Expungement: you must list all the charges and/or convictions from a single arrest incident and be sure to include as much identifying information (State ID, Arrest Number, Item Number, Arrest Date) as possible to help agencies identify the proper person and record to expunge.
- La. C.Cr.P. art. 990 - Affidavit of Response: complete the caption and list the District Attorney and Arresting Agency; this form will be completed by the agencies if they have any opposition to the Motion for Expungement.
- La. C.Cr.P. art. 991 - Order: complete the caption only; this form will be completed by the court if a contradictory hearing is required to address opposition to the Motion for Expungement.
- La. C.Cr.P. art. 992 - Order of Expungement of Arrest/Conviction: this form is the court ordering the expungement of the record, you must include all the identifying information from the Motion for Expungement on pages 2 and 3 of this Order to be served on all parties listed.
- La. C.Cr.P. art. 993 - Supplemental Sheet: these forms are required if there are more than 3 arrest charges, 2 misdemeanor convictions, and/or 2 felonies in a person’s record.
- In practice, if a person was arrested on 57 counts of a certain offense, you could choose to write in “1–57” (or however many apply) on the line available rather than completing a separate entry for all 57 charges, but be careful and confirm that when the judge signs the Order of Expungement, page 2 of the Order clearly copies all the charge numbers (i.e., “1–57”) plus any others from the Motion.
- La. C.Cr.P. arts. 994–995 - Motion and Order for Interim Expungement: these forms are for any eligible interim expungement charge.1
If the charges are for municipal or parish ordinance violations, practitioners may need to make note of the change from “R.S.” to the code for the specific violation.
In addition to the statutorily required forms for an expungement, the only other required paperwork that must be submitted with an expungement is a background check (dated within 60 days of filing) from either the parish sheriff or LSP. Either is sufficient to meet the requirements of the law, but a background check from a local police department is not sufficient. It may still be necessary, however, if that is where the most complete and accurate records are kept, and you cannot determine all charges from DA or court paperwork. Some charges will also require a “DA Certification” that verifies that the individual does not have any intervening convictions or pending charges that would impact eligibility. While this is required under La. C.Cr.P. arts. 977(A)(2) and 978(A)(2), not all clerks require it before filing. You will need to check with your local clerk of court and district attorney’s office to determine if this step is needed and what documents or paperwork you need to submit to receive this certification.
You will also need to check with the clerk of court to determine how many copies are required at the time of filing. In some cases, only the original documents are required, and the clerk will return to you a stamped copy of what was filed. In many instances, however, you or the client must take all the necessary copies to the clerk’s office in order to file the expungement. It will be important to check the number of copies required (anywhere from 1 to 5 being most likely). It will also be important for you or the client to keep a copy of what was filed until the expungement is granted to ensure compliance with applicable waiting periods.
- 1On interim expungement, see Section 4.4.