Does Your Criminal Record Hold You Back?

Get your record expunged.

Wyoming law allows you to expunge a criminal record. An expungement is like the judge taking a giant eraser to your court record.

An expungement erases your record from the court system. It also can erase your record from Wyoming’s law enforcement database.

The process is straightforward…most of the time. So we created a free tool that works most of the time, for most people. The special snowflakes need to get a lawyer.

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Misdemeanor Only

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Expungement Overview

If you need an expungement, you are called the petitioner. When you file paperwork you “petition” the court for an expungement.

Whether or not you have an attorney, the Court holds you to the same standard as an attorney.

Some expungement petitioners should hire an attorney to represent them. When self-represented, the petitioner takes responsibility for the attorney’s tasks.

Either you or the attorney will:

• Get the complete court record of the petitioner.
• Verify that all charges are eligible for expungement.
• Prepare the expungement forms and file them with the right people.
• Advocate for the petitioner if the court sets a hearing.

Court Records

The expungement forms need information from the court record. The records are located at the court that heard the case. Contact the clerk for the court.

In Wyoming, the court staff are generally very nice and helpful. Tell them you’re looking for your own court record and that you need the “Judgment and Sentence” for each conviction you want to expunge. They will make a copy for you. Sometimes there is a fee.

Getting the complete court records is an essential step. If there is any trouble or uncertainty, the petitioner should hire an attorney. If the petitioner has multiple convictions at different courts they should consult with an attorney because it may not be possible to expunge all of them.

Petitioners need to know the name of the charge, the statutory citation for the charge, and many dates. For convictions, the petitioner must know the dates of the charge and the date of the sentence. For arrests, the petitioner needs to know the date of arrest or the date charges were dropped. The eligibility period for convictions starts after the final date of the sentence. The eligibility period for arrests starts after the charges were dropped. If no charges were brought, the eligibility period starts after the day of the arrest. Obtaining the information from court documents ensures accuracy.

Eligibility For Expungement

In Wyoming someone can expunge their records only once. So it’s important to maximize your chances of success. You’re welcome to include a reason why you need the expungement.

Sometimes prosecutors may object to the expungement. Also, charges involving the use of a firearm can never be expunged.

Misdemeanor Convictions

The court allows petitions to expunge a misdemeanor conviction 5 years after the completion of the sentence and with a $100 filing fee.

Note: the 5 year period does not include probation. Here are two examples involving probation.

1. You were convicted 5 years ago for possession of a controlled substance. You were placed on one year of unsupervised probation. You have to wait a total of 6 years from the date of conviction to petition for expungement. You are not eligible.
2. You were convicted 10 years ago for DUI. You were placed on 3 years of probation. You were required to wait 8 years from the date of conviction. (3 years for probation, and 5 years after that for the waiting period). You are eligible to petition for expungement.

felony convictions

The court allows petitions to expunge a felony conviction 10 years after the completion of the sentence and with a $300 filing fee. Some kinds of felonies can never be expunged.

Arrests

The court allows petitions to expunge arrests without convictions 180 days after the arrest or since the charges were dropped. There cannot be any remaining charges or convictions related to the arrest. No filing fee is required.

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Misdemeanor only

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How To Expunge

Single Conviction

• Get copies of documents from the court that heard the case.
• Use the information from the court documents to prepare your expungement forms.
• Serve the expungement forms to the county prosecutor and the department of criminal investigations. Keep personal copies and finish the forms for the court.
• File the expungement forms with the court. For convictions, you will need to pay the fee at the time of filing.
• Wait 30 days until the court signs the order for expungement or sets a hearing.

Multiple Charges

Multiple charges complicate matters. Wyoming law only allows one petition for expungement in one “convicting court.”

Here is how it works:

You must petition the Court that issued the conviction. You cannot petition Teton County for a Lincoln County conviction (or vice versa).

If you have a possession conviction in Lincoln County and a DUI conviction in Teton County, you have to pick which conviction you want to expunge. You cannot expunge both convictions, since there are two “convicting courts.” So expunge the charge with the most consequence.

If you have two convictions in the same county, from two different incidents, then you *may* be able to expunge both convictions in one petition. For example, you may be able to expunge a DUI conviction and a possession conviction if both offenses happened in the same county.

So the petitioner should include their complete record in the expungement forms and wait until all convictions are eligible for expungement. Convictions that are ineligible for expungement should never be included on the forms.

If you want to expunge multiple convictions, it may make sense to hire a lawyer to help you determine which convictions to expunge.

Right now, the free tool does not support petitions to expunge multiple convictions or arrests.

Expungement Forms

Petition For Expungement

The petition for expungement is the document that asks the court to expunge the record. It identifies the petitioner by name and identifies the records to be expunged by their case numbers.

Proposed Order of Expungement

The proposed order for expungement is a draft document for the judge to grant the petition. It contains the instructions to execute the petition to expunge.

Letters

The petitioner must serve copies of all the expungement forms to certain parties before filing the forms with the court. Both the county prosecutor and the division of criminal investigation receive copies of the expungement forms.

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misdemeanor only
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