Can a DUI be expunged in Minnesota?

Whether a DUI can be cleared at all

Minnesota's automatic Clean Slate relief expressly leaves driving-while-impaired convictions out: fourth-degree driving while impaired is excluded from the list of qualifying misdemeanours, and second- and third-degree driving while impaired are excluded from the qualifying gross misdemeanours. A DWI conviction can therefore only be reached by petition under Minn. Stat. § 609A.02, subd. 3, which sets eligibility by offence level rather than by offence name, and a petition is granted only on clear and convincing evidence that the benefit to the petitioner is commensurate with the disadvantages to the public and public safety.

“"qualifying offense" means a conviction for: ... (2) any misdemeanor offense other than: (i) section 169A.20 under the terms described in section 169A.27 (fourth-degree driving while impaired) ... (3) any gross misdemeanor offense other than: ... (ii) section 169A.25 (second-degree driving while”

The driving record is a separate record

This is the part most summaries leave out. A court can seal or expunge the criminal case and the licensing agency can still keep the DUI on the driver record, where it reaches insurers and counts as a prior offence if there is a second one.

Not cleared. The Department of Public Safety keeps the alcohol-related part of the driver record permanently. Minnesota law lets the department destroy licence applications and related records after the licence period, except that the driver's record pertaining to the alcohol-related offences and licensing actions listed in Minn. Stat. § 169A.03, subds. 20 and 21, along with felony convictions in which a motor vehicle was used, must be retained permanently. Recorded alcohol-concentration test results are public data kept for that same period.

“(4) the driver's record pertaining to felony convictions in the commission of which a motor vehicle was used, to the alcohol-related offenses and licensing actions listed in section 169A.03, subdivisions 20 and 21, to violations of section 169.09, to violations of section 169A.31, and to violations”

What else sits on that record: suspensions and points in Minnesota.

How long the wait is, and from when

A petition for a misdemeanor conviction may be brought two years after discharge of the sentence with no new crime in that period. A gross misdemeanor conviction, which is how second- and third-degree driving while impaired are charged, requires three years since discharge of the sentence. Where a case was resolved by diversion or a stay of adjudication rather than conviction, automatic expungement relief runs under Minn. Stat. § 609A.015, subd. 2.

“(4) the petitioner was convicted of a gross misdemeanor or the sentence imposed was within the limits provided by law for a gross misdemeanor and the petitioner has not been convicted of a new crime for at least three years since discharge of the sentence for the crime;”

Automatic or by petition

Minnesota's Clean Slate law, Minn. Stat. § 609A.015, grants expungement relief without any petition being filed, with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension identifying eligible people and granting relief. Driving while impaired is carved out of it in all three degrees that reach misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor level, so a DWI conviction is never cleared automatically and reaches relief only through a petition under Minn. Stat. § 609A.02.

“A person is eligible for a grant of expungement relief if the person: (1) was convicted of a qualifying offense; (2) has not been convicted of a new offense, other than an offense that would be a petty misdemeanor, in Minnesota”

Where it is filed, and what it costs

The person seeking expungement files a petition and pays the civil filing fee set by Minn. Stat. § 357.021, subd. 2, clause (1), which is $310 for the first paper filed in a civil action. The fee may be waived for indigency and must be waived where the proceedings were resolved in the petitioner's favour. The petition is signed under oath and must state the petitioner's names and aliases, date of birth, addresses since the offence, why expungement is sought, and the details of the offence.

“An individual who is the subject of a criminal record who is seeking the expungement of the record shall file a petition under this section and pay a filing fee in the amount required under section 357.021, subdivision 2, clause (1). The filing fee may be waived in cases of indigency”

Whether a cleared DUI still counts as a prior

An expunged record is sealed rather than destroyed. Minnesota law directs that records must not be destroyed or returned to the subject of the record, and the record may be opened as required under Minn. Stat. § 609A.03, subd. 7. Because the alcohol-related driver record is retained permanently under Minn. Stat. § 171.12, subd. 3, a DWI stays available to the Department of Public Safety after criminal relief.

“if the court issues an expungement order it may require that the criminal record be sealed, the existence of the record not be revealed, and the record not be opened except as required under subdivision 7. Records must not be destroyed or returned to the subject of the record.”

The statute: Minn. Stat. § 609A.02, subd. 3

“(3) the petitioner was convicted of a petty misdemeanor or misdemeanor or the sentence imposed was within the limits provided by law for a misdemeanor and the petitioner has not been convicted of a new crime for at least two years since discharge of the sentence for the crime;”