Can a DUI be expunged in New York?

Whether a DUI can be cleared at all

New York seals rather than erases, and a DWI is not carved out. CPL 160.57, added by the Clean Slate Act, seals a conviction for driving while ability impaired under Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192(1) after three years, and seals a misdemeanor conviction three years and a felony conviction eight years after release from incarceration or the imposition of sentence where there was none. Its exclusions are sex offenses and sexually violent offenses under Correction Law § 168-a and non-drug class A felonies; drunk driving appears on neither list. Sealing also requires no pending criminal charge in the state, no current probation or parole supervision for the conviction, and the sentence to have run out.

“1. Convictions for certain traffic infractions or a crime defined in the laws of this state shall be sealed in accordance with this section as follows: (a) Convictions for subdivision one of section eleven hundred ninety-two of the vehicle and traffic law shall be sealed after three years.”

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 Clean Slate Act says so in terms: CPL 160.57(3)(b) provides that nothing in the section requires the sealing or destruction of records maintained by the Department of Motor Vehicles, and that nothing in it contravenes the Vehicle and Traffic Law or the federal commercial driver and licensing statutes it lists. The Department of Motor Vehicles states that on a standard driving record abstract, convictions for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs are displayed for 15 years from the date of conviction and convictions for driving while ability impaired for 10 years.

“(b) Nothing in this section requires the sealing or destruction of records maintained by the department of motor vehicles, and nothing in this section shall be construed to contravene the vehicle and traffic law, the federal driver's privacy protection act (18 U.S.C 2721 et. seq.), the REAL ID Act”

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

How long the wait is, and from when

Three years for a misdemeanor DWI, eight years for a felony, measured from release from incarceration or from the imposition of sentence where there was no incarceration. The Unified Court System states the period runs from sentencing or release from incarceration, whichever is later, and that a further misdemeanor or felony conviction before the docket is sealed restarts the clock. A separate route, CPL 160.59, allows a defendant with up to two eligible offenses, no more than one of them a felony, to apply to the court for sealing at least ten years after sentence was imposed on the latest conviction or the latest release from incarceration.

“For misdemeanor convictions, a person's dockets are eligible to be sealed three years after sentencing or three years after release from incarceration, whichever is later. For felony convictions, a person's dockets are eligible to be sealed eight years after sentencing or eight years after release”

Automatic or by petition

The Clean Slate Act took effect November 16, 2024 and gives the Unified Court System up to three years from that date, to November 16, 2027, to build the processes that seal eligible conviction records automatically. Sex crimes and non-drug class A felonies are excluded; drunk driving is not. Sealing is for certain civil background check purposes only. A person or their lawyer may ask for a manual review of convictions they believe should have been sealed, on a form the courts will publish no later than the implementation date. CPL 160.59 remains available as a separate application-based route.

“New York State's Clean Slate Act takes effect November 16, 2024. It provides the Unified Court System up to three years from that date (until November 16, 2027) to set up the required processes to automatically seal eligible conviction records. Once that work is complete, convictions that are”

Where it is filed, and what it costs

Clean Slate sealing under CPL 160.57 happens without an application; the courts will publish a form for asking them to review a record that should have been sealed but was not, no later than November 16, 2027. For the older route under CPL 160.59, the chief administrator of the courts prescribes a form application, though a defendant is not required to use it, and the application must contain a certificate of disposition or similar documentation for each conviction, sworn statements about any other sealing applications, a sworn statement of the convictions for which relief is sought, and a sworn statement of the reasons the court should grant sealing.

“A defendant who has been convicted of up to two eligible offenses but not more than one felony offense may apply to the court in which he or she was convicted of the most serious offense to have such conviction or convictions sealed.”

Whether a cleared DUI still counts as a prior

A sealed conviction still counts in a later criminal case. CPL 160.57(7) provides that a conviction sealed under the section is included within the definition of a conviction for the purposes of any criminal proceeding in which a prior conviction would enhance a penalty or is an element of the offense charged. The Department of Motor Vehicles applies its own windows separately: a second DWI within 10 years is an E felony, a third within 10 years a D felony, three or more alcohol or drug-related convictions or refusals within 10 years can bring permanent revocation, and greater penalties can apply for multiple alcohol or drug violations within 25 years.

“7. A conviction which is sealed pursuant to this section is included within the definition of a conviction for the purposes of any criminal proceeding in which the fact of a prior conviction would enhance a penalty or is an element of the offense charged.”

The statute: N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 160.57, with § 160.59

“§ 160.57 Automatic sealing of convictions. ... (v) the conviction is not for an offense defined as a sex offense or sexually violent offense under section one hundred sixty-eight-a of the correction law; (vi) the conviction is not for a class A felony offense defined in the penal law, other than”