A closed case can still be costing you.
The sentence ended years ago. The record did not — it turns up every time someone runs your name, and it answers questions about you before you get to.
A job
Most employers run a background check, and a record you cannot explain is the quiet reason the call never comes.
An apartment
Landlords screen applicants. A single old conviction can cost you a place to live, again and again, years after the case closed.
A professional license
Nursing, real estate, insurance, contracting, childcare — the boards ask, and an unexplained record stalls the application.
A loan or a lease
Credit and financing applications ask, and a record can shape the terms you are offered even when it does not disqualify you.
Volunteering at your kid's school
Coaching, chaperoning, working in the building — all of it runs through a check.
Your firearm rights
A conviction can carry a prohibition. Expungement is a separate question from restoring that right, but it is where the conversation starts.
Second chances are written into the statute. Most people never find out they qualify.
Rhode Island quietly clears some records on its own and gives you a path to move on most of the rest. The law changed again in June 2026. The people who benefit are the ones who ask — this is how you ask, for free, without giving anyone your name.
Thomas C. Thomasian, Esq.
Admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 2007. He did not start out in private practice — he began as an attorney for the Public Defender's Office, and criminal defense has been his only practice area since, in every district and superior criminal court in the state.
The firm drafts, files, and argues the motion for you. Attorney Thomasian appears in court on your behalf, so you don't have to.
Being a criminal lawyer is about making a system that is overwhelmingly stacked against you, hear what you have to say.
If the checker says you appear eligible, the answers you have already given are enough for a real review of your case. Nothing is sent unless you press the button.
What clients say.
Quoted as written from the testimonials published by the firm.
“Tom put me at ease from the moment we first spoke on the phone. He clearly explained my legal rights and addressed my concerns. He was an empathetic listener and I appreciated that very much being under so much stress… My case was dismissed and Tom had filed for expungement of the records. The motion was granted shortly after.”
— Anonymous
“Highly recommend Tom. Very professional, prompt and reasonable. I live out of state and had never met him until the day of court. He did exactly what he promised and if he didn't answer my phone calls they were returned immediately!”
— Natalie B.
“Tom was exceptional to work with, he exceeded all my expectations. He was always on time and returned my calls or messages fast! He was highly knowledgeable about the law and all the dealings and procedures of my case and all the other questions that I had for him.”
— Kevin
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case turns on its own facts, and expungement is discretionary with the court.
Four steps, and the last one is optional.
Look up your record
The Judiciary’s public portal is free and open to you. Smart Search, last name then first name, enter. Read the disposition and note the date your sentence closed.
Answer a few questions
With your file in front of you the answers are facts rather than memory. Usually fewer than ten questions, and nothing is stored anywhere.
Get your path, with the statute
Not a maybe. The specific subsection that governs your situation, the waiting period it sets, and what the court has to find.
Send it to an attorney — if you want to
If you appear eligible you can pass your answers straight to a Rhode Island defense attorney. One button, and only if you press it.
The questions people actually ask.
Does an expungement really erase it?
It seals the record and removes it from public inspection, and § 12-1.3-4 lets you state on an application for a job, a license or another civil right that you were never convicted of the crime. Five categories are carved out, where you must still disclose: law enforcement positions, admission to the bar, a teaching certificate, a coaching certificate, and early childhood education work. And a sentencing judge in a future case can still consider it.
How much does it cost?
The court charges no filing fee. If you hire a lawyer, that fee is the whole cost.
I was told I'm not eligible. Is that final?
Get it checked again. The crimes-of-violence list is narrower than most people are told, traffic and refusal records clear themselves automatically, and in June 2026 the law opened a path for two to four felony convictions, where before a second felony closed the first-offender and multiple-misdemeanor paths alike. A great many people are carrying a correct answer to a question that is no longer the law.
How long does it take?
The motion is filed in the court that took the conviction, the court sets a hearing, and you must give notice to the Attorney General and the police department that originally brought the charge at least ten days before it. The timeline turns on the court's calendar, not a statutory clock.
What if I have more than one case?
That is the norm rather than the exception, and it is where the paths interact. The multiple-misdemeanor and multiple-felony routes both let you move on any or all of the qualifying convictions — but the felony path can be used successfully only once: after a successful expungement you cannot come back for the rest, so which ones you file on matters.
Is this checker actually accurate?
Every answer names the statute it comes from so you can read it yourself. The rules were audited line by line against the text of the General Laws, they are covered by an automated test suite, and where the statute's wording leaves room for argument, the rule the tool applies was decided by a Rhode Island attorney rather than guessed.
Find out where you stand.
You will know which statute applies to you, what the wait is, and whether the wait has already run. Most people are surprised by at least one of the three.
Covers convictions, deferred sentences, filings, dismissals, traffic and Traffic Tribunal violations, decriminalized offenses, the cannabis automatic-expungement law, the multiple-felony path added in June 2026, and the vacatur remedy for trafficking victims. Rhode Island state cases only. Nothing here is legal advice — it's a map of the statute, and the court always has the final say.