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How to file — including the step most people miss

R.I.G.L. § 12-1.3-3 · § 12-1-12.1(b)(1)

The expungement motion itself is short. What sinks self-filed motions is almost never the form — it is the notice requirement in § 12-1.3-3(a).

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The notice requirement

§ 12-1.3-3(a): any person filing a motion for expungement "shall give notice of the hearing date set by the court to the department of the attorney general and the police department that originally brought the charge against the person at least ten (10) days prior to that date."

§ 12-1-12.1(b)(1) imposes the identical requirement on a motion to seal. Both recipients, ten days, every time. This is the step to get right.

What the court has to find

§ 12-1.3-3(b) makes the order discretionary. After a hearing at which all relevant testimony and information is considered, the court may order the expungement if it finds the applicable waiting and clean-period requirements met, no pending proceedings, nothing owed, and that you have exhibited good moral character.

§ 12-1.3-3(b)(2) adds two more findings: that your "rehabilitation has been attained to the court's satisfaction," and that expungement "is consistent with the public interest."

Bring proof. Work history, letters, certificates, treatment records, anything that speaks to the years since. Eligibility gets you the hearing; this is what wins it.

The cost

There is no filing fee. The $100 fee was eliminated effective July 3, 2021 by P.L. 2021, ch. 141 and ch. 142, and the certified copy of the order is free as well. On the decriminalized-offense path, § 12-1.3-3(e) directs the court to order expungement without cost to the petitioner.

After the order

§ 12-1.3-3(c): the court orders the records expunged and all index and other references removed from public inspection, and sends a copy of the order to any law enforcement agency and other agency known to hold the records — known by you, by the Attorney General, or by the court. If you know of an agency holding your records, say so.

§ 12-1.3-3(d): you will be advised at the hearing that any bail money still on deposit and unclaimed at the time of expungement is escheated to the state's general treasury. Claim it.

If a DNA sample was taken in the case, its expungement is separate — § 12-1.5-13.

Start with your actual record

File from your BCI record, not from memory. The Bureau of Criminal Identification, within the Attorney General's office, issues the official version of your Rhode Island record. Counts, dates and dispositions all matter here, and people are wrong about their own records more often than they expect.

The steps, in order

  1. Look your case up firstThe Judiciary's public portal at publicportal.courts.ri.gov is the fastest way to see your own file. Open Smart Search, type your last name then your first name — Smith, John — and press enter. Read the disposition and note the date your sentence closed; those two decide everything.
  2. Get your BCI recordGo to the Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Identification, 4 Howard Avenue, Cranston, RI 02920 — the corner of Pontiac and Howard. Open weekdays, 8:30am to 4:15pm. Bring photo ID and $5 for the Rhode Island state record. This is the official version of your record — file from this, not from memory.
  3. File in the court of convictionThe motion to expunge is filed in the same court that handled the case. There is no filing fee, and the certified copy of the order is free as well.
  4. Give notice — at least 10 days before the hearingThis is the step people miss. Once the court sets your hearing date, you must give notice of it to the Department of the Attorney General AND to the police department that originally brought the charge, at least 10 days before the hearing. A motion that skips this does not get heard.
  5. Attend the hearingThe judge must find good moral character, rehabilitation, and that expungement serves the public interest — bring proof: work history, letters, certificates. The grant is discretionary even when you are fully eligible to file.
  6. After the orderThe court sends the order to the agencies known to hold your records; tell the court about any you know of. If your DNA sample was taken in the case, its expungement is handled separately under § 12-1.5-13. And claim any bail money still on deposit — unclaimed bail is escheated to the state's general treasury at expungement.

Common questions

Where do I file the motion?

In the court in which the conviction took place.

Do I need a lawyer?

The motion can be filed without one. Where counsel makes the difference is in the parts that are not clerical: multiple cases interacting across different statutes, an out-of-state disposition, a prior probation that may or may not have cost you first-offender status, a disputed classification of your offense, an Attorney General objection at the hearing, and building the rehabilitation showing the court has to make findings on.

What if the Attorney General objects?

The hearing is where that is resolved. The court considers all relevant testimony and information before exercising its discretion.

Who reviews it
Thomas C. Thomasian, Esq., Rhode Island criminal defense attorney

Thomas C. Thomasian, Esq.

Founding attorney · Providence, Rhode Island

Nearly twenty years defending criminal cases in Rhode Island — District Court, Superior Court and the Traffic Tribunal. Expungement is the part of the work where somebody gets their life back rather than just avoiding something worse.

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Two minutes, and you will know where you stand

Every answer names the statute it comes from. If you appear eligible, you can send your answers to a Rhode Island expungement attorney at the end — the same questions, no second form.

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