Who it covers
§ 12-1.3-2(b) applies, "[n]otwithstanding § 12-1.3-1(3)," to any person convicted of more than one misdemeanor but fewer than six, who has not been convicted of a felony. You may move to expunge any or all of those misdemeanors.
Six or more misdemeanors, or any felony conviction anywhere in your record, takes you off this path. But count carefully before you rule yourself out: dismissed cases, already-sealed cases, and multiple counts arising from one incident can change the math, and the count is a legal question rather than a memory test.
Two ten-year clocks, and both have to run
This is where people get caught. There are two separate ten-year requirements and satisfying one does not satisfy the other.
§ 12-1.3-2(g) requires ten years "from the date of the completion of their last sentence" — the most recent one, not the oldest.
§ 12-1.3-3(b)(1)(iii) separately requires that in the ten years before you file, you have not been convicted nor arrested for any felony or misdemeanor.
Someone whose last probation closed two years ago has not satisfied the first clock even if nothing new has happened since, and someone arrested last year has not satisfied the second even if their last sentence ended in 2010.
Three offenses this path will not reach
§ 12-1.3-2(b) carves out three categories, which "are not eligible for and may not be expunged under this subsection":
- Driving under the influence — § 31-27-2.
- Refusal to submit to a chemical test — § 31-27-2.1.
- Domestic offenses under chapter 29 of title 12.
If one of those is your conviction
The carve-out is specific to this subsection. Those offenses can still be expunged on the first-offender path — but that path requires no prior conviction or probation, which is the very thing that put you here. Your other misdemeanors may still qualify individually.
Separately, if what you are trying to clear is a Traffic Tribunal refusal rather than a criminal conviction, a different statute applies and it happens on its own.
