Rule 48(a) dismissals may already be done
§ 12-1-12.1(a)(1): cases dismissed under District Court Rule of Criminal Procedure 48(a) on or after January 1, 2023 are sealed automatically, by operation of law, not less than ten and not more than twenty days after the dismissal. No motion, no fee.
§ 12-1-12.1(a)(2): if your Rule 48(a) dismissal came before that date, you still do not need a motion. The clerk seals it administratively at your request, and the order goes to the Bureau of Criminal Identification within five days and is carried out within ninety.
Everything else takes a short motion
§ 12-1-12.1(b) covers any person acquitted or otherwise exonerated of all counts — including dismissals not covered above, a no true bill, or a no information. You file a motion to seal, the court sets a hearing, and if the court finds you are entitled to sealing it orders the records sealed. The clerk then seals them within forty-five days.
One requirement people miss: you must give notice of the hearing date to the Department of the Attorney General and to the police department that originally brought the charge, at least ten days before the hearing.
Wrongful arrest and mistaken identity
§ 12-1-12.2 provides a separate route to sealing arrest records where the arrest was wrongful because of mistaken identity or a stolen identity. If that describes what happened to you, it is its own statute and its own path.
The domestic violence exception
§ 12-1-12.1(c) is a real limit. Where a domestic violence charge was filed after a plea of not guilty, guilty, or nolo contendere, the court must retain the records for three years from the date of filing, and they "shall not be expunged or sealed" during that time.
