How it works in New Mexico

The steps

1. Request your record

   Get your own arrest record from the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, Law Enforcement Records Bureau, with its Authorization for Release of Information form. The form must be notarized and carry your original signature, the fee is paid by money order or cashier's check to the Department of Public Safety, and the bureau says to request it by mail and allows seven to fifteen working days. Under N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-4, the copy you attach to a petition after a release without conviction must be dated no earlier than ninety days before you file, so time this request against your filing date; the court's form for a conviction asks for both your Department of Public Safety record and your Federal Bureau of Investigation record dated within the same ninety days.

   Record request fee: $15.00 — Per record check, by money order or cashier's check to the Department of Public Safety, with the notarized Authorization for Release of Information form carrying your original signature; the bureau says to request it by mail and allows seven to fifteen working days. A Police Certificate of Good Standing with the check is $33.00.

2. Review your record

   Confirm there is no disqualifying information in your history. If there is something incorrect, follow the process to challenge the issue. If everything is accurate, make a copy for your file and keep the original somewhere safe.

3. Gather your case details

   Gather what the court's petition form asks you to attach. After a release without conviction, the form asks for a docket sheet, arrest sheet or other record detailing the offenses, and documentation showing the final disposition of the charges. After a conviction, it asks for documentation showing you completed the sentence for each conviction you want expunged, completed the sentence for any other conviction you have served, made the final payment of any fines and fees owed, and completed any victim restitution ordered. N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-4 requires the Department of Public Safety record from step 1, dated within ninety days of filing, attached to the petition. Neither the statute nor the forms require certified copies; if you want a certified copy of a disposition for your own file, the clerk charges a certification fee per document, and the courts' guide says other copy fees may apply at courts and law enforcement agencies.

   Certified copy fee: $1.50 — The Third Judicial District Court's (Doña Ana County) certification fee, per document; its photocopies are $0.35 a page and an exemplified copy $4.50, with a three-day wait. The courts' guide says other copy fees may apply at courts and law enforcement agencies — ask the clerk of the court that holds your case.

4. Verify the final documents

   Check each item against your record and the court's file: the names, the addresses, the dates, and every charge and request listed. Make copies of every original.

5. Prepare your petition

   Use the court's form for your case: 4-951 after identity theft, 4-952 after a release without conviction, 4-953 after a conviction. Under N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-3, a person wrongly identified in arrest records or public records through identity theft may petition at any time, in the courts' words. Under N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-4, after a release without conviction — an acquittal or finding of not guilty, a nolle prosequi, a no bill or other dismissal, a referral to a preprosecution diversion program, an order of conditional discharge under Section 31-20-13, or proceedings otherwise discharged — for a municipal ordinance violation, a misdemeanor, a felony, a penalty assessment under the Criminal Code or the Motor Vehicle Code, or a violation or deferred sentence under the Motor Vehicle Code, you may petition one year from the date of the final disposition in the case. Under N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-5, after a conviction for a municipal ordinance violation, a misdemeanor or a felony, you may petition once you have completed the sentence and paid any fines or fees owed to the state, and the court must find no other conviction for a period measured from the last date you completed a sentence for a conviction in any jurisdiction: two years for a municipal ordinance violation or a misdemeanor not otherwise listed; four years for a misdemeanor conviction for aggravated battery under Section 30-3-5(B) or for a fourth degree felony; six years for a third degree felony; eight years for a second degree felony; ten years for a first degree felony or any offense under the Crimes Against Household Members Act. The court must also find that no other charge or proceeding is pending against you, that you have fulfilled any victim restitution ordered, and that justice will be served — weighing the nature and gravity of the offense, your age, criminal history and employment history, the time since the offense and the sentence, the specific adverse consequences you face if the petition is denied, and any reasons the district attorney gives. A conviction for an offense committed against a child, an offense that caused great bodily harm or death, a sex offense as defined in Section 29-11A-3, embezzlement under Section 30-16-8, or an offense involving driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs cannot be expunged under that section. A cannabis charge that is no longer a crime, or that would now be a lesser offense, is expunged automatically under N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-8 two years after the conviction, or the arrest if there was no conviction, and the Administrative Office of the Courts takes requests to verify or expedite it through its online application.

6. Finalize your petition

   Take the completed petition from Step 5, the documents collected in Step 3, and the background check from Step 1, and put them together in a complete package. Double-check every file in the package is the original and ensure you have a copy of the complete package for your personal file. The Department of Public Safety record must be dated no earlier than ninety days before the day you file.

7. File your expungement petition

   File the petition in the district court — under N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-4 the district court in the district where the charges against you originated, and under N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-5 the district court in which you were convicted — even if your case was in a municipal, magistrate or metropolitan court, or no case was ever filed. The petition is filed under seal or under a pseudonym. After a release without conviction, one petition may cover every arrest record and public record that originated in that district; the courts' guide says a petition may include multiple charges and arrests under one case number, and that an arrest with no filed case takes its own petition. The clerk's filing fee is due when you file, at most courts by money order; if you cannot pay, file an Application for Free Process and Affidavit of Indigency (Form 4-222 NMRA). Then mail a copy of the filed petition by first-class mail to the district attorney for that district and to the Department of Public Safety, and after a conviction also to the law enforcement agency that arrested you; after a release without conviction they have thirty days to object, and after a conviction an opportunity to object.

   Filing fee: $132.00 — Paid to the district court clerk when you file the petition — at most courts by money order, not a personal check or a credit or debit card. If you cannot pay, file an Application for Free Process and Affidavit of Indigency (Form 4-222 NMRA).

8. Work with the court

   The district attorney and the Department of Public Safety — and after a conviction the agency that arrested you — may object to the court; after a release without conviction, N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-4 gives them thirty days from your mailed notice, and a party that objects on the basis of your Federal Bureau of Investigation record must give you a copy of that record at no charge when it objects. The court rules after a hearing on the petition; the court's forms let you ask to attend by telephone or other electronic means under Rule 1-077.1 NMRA. After a conviction, N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-5 has the court weigh the nature and gravity of the offense, your age, criminal history and employment history, the time since the offense and the sentence, the specific adverse consequences you face if the petition is denied, and any reasons the district attorney gives. Respond promptly to anything the court asks for.

9. Receive the court's order

   The court issues its order within thirty days of the hearing. An order to expunge requires that all arrest records and public records related to the case be expunged, and the court delivers a copy to every relevant law enforcement agency and court. Under N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-4, the petition and the records of the proceeding are themselves expunged when the proceeding ends, and the courts' guide says they stay out of public view even if the petition is denied. Keep a certified copy of the order for your own files. The court's petition forms ask whether you have applied for expungement before and been denied, with the case numbers, so keep a denial's case number too.

10. Verify the record is expunged

    Under N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-4 and N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-5, the court delivers a copy of the order to all relevant law enforcement agencies and courts, and the order prohibits them from releasing copies of the records to any person except on a court order; the petition form lets you name the custodians — the district court, the county sheriff, the district attorney, the Department of Public Safety, the agency that arrested you, the metropolitan, magistrate or municipal court, and the New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau. Expungement means removal from access to the general public; the records are not destroyed, and the courts' guide says the courts, law enforcement agencies and other criminal justice agencies keep access to them and may still use them in a later criminal case. Under N.M. Stat. Ann. § 29-3A-7, the proceedings are treated as if they never occurred, and you and the officials who received the order may reply to an inquiry that no record exists — except that you and they must disclose the arrest or conviction records in connection with an application for or query about qualification for employment or association with a financial institution regulated by the financial industry regulatory authority or the Securities and Exchange Commission. If a background-check provider later produces an outdated report, your certified copy of the order is your authoritative reference. Confirm with the district court clerk, the Department of Public Safety and the agency that arrested you that their records reflect the order.

If you have to mail anything, remember to keep a copy of whatever you send and to use a method with a tracking number like the USPS Flat Rate Envelope.