Can You Expunge a DUI Conviction in Colorado?

Probably no one has to tell you that driving drunk is a big mistake in the Centennial State. After all, Colorado has some of the toughest DUI penalties in the country. Even worse, because alcohol causes your reflexes to slow, you may injure yourself or others if you climb behind the wheel with a blood alcohol concentration above Colorado’s 0.08% legal limit.

Anyone facing criminal charges knows how intimidating the justice system can be. If an officer arrests you for driving under the influence, you may plan to plead guilty and try to erase the conviction from your criminal record later. Unfortunately, Colorado law makes that very difficult.

Expungement vs. sealing

In Colorado, expungement and sealing are different. Expungement erases a record and is mainly available for juvenile records (C.R.S. 19-1-306). For adults, the usual remedy is sealing, which hides a record from public view and most background checks while law enforcement can still see it.

Convictions generally cannot be sealed

If a judge or jury convicts you of DUI, DUI per se, or DWAI, Colorado’s sealing law generally does not apply to that conviction (C.R.S. 24-72-706(2)(a)). The same is true if you plead guilty, which counts as a conviction under state law.

There are narrow exceptions:

• Misdemeanor exception: Because DUI and DWAI are misdemeanors unless the person has three or more prior convictions, a court can seal it if the district attorney consents, or if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that your need for sealing is significant and substantial, that enough time has passed that you are no longer a threat to public safety, and that public disclosure is no longer necessary (C.R.S. 24-72-706(2)(b)). This is decided case by case and is far from guaranteed.
• Underage drinking and driving: A person over 21 can ask the court to expunge a conviction for underage drinking and driving (UDD) with a BAC of at least 0.02 but not more than 0.05, if they had no other alcohol-related driving conviction while under 21, completed the sentence, never held a commercial driver’s license, and were not driving a commercial vehicle (C.R.S. 42-4-1715(1)(b)).

Arrests that end without a conviction

If a judge or jury acquitted you or the case was dismissed, the court generally must seal the records, often automatically at the time the case ends (C.R.S. 24-72-705). If you were arrested but prosecutors never filed charges, you can petition to have the arrest records sealed (C.R.S. 24-72-704).

Living with a DUI record can be tough, and Colorado law does not make it easy to put a DUI conviction behind you. As such, rather than pleading guilty to try to make your criminal case go away quickly, you may want to defend yourself aggressively to avoid a criminal record that lasts a lifetime.