Criminal Record Sealing in Colorado

What Sealing Does, and What It Does Not Do

Sealing does not erase a record. It hides the record from the public. Once a court orders your record sealed, it no longer shows up in the background checks that most employers and landlords run, and the court file is closed to public view.

Under C.R.S. 24-72-703, once a record is sealed you can lawfully say the arrest or case never happened when you apply for most jobs, housing, or school programs. Employers and landlords generally cannot ask about sealed records, and you are not required to volunteer them.

There are honest limits, and we want you to know them up front:

• Law enforcement still sees it. Police, prosecutors, and the courts keep full access to sealed records. A sealed conviction can still count against you in a future case.
• Some applications still reach it. Certain licensing bodies and sensitive positions, such as jobs in law enforcement, can still learn about sealed records.
• Sealing is not expungement. Expungement, which destroys or removes a record, is mostly reserved in Colorado for juvenile cases and a few narrow situations. For most adult records, sealing is the tool the law provides.

What Can Be Sealed, and What Cannot

Colorado draws clear lines. Records that can usually be sealed include arrests that never led to charges, dismissed cases, acquittals, completed deferred judgments, and convictions for many lower level offenses such as petty offenses, most drug offenses, and many misdemeanors and lower level felonies.

As of this writing, C.R.S. 24-72-706 says conviction records cannot be sealed for:

• DUI and DWAI convictions. A conviction for driving under the influence or driving while ability impaired stays on your record. This surprises many people, and it is one reason the decision to plead guilty in a DUI case deserves real thought.
• Most traffic offenses, including misdemeanor traffic offenses and class A and B traffic infractions.
• Convictions involving unlawful sexual behavior.
• Convictions where the underlying facts involve domestic violence.
• Class 1, class 2, and class 3 felonies, and level 1 drug felonies, with only narrow exceptions.
• Crimes of violence and certain other serious offenses listed in the Victim Rights Act.

One more requirement matters. A conviction generally cannot be sealed while restitution, meaning money the court ordered paid to a victim, is still owed. Outstanding court fines and fees no longer block sealing, but unpaid restitution does unless the court vacates that order.

Sealing That Happens Automatically

Colorado has moved toward sealing many records without anyone filing paperwork. Three situations matter most:

Arrests with no charges filed

Under C.R.S. 24-72-704, if you were arrested on or after January 1, 2022 and prosecutors did not file charges within one year of the arrest, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation seals the arrest record automatically shortly after that year passes. Arrests from before 2022 followed longer timelines, generally eighteen months for misdemeanor level arrests and the full statute of limitations for felony arrests, so older records are worth checking. If charges are filed later, the record is unsealed.

Dismissals, acquittals, and completed deferred judgments

Under C.R.S. 24-72-705, when a case is completely dismissed, when you are acquitted of all counts, or when you finish a deferred judgment and the charges are dismissed, the court is required to order the record sealed at that moment. No motion is needed. A deferred judgment is an agreement where you enter a plea, complete conditions like classes or probation, and the case is then dismissed. If the court misses the sealing step, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation seals the record when it receives the final disposition, unless the offense is one the statute excludes.

Older eligible convictions under the Clean Slate law

Colorado's Clean Slate law now seals many eligible conviction records automatically, with no petition, once enough conviction free time passes. As of this writing, the waiting periods are four years for civil infractions, seven years for petty offenses and misdemeanors, and ten years for eligible felonies, and both phases of the law are in effect. The same exclusions apply, so DUI, domestic violence, sex offenses, and other ineligible convictions do not seal on their own, and district attorneys can object in limited circumstances. Automatic sealing also depends on accurate state records, so it is worth confirming that a record you expect to be sealed actually was.

Waiting Periods for Petition Based Sealing

If your conviction is eligible but has not been sealed automatically, you can ask the court to seal it by filing a motion. C.R.S. 24-72-706 sets how long you must wait. The clock starts on the later of two dates: the final disposition of the case or your release from supervision, such as probation or parole. As of this writing, the waiting periods are:

Staying out of trouble during the waiting period matters. New criminal charges or convictions during that window can delay or defeat a sealing request.

How the Petition Process Works

At a high level, sealing a conviction by petition looks like this:

• Confirm eligibility. We look at the offense, the waiting period, restitution, and your record since the case ended.
• File the motion. The motion is filed in the court that handled the case, along with your criminal history and a filing fee.
• The district attorney can respond. For lower level offenses with a clean record since, sealing is often straightforward. For felonies and contested cases, the prosecutor may object and the court may hold a hearing to weigh your privacy interest against the public's interest in the record.
• The order goes out. If the court grants the motion, the sealing order is sent to the state and to the agencies that hold the record, and the public record closes.

Private background check companies sometimes keep stale data, so after sealing it can take effort to make sure old information stops appearing. We help clients follow through on that step.

If you want to know whether your record can be sealed, reach out and we will help you find out.