Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

If a person has a Minnesota court conviction, then they do not qualify under Minnesota's expungement statute, Chapter 609A (unless the guilty plea was unconstitutinal).

If a person successfully completes a stay of imposition, the conviction is reduced for most purposes under Minnesota law per Minn. Stat. 609.13 see: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.13

Though only one of many government criminal history record system's the FBI's NCIC system is the most widely used today. Often, records there reflect info at the time of booking, not the ultimate outcome. But a person can get that fixed by bringing to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension ("BCA") a certified copy of a court document proving the stay of impostion was successfully completed, and the person was never sentenced - thus making it a gross misdemeanor conviction. Not an expungment, but easy to do, and helpful.

Expungements are only allowed by statute where there has been a determination in your favor. That means, ultimately, the charges must have been dismissed. If that occurred, you may erase any and all court or administrative records. A Stay of Imposition means that the person pleads to a felony and after a probationary period, if they follow all conditions of probation, the charge is reduced to a misdemeanor. That is not a determination in the person's favor.

There are also Judicial expungements. Such an expungement is entirely up to the Judge as to whether it should be granted. This is an important distinction since a Court cannot expunge anything but judicial records with a judicial expungement unless there is an overiding basis that requires the expungement in the interests of justice. The courts have ruled that seeking better employment or promotions would not be a basis to expunge adminstrative records.

Administrative agencies generally are the places where background checks are performed. Criminal records are also maintained by Administrative Agencies such as the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. This is an executive agency. As a result, the criminal records, if held by the BCA, would never be expunged in a Judicial expungment.

Since you were convicted, a statutory expungement is not possible.