Clearing A Record
SDCL § 23A-3-27 — an arrest without charges after a year, a dismissal or an acquittal, and minor cases removed after five years
- One year after an arrest, if no charge was filed.
- One year after the prosecutor formally dismissed the whole case, or sooner on compelling necessity.
- At any time after an acquittal.
Those are when an arrested person may ask the court to expunge the arrest. Expungement seals the records; it does not destroy them.
As if it never happened. An expunged arrest returns the person, in law, to their status before it, and failing to mention it is not perjury or a false statement.
A case whose highest charge was a petty offense, an ordinance violation or a Class 2 misdemeanor is removed from the public record automatically after five years, if every condition was met and there was no new conviction.
A particular record is a question for a licensed South Dakota attorney.
Sources for this section (4)
- SDCL § 23A-3-26 — Definition of expungement
- SDCL § 23A-3-27 — Motion for expungement of arrest record
- SDCL § 23A-3-32 — Effect of order of expungement
- SDCL § 23A-3-34 — Defendant's public record; Automatic removal of non-felony charges or convictions; Case record available to authorized personnel; Use as enhancement
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed South Dakota attorney.