Wyoming Expungement Laws: Wyo. Stat. §§ 7-13-1401, 7-13-1501, and 7-13-1502 Explained

Wyoming allows expungement of certain arrest records, misdemeanor convictions, and a limited category of nonviolent felony convictions under Title 7, Chapter 13 of the Wyoming Statutes, giving eligible individuals a legal mechanism to seal their criminal records from public view.

Information last verified on May 29, 2026. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed attorney.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Wyoming state expungement law only. For a national comparison, see Expungement Laws by State.

Expungement of Arrest Records: Wyo. Stat. § 7-13-1401

Wyoming's arrest-record expungement provision, Wyo. Stat. § 7-13-1401, allows a person to petition for expungement of an arrest record when the arrest did not result in a conviction. To qualify, at least 180 days must have passed since the date of arrest or since all charges were dismissed, and no formal charges can be pending at the time of filing.

The record must also be free of any disposition under Wyo. Stat. § 7-13-301, § 35-7-1037, or former § 7-13-203 arising from the incident, including a disposition to a different or lesser charge. Beyond that, at least one of three grounds in § 7-13-1401(a)(i) must apply: no conviction resulted from any charge tied to the incident, including a conviction on a different or lesser charge; no criminal charges of any nature were filed in any court; or all criminal proceedings against the person were dismissed by the prosecutor or the court.

The first of those grounds is broad. It asks only whether a conviction resulted, so it is satisfied by any outcome that produced none, not solely by an acquittal at trial. A hung jury, a charge barred by the statute of limitations, or a prosecution abandoned short of a formal dismissal order can all leave a petitioner within ground (A).

A deferred disposition is the outcome this section shuts out, and Wyoming provides no alternative route for it. Wyo. Stat. § 7-13-307 states that nothing in the deferred-prosecution provisions at §§ 7-13-301 through 7-13-306 "shall be construed to authorize the court to expunge the record of a person charged with or convicted of a criminal offense." A person who completed a deferral therefore has no expungement remedy under either statute and should discuss a pardon or other relief with a licensed Wyoming attorney.

Once a court grants expungement under § 7-13-1401, the arrest record is sealed from public access. Law enforcement agencies retain access to sealed records for law enforcement purposes. Because no conviction resulted from the underlying arrest, this is generally the most straightforward category of Wyoming expungement, and the 180-day waiting period is among the shortest in the state's record-relief framework (Wyoming Judicial Branch, wyocourts.gov, 2026).

Expungement of Misdemeanor Convictions: Wyo. Stat. § 7-13-1501

Misdemeanor expungement in Wyoming is governed by Wyo. Stat. § 7-13-1501, which reaches a person who has pled guilty or nolo contendere to, or been convicted of, a misdemeanor. The waiting period depends on the type of misdemeanor involved. For a status offense misdemeanor, the petitioner must wait at least one year. For all other misdemeanor convictions, the waiting period is five years. Section 7-13-1501(a)(i) measures both clocks from the expiration of the terms of sentence imposed by the court, including any periods of probation or the completion of any program ordered by the court.

In addition to the waiting period, § 7-13-1501(a)(iii) requires that the misdemeanor not have involved the use or attempted use of a firearm. The test is use or attempted use, not the mere presence or involvement of a firearm. The court must also find that the petitioner does not represent a substantial danger to himself, any identifiable victim, or society. Wyoming courts evaluate the substantial-danger standard case by case.

Section 7-13-1501 carries one categorical disqualifier. Under § 7-13-1501(a)(iv), a health care provider who has pled guilty or nolo contendere to, or been convicted of, an offense punishable under Wyo. Stat. § 6-2-313 committed against a patient under that provider's care is not eligible for expungement under this section. Apart from that bar, § 7-13-1501 has no excluded-offense list comparable to the long felony list in § 7-13-1502.

Section 7-13-1501 also imposes a once-per-statute limit: a person is eligible for only one expungement of a misdemeanor conviction under this section. Filing a second petition for a different misdemeanor under § 7-13-1501 is not permitted (§ 7-13-1501(k)).

After expungement, the misdemeanor conviction is sealed from public background checks. Most private employers, landlords, and educational institutions conducting standard background checks will not see an expunged misdemeanor. Certain licensing agencies and law enforcement retain access.

Expungement of Felony Convictions: Wyo. Stat. § 7-13-1502

Wyoming permits expungement of nonviolent felony convictions under Wyo. Stat. § 7-13-1502. The statute opens on a person convicted of "a felony or felonies subject to expungement under this section arising out of the same occurrence or related course of events," so multiple counts from a single incident can be cleared in one petition. What the statute limits to one is the petition itself, not the number of counts inside it.

The waiting period is ten years. Under § 7-13-1502(a)(i), all three of the following must be at least ten years in the past: (A) the expiration of the terms of sentence imposed by the court, including any periods of probation; (B) the completion of any program ordered by the court; and (C) payment in full of any restitution the court ordered. Trigger (B) is easy to overlook. A court-ordered program such as treatment, counseling, or community service can finish after the sentence itself has expired, and in that case its completion date, not the end of the sentence, is what starts the ten-year clock.

Section 7-13-1502(a)(ii) is stricter than a subsequent-offense rule. Other than the convictions for which expungement is sought, the petitioner must not have previously pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to, or been convicted of, a felony. That bars any other felony in the person's history, including one that predates the offense being expunged, and a guilty or nolo contendere plea counts against the petitioner even where no conviction was entered on it.

Under § 7-13-1502(a)(iii), the felony must not have involved the use or attempted use of a firearm, unless the offense is punishable under Title 23 of the Wyoming statutes. Title 23 is Wyoming's game and fish title, so a wildlife felony that involved a firearm is expressly carved back into eligibility. The court must also find that the petitioner does not represent a substantial danger to himself, any identifiable victim, or society (§ 7-13-1502(g)).

The once-per-lifetime rule is strict: a person may petition for felony expungement under § 7-13-1502 only one time (§ 7-13-1502(k)). There is no provision for a second felony expungement even after additional waiting periods.

The following felony categories are permanently excluded from expungement under § 7-13-1502, regardless of how much time has passed:

• Violent felonies as defined in Wyo. Stat. § 6-1-104(a)(xii), including murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, aircraft hijacking, arson, and aggravated burglary
• Aggravated homicide by vehicle (Wyo. Stat. § 6-2-106(b))
• Drug-induced homicide (Wyo. Stat. § 6-2-108)
• Sexual crimes under Wyo. Stat. §§ 6-2-301 through 6-2-320
• Domestic battery, except for a first offense (Wyo. Stat. § 6-2-501(f) as in effect prior to July 1, 2014, or § 6-2-511(b)(iii))
• Child abuse under Wyo. Stat. § 6-2-503
• Aggravated assault and battery on a corrections or detention officer under Wyo. Stat. § 6-2-508(b)
• Sexual exploitation of children under Wyo. Stat. § 6-4-303(b)(i) through (iii)
• Incest under Wyo. Stat. § 6-4-402(b)
• Endangering children with controlled substances under Wyo. Stat. § 6-4-405
• Bribery under Wyo. Stat. § 6-5-102
• Disarming a peace officer under Wyo. Stat. § 6-5-204(c)
• Escape and violent jailbreak under Wyo. Stat. §§ 6-5-206 and 6-5-207
• Weapons offenses under Wyo. Stat. §§ 6-8-101 and 6-8-102
• Sex offender registration crimes under Wyo. Stat. § 7-19-302(g) through (j)

(Wyoming Judicial Branch, wyocourts.gov, 2026)

Restoration of Firearm Rights

Expungement in Wyoming seals the conviction record, but the restoration of firearm rights is not automatic. Wyoming law and federal law both impose separate restrictions on firearm possession following a felony conviction. The federal prohibition itself sits in 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), which bars firearm possession by a person convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year. The exception is not in § 922. It lives in the definitions section: under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(20), a conviction that has been expunged or set aside, or for which the person has been pardoned or has had civil rights restored, "shall not be considered a conviction for purposes of this chapter, unless such pardon, expungement, or restoration of civil rights expressly provides that the person may not ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms."

Wyoming's felony expungement statute does contain an explicit rights-restoration clause: under Wyo. Stat. § 7-13-1502(m), "an expungement of records pursuant to this section shall restore any rights removed as a result of the conviction for which the expungement has been granted." No comparable clause applies to misdemeanor expungement under § 7-13-1501 or arrest-record expungement under § 7-13-1401.

Because § 921(a)(20) removes an expunged conviction, or one for which civil rights have been restored, from the definition of conviction that § 922(g)(1) relies on, § 7-13-1502(m)'s restoration clause is directly relevant. How federal agencies and courts apply it to a specific case can still vary. A person who receives a felony expungement under § 7-13-1502 should consult a licensed Wyoming attorney before possessing or purchasing a firearm. The federal restriction may remain enforceable depending on how a federal court interprets the scope of the Wyoming expungement order. This area requires careful legal analysis that goes beyond the face of the state statute (Wyoming Judicial Branch, wyocourts.gov, 2026).

Juvenile Record Expungement: Wyo. Stat. § 14-6-241

Juvenile records in Wyoming are handled separately from adult criminal records and can be expunged under Wyo. Stat. § 14-6-241. The petition is available on reaching the age of majority to a person adjudicated delinquent for a delinquent act other than a violent felony as defined by Wyo. Stat. § 6-1-104(a)(xii). It is verified by the petitioner and served on the prosecuting attorney, who has 20 days to file an objection.

What happens next depends on whether an objection is filed. If none is filed, § 14-6-241(a) allows the court to summarily enter the order once it finds the petitioner otherwise eligible, with no investigation and no hearing. If an objection is filed, the court sets the matter for hearing and, after investigation, must find that the petitioner has not been convicted of a felony since the adjudication, that no felony proceeding is pending or being instituted, and that rehabilitation "has been attained to the satisfaction of the court or the prosecuting attorney." That last element is disjunctive: satisfying either the court or the prosecuting attorney is enough. The statute contains no interest-of-justice element.

Subsections (b) through (e) extend the same procedure and limitations to a minor's municipal ordinance conviction, a misdemeanor in circuit court, a diversion program or deferral, and a record of arrest, charges, or disposition that did not result in a conviction or an adjudication. No filing fee is required for a juvenile petition (§ 14-6-241(j)).

A granted juvenile expungement goes further than sealing. Section 14-6-241(f) defines expungement here as permanently destroying or deleting all records, physical and electronic, or redacting the minor's name where it appears in a list or index containing other information not subject to expungement. Under § 14-6-241(g), no law enforcement agency, juvenile court, municipal court, circuit court, or state agency may retain a record of the minor's identification afterward, subject to two narrow exceptions: records kept to satisfy federal reporting requirements, which must themselves be expunged within ten years of the completion of the initial court case, and electronic records in an inaccessible backup database, which are expunged when that backup is restored. On entry of the order, the proceedings are deemed never to have occurred and the petitioner may answer any inquiry accordingly.

How to File a Petition for Expungement in Wyoming

The Wyoming expungement process follows a broadly similar set of steps under each statute, though the court, the parties served, and the response deadlines differ. Each step must be completed in the correct sequence, and missing a service requirement can result in the court denying or delaying the petition.

1. Identify the correct court. Under § 7-13-1401, the petition goes to the court in which the proceeding occurred or would have occurred. Under §§ 7-13-1501 and 7-13-1502, it goes to the convicting court.
2. Prepare and verify the petition. The petition must be verified by the petitioner and must identify the offense or arrest, the date, the relevant statute, and the grounds for expungement eligibility.
3. Serve the required parties. An arrest-record petition under § 7-13-1401(b) is served on the prosecuting attorney. A misdemeanor or felony petition under § 7-13-1501(b) or § 7-13-1502(b) is served on both the prosecuting attorney and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). For conviction petitions, the prosecuting attorney, not the petitioner, notifies identifiable victims by certified mail.
4. Wait out the objection window. The prosecuting attorney has 20 days to object under § 7-13-1401, 30 days under § 7-13-1501, and 90 days under § 7-13-1502. No expungement order may issue before that window closes.
5. Attend the hearing if objections are filed. If the prosecutor or an identifiable victim objects, the court schedules a hearing. At the hearing, the petitioner must demonstrate eligibility and argue against any objections. If no objection is filed, the court may summarily enter an order.
6. Obtain the signed Order for Expungement. If the court grants the petition, the judge signs an Order for Expungement.
7. Court notifies DCI. After the order is signed, the originating court seals its records and transmits a certified copy of the expungement order to the Wyoming DCI. DCI then updates the state criminal history database to reflect the expungement.

Wyoming's expungement filing fees are fixed by statute and uniform statewide, not county-variable: no filing fee for arrest-record expungement (§ 7-13-1401(e)), $100 for misdemeanor-conviction expungement (§ 7-13-1501(b)), and $300 for felony-conviction expungement (§ 7-13-1502(b)). The Wyoming Judicial Branch's self-help page at wyocourts.gov recommends consulting an attorney for assistance with the petition, and Court Navigator assistance is available in Natrona and Uinta Counties (Wyoming Judicial Branch, wyocourts.gov, 2026).

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about Wyoming expungement law as of May 29, 2026. It is not legal advice and does not apply to every individual situation. Statutes may have been amended after the verification date. Consult a licensed Wyoming attorney before filing a petition or making any decisions about your criminal record.

Related Articles

• Expungement Laws by State
• DUI Expungement by State
• How to Check If Your Record Has Been Expunged

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RecordingLaw.com provides legal information, not legal advice. Verify all statutes with the Wyoming Legislature (wyoleg.gov) or a licensed Wyoming attorney before acting.

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