Board Certified DUI Defense
Utah's Clean Slate Law and DUI
Since 1998Board CertifiedNCDD Faculty
Utah runs an automatic expungement program, commonly called Clean Slate and found in Part 2 of Utah Code Title 77, Chapter 40a. It clears certain eligible cases with no petition, no filing fee, and no court appearance, and it has helped a great many people with older, less serious convictions. DUI is not one of the offenses it reaches. Under Utah Code 77-40a-205, a DUI is excluded from automatic processing, and that does not change with the passage of time. If you are waiting for your DUI to clear itself, it will not happen, not in five years and not in twenty. Clearing a DUI requires the petition process: a 10-year wait measured from completion of the entire sentence, a certificate of eligibility from the Bureau of Criminal Identification, and a petition filed with the court that entered the conviction.
Glen Neeley advises clients on that process. As a board-certified DUI defense specialist through the NCDD, he evaluates when the 10-year period actually starts, whether eligibility exists, and how to move a petition through BCI and the courts. This page explains what Clean Slate does and does not do for a DUI, and what the real path to clearing one looks like. For the broader eligibility rules, start with whether a DUI can be expunged in Utah.
The Short Answer: Clean Slate Will Not Clear Your DUI
The automatic program is real and it does real work. The Bureau of Criminal Identification identifies qualifying records and clears them without any action from the person whose record it is. For an eligible offense there is no petition to draft, no fee to pay, and no hearing to attend. That is genuinely useful for the older, less serious convictions the program was built to reach.
A DUI is carved out of it. Utah Code 77-40a-205 does not list DUI among the categories eligible for automatic processing, and no amount of waiting moves a DUI into the program. Someone who assumes their DUI is being handled automatically is waiting for something that is never going to arrive, and the years spent waiting do not advance the case in any other way.
Every DUI expungement in Utah runs through the petition process instead: the 10-year waiting period, a BCI certificate of eligibility, and a petition filed with the court that entered the conviction. That is the only route, and it does not start until someone files it.
Why This Confusion Is So Common
Clean Slate received substantial coverage when it took effect, and the coverage was general: Utah is automatically clearing old criminal records. People with a DUI on their record reasonably assumed they were included, because nothing in the headlines said otherwise.
The practical consequence of that assumption is costly. Someone who believes their record is being handled automatically does not start the petition, does not track an eligibility date, and does not discover the problem until a background check surfaces the conviction, often during a job or licensing application at the worst possible moment.
If you have a DUI and you have been waiting, the waiting has not accomplished anything on its own. The 10-year clock has been running, which is useful, but nothing else has happened and nothing will until a petition is filed with the court.
What the Petition Process Requires for a DUI
The petition process differs from the automatic program at every step. It is the path every DUI has to take, and it puts the timing under your control rather than leaving your record in a queue. The table below sets the two side by side, and the requirements that follow explain what each step actually involves.
| Automatic Clean Slate | DUI petition process | |
|---|---|---|
| Governing statute | 77-40a-205 | 77-40a-303 |
| Covers a DUI conviction | No, DUI is excluded | Yes, the only path for a DUI |
| Who starts it | The state, automatically | You or your attorney |
| Waiting period | Set by the qualifying offense | 10 years after a completed sentence |
| BCI certificate of eligibility | Not required | Required, valid 180 days |
| Court filing fee | None | $135 petition fee |
| Felony DUI | Not eligible | Not eligible unless reduced under 76-3-402 |
A 10-year waiting period
For any misdemeanor DUI, whether a class B first offense or a class A second offense, Utah Code 77-40a-303 requires 10 years, measured from the date the entire sentence was completed. That means jail or compensatory service, probation, the ignition interlock period, treatment, and the final payment of every fine, fee, and surcharge. The clock starts from whichever obligation finished last, not from the conviction date. A second DUI is a class A misdemeanor, but it does not receive the shorter five-year period that applies to a non-DUI class A offense, so the wait stays at 10 years either way. If you want the timing worked out against your own sentence, see how long you actually wait to expunge a DUI.
A certificate of eligibility from BCI
You apply to the Bureau of Criminal Identification with fingerprints and pay the application fee, and BCI may charge a separate issuance fee on top of that. Fee amounts change, so confirm current figures with BCI at 801-965-4445 before you budget. Plan on several months for processing. Once issued, the certificate of eligibility must be filed with your petition within 180 days or it expires and you have to buy another one.
A petition filed in the right court
The petition goes to the court that entered the conviction, which for a misdemeanor DUI is typically a justice court, with the statutory $135 filing fee. Once the fee is paid, the court notifies the prosecutor within three days. The prosecutor then has 35 days to respond, and if no objection is received within 60 days of filing, the court may grant the expungement without a hearing. Realistically, budget six months to a year from start to finish. The step-by-step mechanics are laid out in the petition process for a DUI expungement.
Felony DUI: Not Eligible Through Either Path
This is the most important qualification on the page, and it is frequently stated incorrectly elsewhere. A felony DUI is not eligible for expungement at all. Utah Code 77-40a-303(2)(a)(iv) makes a felony conviction described in Utah Code 41-6a-501(2) ineligible for a certificate of eligibility, so BCI will not issue one. A felony DUI is not eligible for automatic Clean Slate processing, and it is not eligible for the petition process either, and no amount of waiting changes that.
There is one route out. If the felony conviction is first reduced to a misdemeanor under Utah Code 76-3-402, it is no longer a felony DUI, and the 10-year misdemeanor path becomes available. For a client carrying a felony DUI, pursuing that reduction is often the single most valuable thing that can be done, and it is a separate motion, not something that happens on its own. That analysis is closely tied to your wider record, so if you are weighing more than one conviction, see expungement with multiple offenses.
DUI offenses that cause death or serious bodily injury sit in the same category. Automobile homicide under Utah Code 76-5-207 and negligently causing serious bodily injury under Utah Code 76-5-102.1 are felony convictions and are ineligible for expungement unless the underlying conviction is itself reduced or pardoned.
What Clean Slate Does Reach
The automatic program exists and does real work. It simply does not cover DUI. For offenses that do qualify, the waiting period must have elapsed, the sentence must be fully complete, and there must be no disqualifying subsequent convictions. If you want to see which convictions the automatic program actually clears, the records Clean Slate can reach sets out the categories.
If your record includes non-DUI convictions alongside the DUI, some of those may be cleared automatically while the DUI remains. That produces a partial result that is easy to misread. A background check showing fewer entries than before does not mean the DUI is gone. We review the full record so you know exactly what has been handled and what still requires a petition, which matters most when several convictions are in play at once.
One distinction changes the timing entirely. A reduction to impaired driving under Utah Code 41-6a-502.5 is not a DUI conviction, so for petition purposes it carries the general four-year class B waiting period rather than the 10 years a DUI requires. If your case was resolved that way, your timeline is very different, and it is worth confirming against your actual disposition rather than assuming the DUI clock applies.
Clean Slate and DUI Expungement Questions
Can my DUI be automatically expunged under Clean Slate?
No. DUI convictions are excluded from automatic processing under Utah Code 77-40a-205. Clearing one requires the petition process: 10 years from completion of the sentence, a BCI certificate of eligibility, and a petition filed with the court that entered the conviction.
I have waited years and nothing happened. Did something go wrong?
Nothing went wrong, and nothing was going to happen automatically. The automatic program does not reach DUI convictions. Your 10-year clock has been running, which matters, but the petition still has to be filed by you or your attorney before the record is cleared.
Can a felony DUI be expunged?
Not directly. Utah Code 77-40a-303(2)(a)(iv) makes a felony conviction described in 41-6a-501(2) ineligible for a certificate of eligibility. The one route is reducing the conviction to a misdemeanor under Utah Code 76-3-402, after which the 10-year misdemeanor path opens.
Does Clean Slate apply to federal DUI convictions?
No. Clean Slate is Utah state law and reaches state court convictions. A federal DUI from a national park, a military installation, or other federal property cannot be cleared under Clean Slate or through Utah's petition process, and the federal system has no general expungement statute of its own.
How do I check what is actually on my record?
Request your BCI criminal history. It is the most reliable way to see what has been sealed and what has not, and it is the first step we take when evaluating whether a client is eligible.
Is it worth filing now or waiting?
If the 10 years have run and your sentence is fully complete, there is no advantage to waiting, because the record stays visible until a court orders otherwise. If the period has not run, we calculate your actual eligibility date and prepare so the petition can be filed as soon as it arrives.
Talk to Glen Neeley About Your Case
If you have a DUI on your record and have been waiting for it to clear on its own, a free consultation will tell you where you actually stand: when your 10 years started, whether you are eligible now, and what the petition will involve. Statewide Utah, confidential, and no charge for the first conversation.