You may request removal of a California DNA sample and searchable database profile when the case that led to collection ends in a qualifying way and no other offense, pending charge, or legal basis permits the state to keep them. A dismissal alone does not remove them. California DOJ offers a streamlined application; Penal Code section 299 also provides a court-petition route with different notice and hearing requirements. Penal Code § 299(a)–(c).
Check the outcome and your whole qualifying history
Section 299(b) permits a written request when no qualifying accusatory pleading was filed within the legally allowed period after arrest, qualifying charges were dismissed before adjudication, the underlying conviction or juvenile disposition was reversed and the case dismissed, the person was found factually innocent under the specified statutes, or the person was acquitted or found not guilty. A reversal without dismissal does not meet the reversal-and-dismissal ground. The statute also requires no past or present qualifying offense, pending qualifying charge, or other basis for retaining the sample or profile. Penal Code § 299(a)–(b).
Check more than the case that just ended. A separate qualifying arrest, conviction, juvenile adjudication, finding of not guilty by reason of insanity, or plea condition may still require retention. Later dismissal of a conviction after probation, reduction from a felony to a misdemeanor, or termination of a sex- or arson-registration duty does not by itself erase a separate DNA obligation. Have counsel compare each collection event and disposition before signing a declaration about your full history. Penal Code § 299(d)–(f).
Apply directly to DOJ with DLE-244
The current DOJ DLE-244 form asks for your identity, collection details, the ground for removal, and supporting documents for every prior arrest, conviction, or juvenile adjudication that qualified for DNA collection at the time. Depending on the ground, its checklist calls for a prosecutor’s no-filing letter, certified or file-stamped dockets or minute orders showing dismissal or acquittal, a factual-innocence order, or both the reversal and dismissal orders. The form identifies the CAL-DNA mailing address and is signed under penalty of perjury. Use its current document checklist rather than assuming the favorable order from one case is enough.
DOJ’s streamlined-request instructions say that sufficient identity, legal-status, and criminal-history records may allow an eligible sample and profile to be removed without a court hearing or the court route’s 180-day wait. DOJ reviews the request and reports either completion and sample destruction or a legal reason for retention. The instructions describe this as a possible expedited route, not a guaranteed result or processing deadline; the instruction sheet is older than the current DLE-244 form.
If you need a court order
DOJ’s instructions say a person whose streamlined request is denied may still pursue a court proceeding. The optional Judicial Council form CR-185/JV-796 identifies the section 299 ground and directs the petitioner to send the petition to the DOJ DNA Laboratory, the trial court, and the prosecuting attorney for the county where the arrest, conviction, adjudication, or disposition occurred, then give the court proof of service. Section 299(c)(1) makes the court’s decision discretionary; denial of a court expungement request is nonappealable and cannot be reviewed by writ under that provision. Penal Code § 299(c)(1).
For the court-order procedure in section 299(c)(2), the court verifies the necessary showing at a noticed hearing. The order must include the written request, specified certified disposition proof or district attorney certification, proof of written notice to the prosecutor and DOJ, and findings that no retrial or appeal is pending, at least 180 days have passed since those two agencies were notified, and neither has objected to the court. These are conditions for that court-order route, not a waiting period that DOJ says always applies to a complete streamlined application. Counsel should check the actual case record, service dates, and any pending review before choosing how to proceed. Penal Code § 299(c)(2).
Keep the arrest and collection details, every potentially qualifying case disposition, the application or petition, service proof, and DOJ’s response together. DNA sample destruction and searchable-profile removal are different from correcting a criminal-history record. The Law Offices of David S. Chesley can review the records and the available route; call (800) 755-5174.