Can a Misdemeanor Conviction for Driving While Impaired Be Expunged?

I have been working on a theory of everything . . . for expunctions. It’s a small corner of the criminal justice universe, but a critical one for people with past convictions. The subject can be maddeningly complex, at times a seemingly impenetrable black hole. I have been trying to master the mysteries of our expunction statutes in updating my 2012 Guide to Relief from a Criminal Conviction (which you can find here, but beware of subsequent changes in the law). Without further physics puns, here’s one of the questions I’ve looked at: Can a person expunge a misdemeanor conviction under G.S. 15A-145.5 for driving while impaired (DWI)? As the statute is currently worded, the answer is yes. Enacted in 2012, G.S. 15A-145.5 allows for the expunction of older convictions for “nonviolent” misdemeanors and felonies. The meaning of a “nonviolent” offense is determined by what it is not. G.S. 15A-145.5(a) defines an offense as “nonviolent” if it is not a Class A through G felony, a Class A1 misdemeanor, or one of a number of offenses specified in the statute, such as an offense requiring sex offender registration. Consequently, Class H and I felonies and Class 1 through 3 misdemeanors can be expunged as long as they are not among the offenses specifically excluded from relief. See generally Kyprianides v. Martin, ___ N.C. App. ___, 763 S.E.2d 17 (2014) (unpublished) (finding that because conviction for misdemeanor cruelty to animals was not Class A1 misdemeanor and did not fall into excluded categories, [...]