Disorderly Conduct Expungement Attorney Serving St. Paul and Minneapolis

In Minnesota, a disorderly conduct charge is one of the most frequently charged crimes, due in part to it being viewed by many police officers and prosecutors as a "catch-all" crime - meaning, it's the crime charged when the officer or prosecutor don't know what else to charge. And for that reason, you should be aggressive in fighting these charges. As a result many people in Minnesota have this charge on their record and eventually need a disorderly conduct expungement.

Disorderly Conduct Defined

There are two parts to the disorderly conduct definition: the type of conduct and the mental state of the actor. The requisite mental state requires the actor to do the act while knowing, or having reasonable grounds to know that the act will, or will tend to, alarm, anger, or disturb others, or provoke an assault or breach of peace. And the type of conduct includes:

  1. Brawling or fighting;
  2. Disturbing an assembly or meeting;
  3. Indecent conduct or exposure;
  4. Engaging in offensive, obscene, abusive, boisterous, or noisy conduct; or
  5. Engaging in offensive, obscene, or abusive language tending reasonably to cause alarm, anger, or resentment in others.

As you may have figured out, this definition is sufficiently vague to capture a lot more acts than what is specified above, including public drunkenness and verbal altercations.

Most disorderly conduct convictions are misdemeanors. All misdemeanors are eligible for an expungement. So, in order to get a disorderly conduct expungement, you need to be crime free for a period of two years following discharge from the sentence. Once that happens, you are eligible for the disorderly conduct expungement. But that still requires you to prove to the court why you need and deserve this expungement. And as you can see from this website, we know how to get this done for you so that this record does not further negatively impact you moving forward.