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State v. Expunged Record (#) 2497/2/2004
or rehabilitation of criminal offenders. This interpretation of La.R.S. 44:9 is supported by Subsection F of that statute, which provides:
F. For investigative purposes only, the Department of Public Safety may maintain a confidential, nonpublic record of the arrest and disposition. The information contained in this record may be released, upon specific request, therefor and on a confidential basis, to any law enforcement agency. The receiving law enforcement agency shall maintain the confidentiality of such record.
We concede that expunged, but undestroyed, arrest records can impact a citizen in significant areas, i.e. credit applications, licenses, job opportunities, perhaps admission to a college or university and eligibility for educational loans or grants. However, under the minimal standard of equal protection scrutiny, disfavored or unequal treatment alone is insufficient to prove a statute is unconstitutional where the State, under its police powers, has a legitimate interest being served by the classification.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we hold that appellee, the party challenging the constitutionality of the statute, has failed to meet his stringent burden of proving that LSA-R.S. 44:9(B)(1) does not meet a valid state purpose, under the minimal scrutiny standard of Louisiana's equal protection analysis. We conclude that retaining felony arrest records does serve a legitimate government interest, as does the statutory classification. Therefore, we find LSA-R.S. 44:9(B)(1) to be constitutional. The trial court's ruling is hereby REVERSED.
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