Asking for your fingerprints and photographs back after an acquittal

It is the law ordering fingerprints and photographs taken from anyone charged with a felony, and the one that opens the way out when the case ends in your favour: you may ask the court to return them. Worth saying up front what it is and is not: it concerns those prints and photographs, not a general procedure to erase a criminal record.

It may be requested by any person charged with a felony, or with a misdemeanor arising from the same transaction or event, who is acquitted after the corresponding trial or by the Court’s order or resolution; and by any person who receives a full and absolute pardon from the Governor.

• Having been acquitted after the corresponding trial, or by the Court’s order or resolution; or having received a full and absolute pardon from the Governor.Verified against the official source
• Notifying the Prosecution of the return request.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: Who may request it

   The law opens three doors and they are worth reading in full: “Any person charged with a felony or a misdemeanor arising from the same transaction or event who is acquitted after the corresponding trial, or by the Court’s order or resolution, or any person who receives a full and absolute pardon from the Governor, may request the Court to return the fingerprints and photographs.” The acquittal may come from trial or from a court order or resolution.

2. 2

   Step 2: Notify the Prosecution and count ten days

   That is the whole mechanism, and it is short: “The petitioner shall notify the Prosecution and, if it files no objection within ten days, the Court may order the requested return without a hearing.” If there is no objection, no hearing is needed.

3. 3

   Step 3: If there is an objection, there is a public hearing

   The law settles it in one line: “If the Prosecution objects, the Court shall set a public hearing to that effect.” It sets no deadline for that hearing, and we will not publish one the law does not give.

4. 4

   Step 4: Where those prints came from

   It helps to know why they have them. The law orders that “the Police Superintendent, the Director of the Justice Department’s Special Investigations Bureau, or any person authorised by them, or any person authorised by law to that effect, must take the fingerprints and photograph any person who, after a probable cause determination for arrest, is charged with a felony.” The probable cause determination for arrest is the trigger.

5. 5

   Step 5: Refusing has consequences, and also leaves a record

   It cuts both ways and is worth knowing. “Any person charged with a felony who refuses to have their fingerprints or photographs taken, or who fails or refuses to appear for that purpose, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or both penalties at the Court’s discretion.” And in every case of refusal “an Act must be drawn up, signed by the Superintendent, or their authorised agent, or any person authorised by law to that effect, and by the accused or their legal representative, stating that prints were not taken and expressing the reasons, if any, for the refusal.” That record is signed by both sides.

6. 6

   Step 6: The court route if someone refuses

   The law provides the next step: the authorities “may seek the Superior Court’s aid to require that person to allow their fingerprints or photographs to be taken or to appear for that purpose. Once the petition is filed with the Superior Court, it shall issue a summons ordering that person to allow fingerprints or photographs to be taken or to appear for those purposes. Any disobedience of the Court’s order shall be punished by it as contempt.”

The return request is filed with the Court, and the Prosecution must be notified. The law publishes no form or specific window, so it is best to ask at the clerk’s office of the court where the case was heard. If your matter is a police complaint or a copy of the police report, those have their own guides; if it is legal aid for lack of resources, that is the clinics and fees one.

• Believing this erases the criminal record: the law is about returning prints and photographs, not expungement.
• Not notifying the Prosecution: the notice is what starts the ten-day term.
• Assuming a hearing: if there is no objection, the court may order the return without one.
• Thinking it applies only after a trial: acquittal may also come by the Court’s order or resolution.
• Forgetting the pardon: a full and absolute pardon from the Governor also opens the door.
• Refusing to be fingerprinted: it exposes you to up to six months or five hundred dollars, and to contempt if a court order intervenes.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov