House Bill 447 requires that cases or charges that are more than 7 years old be treated as "resolved in favor of" a child or adult if there is no disposition available for the case and no outstanding warrants. This clarification will:
- Prevent errors in record-keeping in the criminal justice system from stopping an otherwise qualified petitioner from obtaining an expungement that may otherwise be available;
- Require old cases for which no outcome is listed to be removed from a person's record if they are more than 7 years old; and
- Allow an individual with multiple violations or misdemeanors in different cases that would be eligible for a mandatory expungement if they had occurred in a single case, and the individual has no other convictions on their record, to apply directly for a discretionary expungement after 5 years have passed from the most recent conviction.
- The court would then consider the application under its usual “interest of justice” rubric in determining whether to grant the expungement.
- This saves applications to the pardon board for multiple minor misdemeanors and increases parity between applicants with similar records.
