Monday, January 12, 2009

Expungment: The Ball Is In Our Court

For some time now I have been urging Idaho criminal defense lawyers to team up with prosecutors to sponsor model expungment legislation. My premise has been that expungment law in Idaho is a mess and the only solution is legislative intervention. Impossible, you say? That liberal blue state of Utah has come up with a comprehensive scheme: http://www.utcourts.gov/howto/expunge/. (Child molesters never are eligible for expungment). You can get on the Utah State Court website and with a few clicks get the following questions answered:

  • Who Can Get Their Adult Record Expunged?
  • Who Can Get a Juvenile Record Expungement?
  • When is Expungment Allowed?
  • How Much Does an Expungment Cost?
  • Will my Offenses Remain on My Driving Record?
  • Is There a Time Requirement for Dismissal?
  • What Must I Bring When I Apply for an Expungment?
  • Where Will My Petition be Filed?
  • What if I Fail to Appear at the Hearing on my Petition?
  • If I Complete my Petition at Home, what are the Requirements?
  • What If My Motion of Expungment is Granted?

We can continue to flail with inconsistent expungment triage or work towards a real solution – like Utah’s.

2 comments:

  1. Tim: I contacted Heather Reilly, who is an Ada County DPA and the lobbyist for the prosecutors, right after U.S. v. Sharp came out. I never got a response, but after reading your posting I called again. Maybe, if they're interested, IACDL and the prosecutors could do a joint proposal. I have an idea about which Legislator might be willing to carry such a bill.

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  2. The Libertarian streak in many legislators will be receptive to the notion that big government has countless ways to get a citizen's information into a database, but no clear way, after complete rehabilitation, to get it out.

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