{"id":59126,"date":"2022-12-08T06:09:41","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T14:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/12\/08\/missouri-marijuana-legalization-takes-effect-but-complicated-expungements-provisions-cause-confusion\/"},"modified":"2022-12-08T17:46:04","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T01:46:04","slug":"missouri-marijuana-legalization-takes-effect-but-complicated-expungements-provisions-cause-confusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/12\/08\/missouri-marijuana-legalization-takes-effect-but-complicated-expungements-provisions-cause-confusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri Marijuana Legalization Takes Effect, But Complicated Expungements Provisions Cause Confusion"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cCourt litigation will be necessary to iron out the ambiguities. We can try and fix the issues with new legislation, but the House and Senate are limited in what we can do because Amendment 3 is a constitutional amendment and not just new legislation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thursday is a big day for Missouri.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the day the constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana use<\/a> goes into effect, allowing Missourians 21 or older to legally buy or possess up to three ounces of marijuana and grow up to six marijuana plants.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the day Missouri\u2019s Department of Corrections says 565 people who are on probation or parole for felony marijuana offenses will start to have their records expunged.<\/p>\n

Starting Thursday, Missouri\u2019s constitution requires courts to vacate the sentences of people currently on probation or parole for possessing or selling three pounds or less of marijuana, barring the exceptions of DUIs and distributing to a minor.<\/p>\n

But Thursday\u2019s just the beginning.<\/p>\n

\n

When will adult use marijuana be available? pic.twitter.com\/ARZJVERcpk<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services (@HealthyLivingMo) December 8, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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A huge selling point for those who voted for marijuana legalization, which appeared on the ballot last month as Amendment 3, was the automatic expungement provision\u2014meaning people who have already served their sentences for past charges don\u2019t have to petition the court and go through a hearing to expunge those charges from their records.<\/p>\n

The courts will locate their records and make it as if their past marijuana charges never existed. All marijuana-related misdemeanors must be expunged by June 8 and felonies by December 8, 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they have that scarlet letter or that mark on their record, it puts them out of opportunities that they can get for safer housing, for better employment, for education opportunities,\u201d said Justice Gaston, leader of the Kansas City advocacy group Reale Justice Network and who served as spokesperson for the pro-Amendment 3 campaign, called Legal Missouri.<\/p>\n

Yet experts in expungement law say people shouldn\u2019t set high hopes the courts will be able to meet the deadlines outlined in Amendment 3.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the main problem: What\u2019s written in Amendment 3 doesn\u2019t match up with how people are charged with marijuana violations under the state\u2019s criminal code.<\/p>\n

Misdemeanors are likely the easiest to expunge because they involve 35 grams or less (three pounds is 1,200 grams). The state doesn\u2019t yet have an estimate on how many people will be impacted in the end. But for some context, there have been 9,000 misdemeanor charges filed statewide since January 1, 2020 that resulted in convictions, according to numbers provided by a spokesperson for the Missouri Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Felonies will be much more tricky to expunge, legal experts say. More than 35 grams falls into felony territory, and felony possession charges lump together all types of drugs.<\/p>\n

So a court clerk will have to manually pull up court records to see if the felony was for possession of marijuana and not, say, heroin\u2014and if the person had under three pounds.<\/p>\n

The courts have asked state lawmakers for a supplemental budget of $2.5 million to pay for overtime for 500 court clerks statewide to go through these files, as well as two IT contractors and their equipment costs. But it\u2019s unlikely that money will be appropriated for months.<\/p>\n

Scott Pierson, a criminal defense attorney in Springfield, considers himself an \u201cextremely optimistic person.\u201d As a leader of a free expungement clinic in Springfield and facilitator of statewide workshops on expungement law, Pierson says he wants to see the process succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing realistic about this is that we\u2019re tasked with setting up a framework for recognizing something in the course of a month that has been prosecuted on different levels in different ways in the last 50 years,\u201d Pierson said. \u201cIt sets a really high burden for the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Our team has compiled a helpful list of frequently asked questions that are available at https:\/\/t.co\/qcHBToX4eE<\/a>! <\/p>\n

What remaining questions do you have?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services (@HealthyLivingMo) December 8, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Courts lead the way<\/strong><\/p>\n

Critics say the way the expungement provision was worded will inevitably cause confusion and delay, which could have been avoided. Even some of Amendment 3\u2019s supporters say they would have written the provision differently, particularly relating to the short deadlines for courts to get it done.<\/p>\n

Under Amendment 3, each circuit court is responsible for organizing this process for their own jurisdictions.<\/p>\n

Presiding Judge Michael Stelzer of the 22nd Circuit Court in the City of St. Louis says he\u2019s been in meetings with state court officials and his team to try to come up with a way to identify eligible cases since Amendment 3 was passed.<\/p>\n

They also must devise a system to notify the record keepers as well as the individuals that the convictions are now expunged.<\/p>\n

\u201cEasier said than done,\u201d Stelzer joked in an interview with The Independent last week.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s hoping to get some help from the Missouri Supreme Court and the Office of State Court Administration\u2014including money for overtime hours and assistance navigating digitized records to get a list of eligible cases together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we get a little help, I think it can be done,\u201d he said. \u201cCertainly, those are sort of short deadlines. We\u2019ll do our best to comply with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The task will be much more challenging if the state legislature doesn\u2019t appropriate the funds in an expedited manner. The supplemental budget is typically not approved by lawmakers and signed by the governor until mid-April or early May.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will do the best we can at that point,\u201d he said in response to a possible delay in funding. \u201cBut there\u2019s no denying that this is going to take quite a bit of manpower, just to identify, put in place the orders and then enter those orders.\u201d<\/p>\n

For fiscal year 2024, the courts have asked for $4.54 million to pay for the temporary staff and overtime hours needed \u201cto meet the timelines for expungement of records,\u201d as well as for two IT contractors for one year.<\/p>\n

Approving funds is not the only thing legislators need to do to make the process go smoothly, said state Rep. David Evans, a Republican from West Plains who serves on the State Court Automation Committee.<\/p>\n

The specifics on the expungement process in Amendment 3, he said, are \u201cunclear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCourt litigation will be necessary to iron out the ambiguities,\u201d Evans said. \u201cWe can try and fix the issues with new legislation, but the House and Senate are limited in what we can do because Amendment 3 is a constitutional amendment and not just new legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen Sokoloff, general counsel for the Missouri Office of Prosecution Services, is among the chorus of people saying that the deadline to get expungements done is \u201cridiculously short.\u201d<\/p>\n

The expungement responsibility lies on the courts\u2019 shoulders, but he said prosecutors are hearing the rumblings that it\u2019s going to be a \u201cnightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard little bits here and there that the IT people are scrambling trying to figure out how to write some code and stuff to be able to sort some of these things,\u201d Sokoloff said.<\/p>\n

However, he said it\u2019s going to require a good amount of hand reviewing the files.<\/p>\n

Stelzer is also hoping the Department of Corrections will provide a list of people on parole or probation.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the department said if courts ask for the information, it will be provided. By law, the department must have a court order to release anyone from supervision.<\/p>\n

People who are currently incarcerated on marijuana charges must submit a petition to have their charges expunged.<\/p>\n

The department estimates about 27 people who are currently incarcerated in state prisons would be eligible for relief under the new law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s out of about 23,500 people currently in Missouri prisons,\u201d a DOC spokeswoman told The Independent last week.<\/p>\n

Under the law, their petitions must be heard and expunged by March 8, if a judge deems them eligible.<\/p>\n

St. Louis is among the cities, along with Jackson County, that hasn\u2019t been prosecuting low-level marijuana charges that aren\u2019t connected to other offenses for several years. Out of the 538 people currently held in St. Louis city jails, none were eligible for release under Amendment 3, according to a city spokesperson.<\/p>\n

\u2018Bright side\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

While there may be delays, expungement advocates say the \u201cbright side\u201d is that Amendment 3 is bringing to light challenges that have long existed in the state\u2019s current expungement process\u2014among the biggest being the antiquated court management system.<\/p>\n

In many of the smaller counties, the records, especially for ordinance violations, aren\u2019t digitized.<\/p>\n

Sydney Ragsdale, an attorney for the University of Missouri-Kansas City Expungement Clinic, has been working on a case involving a woman who had a 30-year-old marijuana charge in a smaller county.<\/p>\n

The expungement petition process requires that they have the court record. However, the circuit court said they didn\u2019t have any record of the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has this conviction that [Department of Corrections] is going to keep reporting, but the court can\u2019t find her record to order it expunged,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s a big concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

The clinic was able to find a news article about the charge in an archived newspaper database, and the court finally recognized that they have the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we wouldn\u2019t have done that, I can\u2019t really imagine how they would have found her case and expunged it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a testament to how digitizing the records would help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amendment 3 sets up \u201ca pretty tall order\u201d for the courts, she said, and not a lot of time to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s often hard for courts to even find the records from old cases or for whatever reason,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so if they can\u2019t find records, it\u2019ll be hard for them to be expunged. So there\u2019s a decent possibility that a lot of people won\u2019t see their records expunged when they\u2019re supposed to see them expunged.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Missouri Independent.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Biden Applauds Another State For Clearing Marijuana Records Following His Presidential Pardons<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The post Missouri Marijuana Legalization Takes Effect, But Complicated Expungements Provisions Cause Confusion<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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