Kentucky has passed a law which goes into effect July 15th which allows some felonies to be vacated, the charges to be dismissed with prejudice, and the record of the felony expunged. House Bill 40 allows expungement of 61 specific Class D felonies (of more than 300 existing Class Ds). These are non-violent type offenses. They cover 70% of the Class D felonies committed in the last five years. The bill is located here: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/16RS/HB40/bill.pdf
Those eligible must have committed only one Class D felony (the lowest class felony punishable by 1 to 5 years) and must wait five years after completion of his or her sentence, parole, or probation before moving the circuit court for relief..This is a one-shot deal; i.e., they don’t get a second expungement chance later in life.
Commonwealth attorneys can object within time limits set out in the legislation. The language says the judge “may order the judgment vacated, and if the judgment is vacated the court shall dismiss with prejudice any charges which are eligible for expungement . . . .”
The judge can then order all records in the court’s possession to be expunged as well as those in the possession of “any other agency or official.” Computer records are to be deleted to the extent they would show up on a background check. The legislation specifically authorizes the person not to disclose the matter on any application, including employment and credit applications.
Once there is an expungement order, the person may move an appellate court to order the case file sealed and order any appellate opinion on the court’s web site to be altered to avoid the use of the person’s name in the case caption or the body of the opinion.
There’s no mechanism for automatically reporting to the FBI the fact that the conviction has been vacated and dismissed with prejudice. I'm assuming it would still show up in a background check for a firearms purchase. I don't pretend to know federal law in this area but, since the state is dismissing the charges with prejudice, I would think there is an excellent argument to be made that the person would now be eligible to purchase a firearm unless ineligible for some other reason.
Those eligible must have committed only one Class D felony (the lowest class felony punishable by 1 to 5 years) and must wait five years after completion of his or her sentence, parole, or probation before moving the circuit court for relief..This is a one-shot deal; i.e., they don’t get a second expungement chance later in life.
Commonwealth attorneys can object within time limits set out in the legislation. The language says the judge “may order the judgment vacated, and if the judgment is vacated the court shall dismiss with prejudice any charges which are eligible for expungement . . . .”
The judge can then order all records in the court’s possession to be expunged as well as those in the possession of “any other agency or official.” Computer records are to be deleted to the extent they would show up on a background check. The legislation specifically authorizes the person not to disclose the matter on any application, including employment and credit applications.
Once there is an expungement order, the person may move an appellate court to order the case file sealed and order any appellate opinion on the court’s web site to be altered to avoid the use of the person’s name in the case caption or the body of the opinion.
There’s no mechanism for automatically reporting to the FBI the fact that the conviction has been vacated and dismissed with prejudice. I'm assuming it would still show up in a background check for a firearms purchase. I don't pretend to know federal law in this area but, since the state is dismissing the charges with prejudice, I would think there is an excellent argument to be made that the person would now be eligible to purchase a firearm unless ineligible for some other reason.