Reliable Attorney
in Minnesota
The Minnesota Legislature and Governor Dayton enacted sweeping reforms to Minnesota’s expungement laws, which took effect January 1, 2015. A person’s criminal record aspect of their defense is perhaps second in importance only to their liberty.
Minnesota has two distinct types of expungements: either you qualify for an expungement pursuant to statute, or you qualify pursuant to the court’s inherent authority. Under the old law, many defendants did not qualify for expungement under statute, which provided for all records related to a case to be expunged. Most defendants qualified under the court’s inherent authority. When an expungement is pursuant to the court’s inherent authority and not statute, the court is limited to expunging only court records, namely, the court file and the Minnesota Court Information System (MNCIS) electronic criminal history database.
These defendants, even after persuading a judge to grant an expungement, were only able to accomplish a partial, and many would argue meaningless, remedy. Those defendants qualifying under inherent authority were able to have MNCIS and court file records sealed, but many other records, most notably Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) records and Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) records, still prevented them from advancement opportunities and employment. The expungement statute that allowed for full expungement of all records needed to be expanded to apply to more people.
The new expungement law is a complete overhaul of our expungement laws – everything from who is eligible, to what factors a judge must consider, to the procedure for filing a petition. Below is a summary of some of the specifics.
If you previously looked at having your case expunged and you thought it was not possible, it’s time to take another look to see whether this process can now help you clean up your criminal record. If you are interested in expungement, please give us a call at (651) 645-1440. We offer free consultations and can help determine the best options for you.