New law could clear thousands of criminal records

5-30-2013 Indiana:

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana court personnel are preparing for what may be an onslaught of requests from people eager to use a new state law to clear their old criminal records that keep them from getting a good job.

The new law, which goes into effect July 1, creates a mechanism for thousands of Hoosiers who’ve been arrested or convicted of mostly nonviolent crimes to wipe clean their criminal history if they meet certain conditions.

The law spells out in detail what crimes are — and aren’t — covered and how to go about getting them expunged.

But it may take awhile for everyone involved in the process — including prosecutors, petitioners, judges, record-keepers and crime victims — to make it all work.

“The law is incredibly broad,” said Republican Rep. Jud McMillin, a former deputy prosecutor from Brookville who authored the bill. “One of the first things I tell people: If you have criminal record at all, you need to ask somebody if you’re eligible.”

That somebody doesn’t need to be an attorney. But since the law is so new and penalties for getting it wrong are so serious, McMillin and other bill supporters are advising would-be users of it to seek legal advice.

“It’s always suspect when a lawyer says to someone, ‘I wouldn’t try this on my own.’ But in this case, you really shouldn’t try this on your own,” said Republican Sen. Brent Steele, a Bedford attorney who carried the bill in the Senate.

The new law, House Enrolled Act 1482, creates the state’s first criminal-records expungement process that covers a wide array of crimes, from drunken driving to drug dealing, that can be erased by the courts. It replaces a current law that gives courts limited authority to shield some low-level crimes from public view.

Some crimes are off-limits: Most violent and sex crimes can’t be expunged, nor can most crimes involving misconduct or fraud by a public official. To be eligible, a person petitioning the court for a record expungement has to show they’ve redeemed themselves by staying out ..continued.. by Maureen Hayden CNHI Statehouse Bureau