An Act To Authorize the Expungement of Records of Nonviolent Crimes
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 15 MRSA c. 313 is enacted to read:
CHAPTER 313
EXPUNGEMENT OF RECORDS
§ 2321. Expungement of records of nonviolent crimes
1. Class E, D and C crimes. A person convicted of a Class E, Class D or Class C crime may petition the court in which the conviction was recorded to expunge the record of the conviction after a period of 5 years from the completion of the sentence. The court shall order all records of the conviction expunged if:
A. The defendant has not been convicted of a crime in this State or any other jurisdiction since the conviction subject to the petition and has no formal charging instrument for a crime pending in this State or any other jurisdiction; and
B. The crime is not a crime under Title 17-A, chapter 11, 12, 25 or 35 or the crime involved violence, domestic violence or had as an element of the offense a victim who was 17 years of age or younger or a victim who was 65 years of age or older.
2. State Bureau of Identification. Following receipt of a court order for expungement under subsection 1, the Department of Public Safety, State Bureau of Identification shall make the necessary arrangements with the identification division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to have all references to the expunged crime deleted from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's identification record and any state materials returned to the contributing agency.
SUMMARY
This bill allows a person convicted of a Class E, Class D or Class C crime to petition the court where the person was convicted to expunge all records of the crime 5 years after the completion of the person's sentence. Expungement is not available for persons who have subsequent convictions or pending criminal charges; for crimes involving violence or sex offenses; or crimes that had as an element of the offense victims who were minors or are 65 years of age or older.