Missouri prosecutors have joined a national campaign to have records of convictions sealed automatically.
Kim Gardner in St. Louis City and Wesley Bell in St. Louis County joined approximately 80 prosecutors from across the country pushing for reform under the banner of the "Clean Slate" initiatives.
"Clean Slate initiatives are increasing in number and utilize technology to take the burden of seeking expungement off of the individual and the courts and make these endeavors a presumptive feature of the system, rather than an endeavor requiring time consuming and burdensome efforts," according to the open letter.
"People should have the opportunity to automatically have their records expunged or sealed.
"And this should occur promptly for misdemeanor records and after a reasonable period of time for felony records."
Missouri passed legislation in recent years expanding the number of convictions where records can be sealed, but individuals have to go through a process.
Before filing, the individual must have paid off his or her fine, completed his or her probation or parole, and have “a seven-year clean date to be eligible for a felony (offense expungement or) have a three-year wait to be eligible for a misdemeanor (offense expungement),” said attorney Scott Pierson, of the Twibell Pierson law firm in Springfield.
"This is about finding people in their best, who have been doing really, really well and being able to shed a past criminal history,” Pierson said in a recent post published by the Missouri Bar Association.
Police representatives in St. Louis do not have an official position on the expungement of records, but there is broad support in principle depending on how it is implemented.
Jean Dueker, a lobbyist for the St. Louis Police Officers Association, told the St. Louis Record: "It is not anything we are involved in, police will have access to records regardless, and so does not really affect then.
"That is not going to change. It is really more for employment."
The Missouri legislature passed SB 588 in 2016 expanding the number of convictions that could be expunged. It was updated from August 2019.
Crimes that are ineligible for expungement included class A felonies; offenses that require individuals to register as sex offenders; felony offenses where death was part of the offense; felony assault offenses; misdemeanor or felony offenses for domestic assault; and felony conviction for kidnapping, according to the Missouri Bar.