Cincinnati’s marijuana expungements hit a authorized roadblock, however officers are discovering methods to inch ahead

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Mass marijuana expungements in Cincinnati should not occurring any time quickly due to a state legislation that prohibits the solicitor’s workplace from performing as authorized counsel for individuals in search of expungement. This throws a wrench into the town’s plans to expunge the convictions of people that have been charged with a nonviolent misdemeanor for having lower than 100 grams of marijuana.

A memo from Metropolis Solicitor Andrew Garth says the Legislation Division has recognized 7,500 instances involving about 5,900 individuals who could also be eligible for expungement. Initially, the town deliberate to file 4 bulk expungements for individuals primarily based on the small print of the convictions and prison historical past.

Assistant Metropolis Solicitor Scott Heenan wrote to the Hamilton County Municipal Court docket judges in November that courtroom case Pepper Pike v. Doe “acknowledged that ‘courts have inherent authority to expunge and seal prison information in ‘uncommon and distinctive circumstances’ and famous that the premise for the authority is the constitutional proper to privateness.”

He mentioned the town’s efforts to expunge a lot of information falls into the class of “uncommon and distinctive.”

However native judges did not agree.

An electronic mail from Assistant Court docket Administrator Andrew Gillen says, “After an intensive evaluate, the Hamilton County Municipal Court docket judges don’t discover the proposed course of to be possible. We reviewed the case legislation you introduced, and should not satisfied the town of Cincinnati has standing to file for sealing of those convictions.”

However metropolis officers aren’t giving up hope. They’re engaged on two efforts to make expungement occur — one long-term and the opposite extra quick.

Different Choices

Town will quickly be launching a public search perform on-line that enables individuals to see if their marijuana case has been flagged as eligible for expungement.

There may even be details about the way to discover case numbers, the way to apply to have a conviction expunged, and organizations that may assist characterize an expungement case in courtroom. It is unclear when the search perform will launch.

Nevertheless, individuals can independently verify whether or not their case is eligible for expungement by emailing their case quantity to expungementinfo@cincinnatioh.gov. A member of the Legislation Division will make clear whether or not a misdemeanor marijuana case is eligible for expungement.

Town can be attempting to make modifications on a statewide degree.

In response to the memo from Garth, the town’s lobbyists plan to work with the state legislative delegation to make modifications that may enable metropolis prosecutors to expunge a bulk of eligible instances.

“We imagine {that a} consensus might be reached that these out-dated and archaic convictions ought to now not be on individuals’s information,” the memo says.





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