Bill Text: MS SB2303 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Felony conviction; revise expunction of.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2017-01-31 - Died In Committee [SB2303 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2017-SB2303-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2017 Regular Session
To: Corrections
By: Senator(s) Jackson (32nd)
Senate Bill 2303
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 99-19-71, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE EXPUNCTION OF CERTAIN FELONY CONVICTIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 99-19-71, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
99-19-71. (1) * * * A person who has been convicted
of a misdemeanor that is not a traffic violation, and who is a first offender,
may petition the justice, county, circuit or municipal court in which the
conviction was had for an order to expunge any such conviction from all public
records.
(2) * * * A person who has been
convicted of * * *
any felony, other than a sex crime listed in
Section 45-33-23, may petition the court in which the conviction was had
for an order to expunge one (1) felony conviction from all public
records five (5) years after the successful completion of all terms and
conditions of the sentence for the conviction * * *. A person is eligible for only one (1) felony
expunction under this * * * subsection (2).
( * * *3) The petitioner shall give ten (10)
days' written notice to the district attorney before any hearing on the
petition. In all cases, the court wherein the petition is filed may grant the
petition if the court determines, on the record or in writing, that the
applicant is rehabilitated from the offense which is the subject of the
petition. In those cases where the court denies the petition, the findings of
the court in this respect shall be identified specifically and not generally.
( * * *4) Upon entering an order of
expunction under this section, a nonpublic record thereof shall be retained by
the Mississippi Criminal Information Center solely for the purpose of
determining whether, in subsequent proceedings, the person is a first
offender. The order of expunction shall not preclude a district attorney's
office from retaining a nonpublic record thereof for law enforcement purposes
only. The existence of an order of expunction shall not preclude an employer
from asking a prospective employee if the employee has had an order of
expunction entered on his behalf. The effect of the expunction order shall be
to restore the person, in the contemplation of the law, to the status he
occupied before any arrest or indictment for which convicted. No person as to
whom an expunction order has been entered shall be held thereafter under any
provision of law to be guilty of perjury or to have otherwise given a false
statement by reason of his failure to recite or acknowledge such arrest,
indictment or conviction in response to any inquiry made of him for any purpose
other than the purpose of determining, in any subsequent proceedings under this
section, whether the person is a first offender. A person as to whom an order
has been entered, upon request, shall be required to advise the court, in
camera, of the previous conviction and expunction in any legal proceeding
wherein the person has been called as a prospective juror. The court shall
thereafter and before the selection of the jury advise the attorneys
representing the parties of the previous conviction and expunction.
( * * *5) Upon petition therefor, a justice,
county, circuit or municipal court shall expunge the record of any case in
which an arrest was made, the person arrested was released and the case was
dismissed or the charges were dropped or there was no disposition of such case.
( * * *6) No public official is eligible for
expunction under this section for any conviction related to his official
duties.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2017.
