This story was first published by Missouri Independent.
“I have scanned through hundreds of indexed records searching for any that indicate a possession or paraphernalia charge.”
By Rebecca Rivas, Missouri Independent
Missouri courts have expunged more than 140,000 marijuana cases since voters approved the 2022 constitutional amendment to legalize recreational cannabis.
And the numbers won’t climb much higher than that.
Courts were mandated, as part of the amendment, to search their files for eligible marijuana-related charges and then make it as if they never existed on people’s records.
Missouri’s biggest counties have made it through the bulk of the task, but some will continue to chip away at it this year.
“We are working on paper files in the mid-’80s,” said Bryan Feemster, Greene County Circuit Clerk. “We may be nearing completion midway this year. We can’t be sure how many are left.”
The state courts’ paper files largely end around 2014, and the first marijuana-related drug statutes are from 1971, according to information the state administrator provided to court clerks.
However, there’s no set date for how far back the county courts have to go.
Scott Lauck, spokesman for 16th Judicial Circuit in Jackson County, said the clerks completed their review of cases in December 2023.
“According to our criminal records department, we have completed the review of the marijuana expungements dated back to 1989,” Lauck said. “That was as far back as we were able to identify cases on any reports available to us.”
The county sometimes, he said, becomes aware of additional defendants as they are released from probation.
“If we determine the charges were for marijuana, the cases are sent to the sentencing division for further review,” he said.
St. Louis County Court clerks are in the “review and redetermination phase, to determine what review of our next group of cases will look like,” said spokesman John O’Sullivan.
The Missouri Supreme Court estimates that about 307,000 cases have been reviewed—which would mean the counties expunged 46 percent of the cases they reviewed.
But this estimate does not include the paper records.
For paper records, court clerks have to read summaries for every single criminal record. There’s no way to run a report to search certain criminal codes.
Sammye White, circuit clerk in Iron County, said the paper files are the slowest to identify.
“I have actually been working on this very thing this morning,” she said Friday. “I have scanned through hundreds of indexed records searching for any that indicate a possession or paraphernalia charge.”
When she finds a drug charge, she has to then find the actual file to see if the drug charge was marijuana.
Out of those, she has to narrow it down to a handful most likely to qualify.
This story was first published by Missouri Independent.
Marijuana Moment via (https://www.marijuanamoment.net/missouri-courts-have-expunged-more-than-140000-marijuana-cases-since-legalization-in-2022/)
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