Expungement, Pardon, or Sealing Help

[canonuser]

Ok so I wish to get on with my life and get a real job with benefits and in my profession i am under the USIS backround check criteria and every time I try and get a good job with good pay and and a home life.my one and only criminal offense "asslt law enforcement 2nd deg." gets me the 86 file...what can i do to get my record cleared? caught case in Springfield MO....I live in Ar.....thx........

[aaron]

In terms of adult convictions, Missouri appears to have a rather narrow expungement statute:

610.122. Notwithstanding other provisions of law to the contrary, any record of arrest recorded pursuant to section 43.503, RSMo, may be expunged if the court determines that the arrest was based on false information and the following conditions exist:

(1) There is no probable cause, at the time of the action to expunge, to believe the individual committed the offense;

(2) No charges will be pursued as a result of the arrest;

(3) The subject of the arrest has no prior or subsequent misdemeanor or felony convictions;

(4) The subject of the arrest did not receive a suspended imposition of sentence for the offense for which the arrest was made or for any offense related to the arrest; and

(5) No civil action is pending relating to the arrest or the records sought to be expunged.

The Missouri courts have explained what they mean by "false information":

To establish that the arrest was based on "false information" the petitioner in most cases must prove that the alleged victim - who knew the petitioner and on whose accusation his arrest was based - had falsely accused the petitioner. Martinez v. State, 24 S.W.3d 10, 20 (Mo. App. 2000). In all cases, the petitioner must prove that some or all of the information upon which the police relied to arrest the petitioner is simply a lie.

* * *

The false information requirement and the probable cause requirement, when combined, "necessarily imply and mean that a petitioner . . . has the burden to affirmatively demonstrate at a hearing, by a preponderance of the evidence . . . his actual innocence of the offense for which he was arrested." Martinez, 24 S.W.3d at 20. The fact that Dyer pled guilty and received a probation sentence seems to indicate that he was not actually innocent of the stealing and forgery, unless the court is willing to believe that Dyer falsely or mistakenly pleaded guilty in 1991.

There is information on pardons in Missouri on the Missouri Department of Corrections website.