Senate Bill No. 750
(By Senator Kessler)
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[Introduced February 20, 2006; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §61-11-26, relating
to limited expungement of certain criminal records.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §61-11-26, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 11. GENERAL PROVISIONS CONCERNING CRIMES.
§61-11-26. Expungement of certain criminal convictions; procedure;
effect.
(a) Notwithstanding any provisions of this code to the
contrary, a person previously convicted of a crime which occurred
while the person was eighteen years of age but less than twenty-
six years of age, may petition the circuit court in which the
conviction occurred for expungement of the conviction and the
associated records. Such person may make a motion in the circuit
court in which the charges were filed to expunge all records relating to the arrest, charge or other matters arising out of the
arrest or charge. The term records as used in this section
includes, but is not limited to, arrest records, fingerprints,
photographs, index references or other data whether in documentary
or electronic form, relating to the arrest, charge or other matters
arising out of the arrest or charge.
(b) Following the filing of the motion, the court may set a
date for a hearing. If the court does so, it shall notify the
prosecuting attorney and the arresting agency of the motion and
provide an opportunity for a response to the expungement motion.
(c) If the court finds that there are no current charges or
proceedings pending relating to the matter for which the
expungement is sought, the court may grant the motion and order the
sealing of all records in the custody of the court and expungement
of any records in the custody of any other agency or official
including law-enforcement records. Every agency with records
relating to the arrest, charge or other matters arising out of the
arrest or charge, that is ordered to expunge records, shall certify
to the court within sixty days of the entry of the expungement
order, that the required expungement has been completed. All
orders enforcing the expungement procedure shall also be sealed.
(d) Upon expungement, the proceedings in the matter shall be
deemed never to have occurred. The court and other agencies shall
reply to any inquiry that no record exists on the matter. The
person whose record is expunged shall not have to disclose the fact
of the record or any matter relating thereto on an application for employment, credit or other type of application.
(e) Inspection of the sealed records in the court's possession
may thereafter be permitted by the court only upon a motion by the
person who is the subject of the records or upon a petition filed
by a prosecuting attorney that inspection and possible use of the
records in question are necessary to the investigation or
prosecution of a crime in this state or another jurisdiction. If
the court finds that the interests of justice will be served by
granting the petition, it may be granted.
(f) The provisions of this section are inapplicable to
convictions under the felony provisions of articles two, three,
three-e, eight-a, eight-b and eight-f, chapter sixty-one of this
code, section twenty-eight, article two, chapter sixty-one of this
code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for the limited
expungement of certain criminal records for nonviolent crime
committed between the ages of 18-26.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.