{"id":8848,"date":"2019-10-17T17:55:10","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T17:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=3698212"},"modified":"2019-10-17T17:55:10","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T17:55:10","slug":"denver-efforts-to-clear-marijuana-related-convictions-from-criminal-records-starts-slowly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/denver-efforts-to-clear-marijuana-related-convictions-from-criminal-records-starts-slowly\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver efforts to clear marijuana-related convictions from criminal records starts slowly"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/denver-efforts-to-clear-marijuana-related-convictions-from-criminal-records-starts-slowly\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/denver-efforts-to-clear-marijuana-related-convictions-from-criminal-records-starts-slowly.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2019\/10\/17\/colorado-marijuana-record-expungement\/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dp-news-marijuana+%28Denver+Post%3A+News%3A+Marijuana%29&amp;utm_content=Google+UK#comments-anchor\"><span class=\"spot-im-replies-count\" data-post-id=\"3698212\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Despite much fanfare, Denver\u2019s attempt to help people shed the burden of minor marijuana convictions experienced a slow start.<\/p>\n<p>Extremely slow.<\/p>\n<p>In Denver, 60 people have successfully vacated their convictions in the city program\u2019s first six months \u2014 less than 1% of the more than 13,000 eligible for expungement, according to city data. In Boulder, 11 people have cleared their record of the at least 4,000 people eligible, according to the Boulder County District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>Seven years after legalization and two years after state lawmakers passed a bill allowing expungement, city leaders and prosecutors are struggling to guide people through a complex process to erase minor pot convictions. The process can be lengthy and often requires digging through court records \u2014 if those documents can be found.<\/p>\n<p>Ashley Kilroy, director of Denver\u2019s Department of Excise and Licenses which oversees the city\u2019s Turn Over a New Leaf program, said she is happy about Denver\u2019s numbers. She expected turnout to be low based on the experience of other cities that have instituted similar programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we did the best we could,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds more applied to the programs, but were ineligible because their case happened in other jurisdictions or because they were convicted of charges that don\u2019t qualify for expungement. The city department has started working in the jails to contact people who may be eligible.<\/p>\n<p>Convictions of even low-level marijuana offenses can affect people\u2019s ability to get a job, secure a loan, gain admission to educational programs and their ability to travel, Kilroy said.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s difficult to point out exactly what caused the low turnout, Kilroy said. The city attempted to address barriers such as transportation by providing ride-share coupons and scheduled the clinics at different times so people with different work schedules could attend.<\/p>\n<p>In a Denver city report issued last month, city attorneys said it\u2019s often unclear who is eligible for the program under the law. The law allows expungement of criminal actions that would not be considered illegal after legalization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout detailed records the nature of the charged violation may be unclear,\u201d the report states. \u201cFor example, a conviction for the possession of drug paraphernalia may be related to marijuana, or it may be related to methamphetamine or cocaine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>States that recently legalized marijuana have included provisions that would automatically expunge low-level marijuana convictions, said Sam Kamin, professor of marijuana law and policy at the University of Denver. States such as Illinois have put the onus on the state to automatically erase eligible convictions. But Colorado, being the first state to legalize, did not.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTying expungement to legalization is a relatively new phenomena,\u201d Kamin said.<\/p>\n<p>Some California prosecutors decided <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/lanow\/la-me-ln-la-county-marijuana-convictions-20190401-story.html\">to automatically dismiss or reduce more than 54,000 marijuana convictions<\/a> after applications for expungement there were lackluster. The prosecutors will use a computer algorithm to quickly identify the cases that are eligible.<\/p>\n<p>In Colorado, however, people with convictions have to initiate the expungement process. In cities where no program exists, people often must hire a lawyer to file a motion for them. And the court processing fee is $65. They also must pay $28 for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to erase the conviction from appearing on background checks.<\/p>\n<p>Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said it\u2019s unclear whether Colorado prosecutors can unilaterally vacate convictions without defendants\u2019 input.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want to say it\u2019s not possible but there are different schools of thought,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Expungement isn\u2019t a simple process, Kamin said. Some people may have been charged with a crime that isn\u2019t eligible for expungement \u2014 such as selling marijuana \u2014 but pleaded down to a lesser charge that is eligible. Some court files do not show exactly what drug the person was arrested for possessing, he said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re retrying this case many years later,\u201d Kamin said.<\/p>\n<p>One solution lawmakers could consider would be directing the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to clear all eligible convictions from their backgrounding system, Dougherty said. While it won\u2019t affect the court cases, it would prevent the convictions from showing up on a background check.<\/p>\n<p>Denver\u2019s Department of Excise and Licenses estimated it spent $26,500 on staff time to plan and host five clinics. It also spent about $7,000 in court fees and for advertising.\u00a0It did not calculate how much time staff spent processing applications.<\/p>\n<p>Eric Escudero, spokesman for the Excise and License department, said the program is attempting to address some of the social injustices spawned by a decades-long war on drugs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not going to take six months or one year to undo that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>A sliver of a fraction of Denver and Boulder residents eligible to have their marijuana convictions expunged from the records have been able to do so, data from the cities show. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6811,6812,8060,7540,6813,77,6814,2437,9,5019,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[6816,6817,8062,7541,6818,2655,6819,2443,5022],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8848"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}