Vermilion County Circuit Clerk Dennis Gardner has been notified that approximately 116,000 additional eligible minor cannabis convictions in the state have been identified for the expungement process. The records have been forwarded to the Prisoner Review Board for review under the Governor’s pardon and expungement process.
Melissa Quick, Chief Deputy in the Vermilion County Circuit Clerk’s Office, says no Vermilion County cases involving small amounts of cannabis have been processed yet for expungement. Quick also notes it is not going to be an easy process.
Quick expects there will be a big volume of cases where people will be coming in seeking to get their record wiped clean for convictions for the use or possession of small amounts of cannabis. And Quick adds it may require revamping some jobs in the Circuit Clerk’s office just to handle the influx of people wanting to clear their conviction. ‘’It could potentially require us to dedicate an employee to this (the expungement process) full-time,’’ added Quick.
When a petition for expungement is filed, Quick says notification must be sent to the arresting agency. The arresting agency has 60 days to file an objection to the petition, and a hearing would have to be held. ‘’If there is no objection, it is a relatively simple process,’’ added Quick.
