House Bill 1521

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 99-19-71, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ALLOW EXPUNCTION OF CONVICTIONS FOR FIRST OFFENSE NONVIOLENT FELONIES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 99-19-71, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

99-19-71. (1) Any person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor or a nonviolent felony as described in Section 47-7-3 and as provided in subsection (2) of this section, excluding a conviction for a traffic violation, and who is a first offender, may petition the justice, county, circuit or municipal court, as may be applicable, for an order to expunge any such conviction from all public records provided that such person has complied with all conditions imposed by the court related to the conviction. Upon entering such order, a nonpublic record thereof shall be retained by the court and by the Mississippi Criminal Information Center solely for the purpose of determining whether, in subsequent proceedings, such person is a first offender. The effect of such order shall be to restore such person, in the contemplation of the law, to the status he occupied before such arrest. No person as to whom such order has been entered shall be held thereafter under any provision of law to be guilty of perjury or to have otherwise given a false statement by reason of his failure to recite or acknowledge such arrest or conviction in response to any inquiry made of him for any purpose, except for the purpose of determining in any subsequent proceedings under this section, whether such person is a first offender.

(2) Upon prior notice to the district attorney and upon a showing in open court of rehabilitation, good conduct for a period of two (2) years since the conviction of a nonviolent felony as a first-time offender and that the best interest of society would be served, the court may, in its discretion, order the record expunged.

(3) Upon petition therefor, a justice, county, circuit or municipal court shall expunge the record of any case in which an arrest was made, the person arrested was released and the case was dismissed or the charges were dropped or there was no disposition of such case.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2005.