The Senate Committee on Corrections and Criminal Code heard SB 47 authored by Sen. Freeman regarding expungement timing. The bill provides that if a court reduces a Class D or Level 6 felony to a misdemeanor, the five-year waiting period for expungement begins the date of the felony conviction and not on the date the felony was converted to a misdemeanor. This bill arose from a Court of Appeals case concerning expungement.
There was one amendment taken by consent to provide that a court shall expunge a denied protection order sixty days after disposition. The amendment further allows law enforcement agencies to consider expunged crimes in hiring decisions without liability. The Indiana Public Defender Council and the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association testified in support of the bill. The bill passed 8-0.
Read the bill at: http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2020/bills/senate/50