It’s 5 p.m., and people are streaming out of the Boone County Courthouse into the dark November evening. But some employees from the Boone County circuit clerk’s office stick behind, just as they have for almost two years.
Missourians passed a constitutional amendment legalizing adult use of recreational marijuana during the midterm elections in November 2022. The amendment mandated that local courts expunge nonviolent marijuana charges, and the constitutional amendment went into effect Dec. 8, 2022.
Two years later, Boone County is still working on clearing those automatic criminal records, meaning Missourians with eligible records do not need to petition for expungements.
The circuit clerk’s office is responsible for determining which cases are eligible for expungement. Circuit Clerk Sherry Terrell said employees are working overtime, sometimes on weeknights and Saturdays, to clear eligible records while performing the office’s other responsibilities during a normal workday.
“The automatic expungements are not automatic,” Terrell said. “Someone on my team is actually touching those and processing them.”
Boone County residents with an expungement-eligible criminal record “may struggle to secure government assistance, find housing and gain employment,” said Dan Viets, chair of the board of directors of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Michelle Cecil, the court manager who works on the expungement process in Boone County, said these barriers motivate court employees to work overtime to clear eligible records.
“Some people may only have that one charge,” Cecil said. “And that can still impact them getting a job. So we want to make sure we can get that off for them. That’s why I think those of us are working and are committed to getting it done.”
As of late October, more than 9,000 cases have been reviewed, and 29% of those charges have been cleared or processed in Boone County. More than 100 cases are in the process of being reviewed, and the office expects it still has 1,020 cases left, Terrell said.
In December 2023, almost a year after recreational marijuana was legalized, 6,240 cases had been reviewed, with 1,076 expunged, according to previous Missourian reporting.
“I think people don’t understand how time-consuming it is,” Cecil said.
Despite reviewing thousands of cases, the office has not met its state-assigned deadline for expunging criminal records. The state wanted misdemeanors cleared by June 2023 and felonies completed by December 2023.
The Boone County circuit clerk’s office typically completes administrative tasks for the county courthouse, including maintaining daily court records.
“I think we wanted to try really hard to meet all of those deadlines, but that’s just not realistic when we still are processing cases every single day,” Terrell said.
The county clerk’s office double-checks — and often triple-checks — to make sure the charges are eligible for expungement. Terrell said it can be challenging to determine whether certain drug charges concern marijuana or another ineligible substance. Some charges don’t specify between substances like cocaine and marijuana, under Missouri law.
All expungements are sent to a judge for final approval. The circuit clerk’s office also has to notify law enforcement to completely clear eligible charges.
Cases can go back decades, and employees are pulling cases from digital records, microfilm and even stacks of old judgment books, which are used to document court records. While state agencies provided the clerk’s office with some cases to review, the list is not comprehensive.
People who want the court to consider their records can call the office, and Terrell said the office would move up their cases for immediate review.
Missouri has funded the overtime hours needed to review old records, but working overtime on the marijuana expungement cases is voluntary, Terrell said. In the two years since the constitutional amendment passed, the office has scaled down on its overtime hours.
“I think it became where it was just too much,” Terrell said. “(Employees) needed some downtime because we deal with heavy work here.”
Missouri’s constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana required local courts to clear eligible records, but it’s a process that has dragged on longer than some would hope. However, Terrell said Boone County will continue the work until it’s done.
“We are the keeper of the record, and that is part of the record that has to be changed, and we are accountable ... to the residents,” Terrell said.
Missourian reporter Sara Spreitzer contributed to this report.
