Colorado Automatically Seals More Than 100,000 Criminal Records | Western Colorado

Most crimes are misdemeanors and petty offenses, and often involve drugs or theft.

For years, Colorado has allowed people to petition to have their arrests and convictions sealed, a process that requires legal counsel and possibly a hearing before a judge. But the new Clean the Slate Act directs the state’s judicial system to automatically seal eligible records.

The Colorado Judicial Department’s initial data scraping, required under the law that took effect July 1, identified more than 140,000 eligible cases.

The government, including the Public Prosecution Service, can still view the data, but it will no longer be included in the background checks that landlords, companies and schools require.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

Nonviolent crimes, including some felonies, qualify — with many exceptions. A small portion — 1.4 percent — of the more than 140,000 records identified were felonies; the rest were misdemeanors and petty offenses. Arrests that did not result in charges also qualify.

Misdemeanors and petty offenses must be at least seven years old. Felonies must be 10 years old.

Crimes may not be related to domestic violence, child abuse, sexual violence or sexual exploitation.

The exemptions are complex and under the previous system, where a petition was filed to seal documents, the assistance of an attorney was typically required.

The most serious types of crimes, those classified as Class 1, 2 or 3, do not qualify. This includes murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, aggravated robbery, child trafficking and many others.

Other exceptions include traffic violations, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, bodily injury, animal cruelty, identity theft, drug trafficking, assault, threats, indecent exposure, theft, and some burglaries.

HOW IT WORKS

The law requires the Colorado Judiciary to compile a list four times a year of all documents that qualify for automatic sealing. The list must then be forwarded to district attorneys throughout the state.

District attorneys in Colorado’s 22 judicial districts have 45 days to file objections to records in their areas. The first round, which began in February, had some hiccups: The state’s computer system contained thousands of domestic violence records, even though they don’t qualify. They fixed the error and created a new list in March.

The number of eligible crimes dropped from 148,000 to about 141,000 after objections from district attorneys and the dropping of domestic violence cases.

After the records are sealed in the court system, which is still pending, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation must remove them from background checks.

If someone whose criminal record is sealed commits another crime, the record is unsealed and prosecutors can use it in court.

The petition system, the only option before the new law, is complicated, time-consuming and, for some clients, traumatic, said Abbey Moffitt, a criminal defense attorney and co-founder of Expunge Colorado, a nonprofit that helps people seal their records.

“This is a huge deal,” she said. “It allows people to move on, to experience that redemption and restore their dignity, remove the stigma and start contributing to society again.”

Moffitt helped launch Expunge Colorado in 2018, which has helped more than 600 people who attend annual clinics ask to have their records sealed. So far, the nonprofit has sealed more than 200 records. Many people come to clinics and find that their criminal cases are ineligible.

The nonprofit’s 15 volunteer attorneys can usually seal drug charges, theft and misdemeanors. Services are free, and Expunge covers court costs.

Despite the new law, Moffitt expects people will still contact the nonprofit because they want their cases sealed as soon as possible. People can petition a court to seal records after three years, or wait seven to 10 years from the day they are convicted for the state to automatically seal them under the new law.

“A lot of people need help right away,” Moffitt said. “They want to apply for this job now. They need housing now.”

The 2022 legislation had bipartisan support, including from the business community, which saw it as a way to expand the workforce eligible for the scheme.

Marcus Weaver’s criminal past kept him from filling out the application to volunteer at his daughter’s private school, even though he, like other parents, wanted to do his part. He just didn’t want school officials to run a background check and discover that he had served time in prison in 2008 for conspiracy to commit theft.

“You look at me and you would never think I would ever be in trouble,” said Weaver, who has since started a nonprofit that provides job training to people in prison.

Weaver also opened a pickle delivery company and hires people who are on probation. After they help him deliver pickles for a while, he helps them get hired by other companies. “I work with guys who are coming out and don’t know that they have things on their record that won’t let them get a job, even though they paid their time,” he said.

Employers, meanwhile, often just want someone who is trustworthy, but they can’t hire them if they can’t pass a background check. “I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that,” Weaver said.

For years he has advocated for a change in the law that would help people who have made mistakes in the past rebuild their lives, as he has done.

“The whole time I was in prison, I was helping people with their resumes,” he said. “I was listening to guys talk about the fear of starting their lives over.”

Three in 10 Colorado residents have a prior arrest or conviction on their criminal record, according to the Clean Slate Colorado coalition. When Colorado passed the law in 2022, it became the seventh state to do so since 2018, following Pennsylvania, Utah, Michigan, Connecticut, Delaware and Oklahoma.