Court Opinion

ID: 9505008
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 20:00:27.011004+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:04:13.613878
License: Public Domain

SHEPARD, C.J.,
dissenting.
I think the Court has worked too hard at parsing the expungement statute. The legislature's policy seems apparent enough. When someone petitions to expunge an arrest and the prosecutor stands silent, the trial court shall grant the ex-pungement. When the State believes it would be harmful to the public's interest to expunge and thus objects, the court must decline to expunge where the record re-fleets multiple arrests for real crimes.
While the expungement statute might produce an occasional anomaly, as the Court speculates, there is nothing anomalous about the case before us. Besides his arrest for armed robbery, Arnold has been arrested for drunk driving four times, convicted twice, and violated probation. I conclude that the General Assembly has prohibited expungement under such circumstances.