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Crime, Law and Justice
Tim Nelson

County attorneys, AG Ellison hold 'expungement fair' to seal low-level criminal records

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Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, Washington County Attorney Pete Orput.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi (left) and Washington County Attorney Pete Orput.
Courtesy of Ramsey County

Two Twin Cities metro county attorneys and Minnesota’s attorney general are launching a new effort to help some people remove criminal records from view.

The process would seal their records, but not erase their past completely. It only applies to certain low-level offenses, and there is a post-sentence waiting period that varies by severity of the charge. Officials say they're reaching out to eligible people.

Washington County Attorney Pete Orput and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a press release that they hope it will make it easier for people to get good jobs and housing.

“Prosecutors are ministers of justice — it is our legal and ethical responsibility to help people who have paid their debt to society to remove the scarlet letter of a criminal conviction, along with the barriers it creates to accessing jobs, housing, education and other necessities in life,” Choi said.

Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office is joining the effort by sponsoring what he called an expungement fair this weekend. The event takes place on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the High School for Recording Arts on University Avenue in St. Paul.

Students from Mitchell Hamline School of Law and the University of St. Thomas School of Law will help with the fair. Volunteer attorneys also will take part.

The legal process of expungement has been available in Minnesota to those with qualifying records since 1996. In 2018, 187 people applied for an expungement in Ramsey County, and 120 of those used a lawyer to process it, the county attorneys say.

Officials have also set up a website to make the process cheaper and easier.