When the 2019 Legislature passed a bill to lower the penalties for first time marijuana offenders – specifically for possession of marijuana – there was also an effort to try and “expunge” the records of those first time offenders, if they were free from subsequent offenses.
“It can reflect and make it more difficult for people to get professional licenses or jobs,” said Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. But he told the Big Muddy Bar Association meeting in Bismarck, no one really knows what “expunge” means.
“Files in the courts and files in the Bureau of Criminal Investigation maintains aren’t paper files, where you can put a piece of tape over it, or shred them up, or do anything so that nobody can get to them,” Stenehjem said. He also said that is especially problematic for the BCI, because it shares files with the Federal Government.
“So it hit me after the session was over," Stenehjem said. "Why don’t we do something that actually works?”
So he came up with this idea.
“Why don’t we just give everybody a pardon, if they have been convicted of possession, use or ingestion of marijuana, have had a clean record for five years, and make it happen so it’s virtually automatic?” Stenehjem said.
Stenehjem said he took the idea to the Pardon Board, and to Gov. Doug Burgum. He suggested that the pardon application be shortened to one page.
"And we will, for free, conduct a background check to make sure they were honest when they said they haven’t been convicted of another offense within the last five years," Stenehjem said.
The pardons would be granted on a “consent agenda.” And Stenehjem said the pardon is granted with a “removal of guilt.”
“That’s a distinction from a simple pardon," Stenehjem said. "Because if you get a pardon, and you’re asked if you were ever convicted, you have to say, ‘Yes, but It got a pardon.’ If you get a pardon with removal of guilt, and the question is asked, ‘Have you ever been convicted of possession or use of marijuana, you can honestly say, ‘No.’”
Stenehjem said the shortened pardon form, and a description of the process, is on the Attorney General’s Website, as well as the website for the Department of Corrections. He said about a dozen have applied for it so far, and he’s hoping more will do so before the Pardon Board meets in November.
