A background check is required before filing an Expungement Petition in felonies, misdemeanors, acquittals, dismissals and convictions. As a criminal defense lawyer who handles dozens of expungements every year, there are two recent concerns that I would like to share with those currently in the process of filing for expungement as well as those who anticipate filing in the near future.
- Background checks are taking extraordinarily long to complete. When expungement statute first passed, it would take AOC (Administrative Office of the Courts) 2-3 business days to process a background check. Changes to the law now require those AOC checks to then be checked by Kentucky State Police (KSP) before they are finalized. Once finalized, the background check is considered Certified at which time the expungement petition can be filed.
The first problem arose immediately as KSP did not have officer’s assigned to review and certify the AOC check. KSP does now have officer(s) assigned, but the timing for completion has varied over the past few years from a week or two to now over 4 months in some cases. This is very frustrating not only for the defendant, who may be waiting to apply for a job or relocate, but also for the attorney who is waiting for the certificate so that they can proceed, get paid, and finalize the case.
If you are waiting on the background check, I suggest checking in with your attorney every 2 weeks. An attorney who handles numerous expungements can look online and see something like the following, to know where it stands with current timing. Additionally, our office regularly touches base with the KSP officer in Frankfort to better understand status of pending background checks.
This shows that as of today, 4/11/2025 we have received a background from October 28, 2024 but have still not received the check from 12/10/2024.
2. Changes to statutes. The other concern is that the expungement statutes do not always keep up with the numerous changes to the statutes over the years. I am involved with many cases of expungement in which the statute is now considered obsolete and the statute has been modified, often creating a new statute that may or may not be included in the list of crimes eligible for expungement.
Note: KSP has been good at directing those to remain eligible even though there may have been statutory changes.
If you have questions or wish to begin filing expungement, contact Bouldin Law Firm or email [email protected] to get started. We do charge for work, but will assist in ordering your background check for just the filing fee of $42,50.