State v. M.D.T.
| Decision Date | 09 April 2012 |
| Docket Number | No. A11–1285.,A11–1285. |
| Citation | 815 N.W.2d 628 |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Appellant, v. M.D.T., Respondent. |
| Court | Minnesota Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Syllabus by the Court
1. When the factors enunciated in State v. H.A., 716 N.W.2d 360, 364 (Minn.App.2006), substantially support expungement, a district court does not abuse its discretion by ordering expungement of criminal records that are generated and maintained by the judicial branch.
2. When a district court carefully considers the need for open executive branch records and balances those needs with the core function of the judiciary to issue meaningful decisions and further fashions a remedy of sealing executive branch records subject to unsealing, it does not abuse its discretion by ordering expungement of criminal records that are generated by the judicial branch and maintained by the executive branch.
Lori Swanson, Attorney General, St. Paul, MN; and Kimberly S. Pehrson, Assistant Nobles County Attorney, Worthington, MN, for appellant.
Daniel A. Birkholz, Birkholz Law LLC, St. James, MN, for respondent.
Considered and decided by KLAPHAKE, Presiding Judge; STONEBURNER, Judge; and CLEARY, Judge.
Five years after entering an Alford plea to a felony charge of aggravated forgery for altering the dosage of a prescription cold medicine, respondent petitioned the district court for expungement of her criminal records. The district court granted the petition as to both respondent's criminal records generated and maintained by the judicial branch and those generated by the judicial branch and maintained by the executive branch. Appellant challenges that decision.
On February 7, 2006, respondent M.D.T. was arrested after she submitted to a Worthington Shopko pharmacy an altered prescription for the cold medicine Robitussin, which contains codeine, a controlled substance. After her arrest, M.D.T. gave a statement to police in which she admitted to altering the prescription dosage from 200 milliliters to 400 milliliters. She stated that she made the alteration because she did not have enough money for another prescription and could not afford to return to the doctor if the prescription did not work. Respondent's criminal record included no other offenses.
The state charged respondent with two counts of felony-level aggravated forgery, Minn.Stat. § 609.625, subds. 1(1) (making or altering), 3 (2006) (uttering or possessing), and one count of felony-level controlled substance crime (procurement by fraud) in violation of Minn.Stat. § 152.025, subd. 2(a)(2)(i) (2006). Respondent entered an Alford plea on one of the aggravated forgery counts (uttering or possessing).
At sentencing, the district court stayed imposition of sentence, placed respondent on three years' probation, and ordered her to pay an $879 fine, among other conditions. On February 5, 2008, respondent was discharged early from probation and her remaining fine was forgiven.
Thereafter, respondent petitioned pro se for expungement of her criminal records on two occasions. In the first pro se petition, filed on September 2, 2008, respondent asked for expungement to permit her to “move on with my life” and “start my career ... in business management and accounting,” and she claimed that she was rehabilitated because she followed all court orders and had a “good steady job.” The district court denied respondent's petition after finding that she had failed to provide clear and convincing evidence either that she had rehabilitated herself in such a short period or that expungement would yield a benefit to her that was commensurate with the public detriment of elimination of her record and the burden of issuing and administering the expungement order.
In the second and most recent expungement petition filed on January 1, 2011, respondent was represented by legal counsel and submitted a lengthy account of the steps she took to rehabilitate herself, documenting her job history, history of job dismissals and job application rejections due to her criminal history, career plans, personal history, education, and her lack of any additional new offenses. With regard to her education, respondent presented evidence of academic achievement in the form of her college transcript and her placement on the deans' lists at a community college. The petition also included a letter of support from a woman who employed her as a personal care assistant for the employer's special needs child. The Nobles County Attorney objected to the petition on the basis that the stated reason for the expungement, attainment of employment goals, is not a valid reason for expungement, that expungement is not essential to the judiciary's core functions, and that the district court lacked the authority to order expungement of records outside the judicial branch.
During the April 12, 2011 hearing on the petition, the district court received into evidence a February 2, 2011 letter from Jon Ramlo, the director of Rock Nobles Community Corrections. The letter states that “Rock Nobles Community Corrections would not be opposed to the expungement of this case.”
The district court granted respondent's motion to expunge the record of her offense. The court concluded that “there is clear and convincing evidence that sealing the record would yield a benefit to [respondent] commensurate with the disadvantages to the public and public safety.” The court noted that “precedence in the area of expungement law regarding the district court's inherent authority to expunge executive branch records is unclear,” but it found compelling the reasoning and commentary contained in several recent unpublished opinions by this court that “utilize a more expansive view of the Court's inherent judicial authority to craft a remedy in expungement cases.” In summarizing its reasoning, the court stated:
It is this Court's opinion that [respondent's] one-time mistake of altering a minor cold medicine prescription in light of [respondent's] successful completion of probation and subsequent reduced offense level, combined with her otherwise clean criminal history and strong showing of her rehabilitative efforts does not justify the [Bureau of Criminal Apprehension] to hinder [respondent's] employment progress for 15 years ... The District Court has the inherent judicial authority to seal executive branch records and creates a meaningful remedy in cases such as this one.
The court ordered that
[a]ll official records held by the following agencies, other than the non-public record retained by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, including all records relating to arrest, indictment or complaint, trial, dismissal and discharge shall be sealed and their existence shall be disclosed only by court order, except as authorized by law: Nobles District Court, Nobles County Sheriff, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Minnesota Attorney General's Office, Minnesota Department of Corrections, Nobles County Attorney, Worthington City Police Dept., Probation/Court Services Department, Worthington City Attorney.
1. Did the district court abuse its discretion by ordering expungement of respondent's judicial branch criminal records?
2. Did the district court exceed its authority by ordering expungement of judicial branch records maintained by the executive branch?
In an exercise of its discretion, a district court may expunge a person's criminal records by statute, under Minn.Stat. § 609A.02, subd. 3 (2010), when the criminal charges were resolved favorably to the person, or for equitable reasons, based on the court's inherent authority. State v. S.L.H., 755 N.W.2d 271, 274 (Minn.2008). The expungement here is based on inherent authority only. This court reviews expungement decisions under the abuse of discretion standard. State v. Ambaye, 616 N.W.2d 256, 261 (Minn.2000). In expungement matters, the district court must make factual findings to support its exercise of discretion, and its findings will not be reversed unless clearly erroneous. H.A., 716 N.W.2d at 363.
Appellant first challenges the district court's exercise of its inherent authority to order expungement of judicial records related to respondent's conviction. The district court's inherent authority to order expungement is limited to situations in which there is a serious infringement of the petitioner's constitutional rights caused by the accessibility of the criminal records, or when the court determines that “expungement will yield a benefit to the petitioner commensurate with the disadvantages to the public from the elimination of the record and the burden on the court in issuing, enforcing and monitoring an expungement order.” Ambaye, 616 N.W.2d at 258 (quotation omitted). This court has adopted a five-factor analysis to assist the district court in conducting the benefit/burden analysis, which includes consideration of
(a) the extent that a petitioner has demonstrated difficulties in securing employment or housing as a result of the records sought to be expunged; (b) the seriousness and nature of the offense; (c) the potential risk that the petitioner poses and how this affects the public's right to access the records; (d) any additional offenses or rehabilitative efforts since the offense, and (e) other objective evidence of hardship under the circumstances.
The district court applied each of the H.A. factors in reaching its decision.
In respondent's sworn statement attached to her expungement petition, she details her job history, including that she was “fired from H.S.I. after the background check showed [her] felony charges from 2006,” she was “turned down at numerous jobs that required background checks,” and she eventually accepted a job as a grocery store cashier because “it didn't require a background check.” Respondent listed the employers by whom she was denied employment after required background checks, including HyVee, Polaris, Rosenbloom,...
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State v. M.D.T., A11–1285.
...“be sealed and their existence ... be disclosed only by court order.” The court of appeals affirmed the district court. State v. M.D.T., 815 N.W.2d 628 (Minn.App.2012). Because we conclude that the district court did not have inherent authority to expunge M.D.T.'s records held in the execut......
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State v. J.J.H., A12-1789
...of records held by the executive branch. This issue is currently under review by the Minnesota Supreme Court. See State v. M.D.T., 815 N.W.2d 628 (Minn. App. 2012), review granted (Minn. June 27, 2012). In the present case, because the district court determined that appellant was not entitl......
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State v. R.M.B.
...held by any executive branch entity."DECISION The district court based its order on this court's decision in State v. M.D.T., 815 N.W.2d 628 (Minn. App. 2012) (M.D.T. I), rev'd by 831 N.W.2d 276 (Minn. 2013), which stated that a court has inherent authority to expunge records held by the ex......