Missouri misdemeanor marijuana charges expunge deadline arrives Thursday

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The deadline to expunge misdemeanor cases of marijuana in Missouri charges is Thursday.

Several counties have expunged thousands of cases which could include more than one for each person.

All non-violent marijuana-related cases are required to be expunged by today under the amendment. So far, the state has cleared a lot of charges but not every single one.

Cass County has expunged 186 cases; one is a petition as of Thursday morning. Clay has granted more than 1,500, Jackson County granted more than 1,000 with 17 petitioned, and Platte County has just 63 granted.

More than 46,600 cases have been expunged across the state. Twenty-eight counties in the state have expunged less than 100 cases.

Court staff members have to attempt to notify the defendant of any expungement. Individuals with older cases should check with their court clerk to see if theirs is expunged or not.

It is also trickier for those who have changed addresses, so the courts ask to check with clerks to see where they stand in the process. There is also a lot of reading between the lines with this when looking at how many people have had their cases expunged.

For example in Cass County, marijuana offenses could have been charged as possession of a controlled substance, not just marijuana. So all of those cases have to be reviewed again to see if and how much marijuana was accounted for in the documents. Cass County officials say it is impossible to obtain the exact number of misdemeanors on their books as of right now because of those situations.

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