$1.25
your homegrown newspaper October 20, 2021
Sports pg. 14
Polson filmmaker pg. 20
$10,000 fish pg. 24
Second chances First criminal record expunged in Lake County Drug Court Story and photos by Summer Goddard / Valley Journal
POLSON — District Court Judge James Manley experienced a career first in Lake County Drug Court last week when he expunged the record of program graduate Angela Evans. Expungement, according to the American Bar Association, “is the process by which a record of criminal conviction is destroyed or sealed from state or federal record. An expungement order directs the court to treat the criminal conviction as if it had never occurred, essentially removing it from a defendant’s criminal record as well as, ideally, the public record.” “The law gives me the power to expunge people’s records and I’ve never done it before,” Manley said. He’s never done it, he said, because he believes in accountability. He’s doing it now, he added, because he also believes in second chances. During Oct. 14 drug court proceedings, Manley explained that he made an addition to the drug court’s policies and procedures to allow for record expungements for graduates who’ve “performed exceptionally well, above the normal standards of drug court.” Among the seven factors outlined for expungement consideration are how a graduate performed while in drug court, length of sobriety, demonstration of commitment to self-improvement and to helping others and their community. Right: Judge James Manley reads with Angela Evans the signed document that expunges her criminal record.
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Vol. 18, No. 5