This legislation was a result of both the CNMI attorney general’s criminal division and public defender’s office having giving advice and input into my office for an expungement act to be introduced, since the CNMI does not have one on the books.
Information was also attained by my office concerning the expungement acts of various U.S. states, and I said, what the pugua, why can’t a citizen of the CNMI enjoy the same due process rights of say a citizen from California, or even Minnesota — home of many wackos I presume Mr. Davis is also talking about.
Frankly speaking, I won’t extend the length of this letter any further, since Mr. Davis has an apparent reading deficiency and doesn’t like to read all the parts of a whole before he goes ranting. So, let’s make it easy for Mr. Davis: The CNMI expungement act, like most other U.S. expungement acts, is a long process of petitioning the court, which in turn the court requires the attorney general’s office to file papers (pro or con), which in turn contacts the victims, which in turn all this ends up in the newspapers for public support or outcry, which then returns back to the judge who makes a determination in the expungement petition. Of course, common sense dictates that violent offenders don’t stand much of a chance at all to having their records expunged, but there are many people not as holy and self-righteous as Mr. Davis, who have committed a transgression in their early lives, and after leading good lives then on, need a fair opportunity to erase a misfortunate incident that continues to hamper their lives.
REP. STANLEY T.
MCGINNIS TORRES
17th CNMI Legislature
