Amends TCA Title 40, Chapter 32.

This bill makes changes to provisions of criminal procedure regarding the destruction of records upon dismissal or acquittal, as described below. GENERALLY Present law authorizes an eligible petitioner to file a petition for expunction of that person's public records involving a criminal offense if: (1) The person has not been convicted of a criminal offense that is ineligible for expunction, including federal offenses and offenses in other states, that occurred prior to the offense for which the person is seeking expunction, excluding a moving or nonmoving traffic offense; and the person has not previously been granted expunction under this provision for another criminal offense; (2) At the time of the filing of the petition for expunction at least five years have elapsed since the completion of the sentence imposed for the offense the person is seeking to have expunged, if the offense is a misdemeanor or Class E felony; or 10 years have elapsed since the completion of the sentence imposed for the offense the person is seeking to have expunged, if the offense is a Class C or D felony; and (3) The person has fulfilled all the requirements of the sentence imposed by the court in which the individual was convicted of the offense; completion of any term of imprisonment or probation; meeting all conditions of supervised or unsupervised release; and if so required by the conditions of the sentence imposed, remaining free from dependency on or abuse of alcohol or a controlled substance or other prohibited substance for a period of at least one year. For the purposes of such provisions, "eligible petitioner" is defined as follows: (A) Persons convicted of certain Class C, D, and E felonies committed on or after November 1, 1989; (B) Persons convicted of certain misdemeanor offenses committed on or after November 1, 1989; (C) Persons convicted of a felony or misdemeanor committed prior to November 1, 1989, if the person has never had a previous conviction expunged as the result of the successful completion of a diversion program and the offense for which the person was convicted did not involve certain factors; and (D) Persons convicted of more than one of the offenses listed in this provision, if the conduct upon which each conviction is based occurred contemporaneously, occurred at the same location, represented a single continuous criminal episode with a single criminal intent, and all such convictions are eligible for expunction. This bill deletes (2) above and provides, instead, that such an eligible petitioner must, in addition to the requirements in (1) and (3) above, at the time of the filing of the petition for expunction, not have any pending charges filed against the petitioner. If the petitioner has been charged with an offense at the time of filing the petition, then the petition must be held by the clerk until the pending charge is resolved. PERSONS CONVICTED OF NO MORE THAN TWO OFFENSES Present law allows expunction of records for an eligible petitioner, defined for this provision as a person who was convicted of no more than two offenses and for whom the following applies: (1) Each of the offenses for which the petitioner seeks expunction are offenses that are eligible for expunction; (2) The offenses were two misdemeanors; or one felony and one misdemeanor; (3) At the time of the filing of the petition for expunction at least five years have elapsed since the completion of the sentence imposed for the most recent offense, if the offenses were both misdemeanors or a Class E felony and a misdemeanor; and 10 years have elapsed since the completion of the sentence imposed for the most recent offense, if one of the offenses was a Class C or D felony; and (4) The person has fulfilled all the requirements of the sentences imposed by the court for each offense the petitioner is seeking to expunge; completion of any term of imprisonment or probation for each offense; meeting all conditions of supervised or unsupervised release for each offense; and remaining free from dependency on or abuse of alcohol or a controlled substance or other prohibited substance for a period of at least one year, if so required by the conditions of any of the sentences imposed. This bill removes (3) above and provides, instead, that such an eligible petitioner must, in addition to the requirements in (1), (2), and (4) above, at the time of the filing of the petition for expunction, not have any pending charges filed against the petitioner. If the petitioner has been charged with an offense at the time of filing the petition, then the petition must be held by the clerk until the pending charge is resolved. STATUS AS VICTIM OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING Present law authorizes a person to file a petition for expunction of that person's public records involving offenses related to the person's status as a victim of human trafficking. In order to be eligible for expunction pursuant to this provision, the petitioner must meet certain requirements, including the requirement that at the time of the filing of the petition for expunction at least one year must have elapsed since completion of the sentence imposed for the petitioner's most recent criminal offense. This bill removes such requirement.