Rep. Daryl Owens of Louisville has introduced a bill (which you can read here) which would allow for the expungement of felony convictions after five (5) years. The bill would apply only to Class D felonies and, as amended currently, would not allow for not allow for expungment for crimes against children, or the disabled or elderly (crimes under Chapter 209). Kentucky has had allowance for misdemeanor expungements for some time now, and it appears that several other states allow for some level of felony erasure. Oddly, the bill would also allow that for persons who received a felony expungement, they could not be charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. I suppose that is just consistent with the current fervor over “Second Amendment rights” though, right? It also appears that such felonies could not longer form the basis for enhanced sentences under the persistent felony offender law.
We’ll try to follow this through the legislature.
