There is help available Feb. 29 in Kentwood for Michigan residents seeking to expunge their records of criminal convictions that often have been a barrier to getting housing, jobs, state licensing and volunteering, including Cannabis convictions.
The Western Michigan University Cooley Law School Access to Justice Clinic in partnership with attorney Amanda Sterkenburg will offer an Expungement Eligibility Clinic to help people get their criminal history erased from public records on Saturday, Feb. 29.
The clinic is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Community Collaboration Center in the Kentwood Public Schools Administration Building, 5820 Eastern Ave. SE.
Tracey Brame, director of WMU-Cooley Access to Justice Clinic and associate dean of the Grand Rapids campus, said they are offering people the opportunity to come in and be screened for eligibility for an expungement.
In Michigan, she said people with one felony conviction and/or two misdemeanors for certain crimes are eligible to petition the court to have their records expunged, provided the last conviction attempting to be expunged was at least five years ago.