Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West, City of Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin, and Cumberland County Commissioner Charles Evans announced today that the Cumberland County Expungement Clinic, which was on pause due to COVID-19, will return with informational sessions beginning in December.
In the sessions, West will speak on expungement requirements in the state and some “recent changes to the law that expanded access to relief through the North Carolina Second Chance Act,” the release said.
In North Carolina, 1.5 million people have a criminal record, with over 1,000 collateral consequences to criminal convictions according to N.C. law.
Some of these consequences affect whether a person can find an adequate job or housing; the release said that oftentimes, people are discriminated against when seeking employment over charges that were dismissed or that they did not commit.
Two different information sessions will be held; to participate in the expungement clinic, a person must attend one information session, where he or she will fill out an application and screened for eligibility for an expungement.
The actual expungement clinic, which will be an actual session of court, will take place in the spring of next year. Volunteers from the local defense bar, the Public Defender’s Office, and Legal Aid of North Carolina will help attendees fill out their paperwork, and Clerk of Court Lisa Scales will help people file their paperwork with waivers of filing fees. Presiding over the session will be Chief District Court Judge Toni S. King and Resident Superior Court Judge Claire V. Hill.
The first informational session will be held on Dec. 11 at 11 a.m. at Seabrook Auditorium. The second informational session will be held on Dec. 21 at 6 p.m. at FTCC’s Tony Rand Student Center. For more information on the upcoming informational sessions and expungement clinic, contact the District Attorney's Office at 910-475-3010 or Cumberland. DAExpungments@nccourts.org.
