By Clint Confehr
NASHVILLE, TN — Previously incarcerated people may take steps toward getting their court records erased Sunday at a program hosted by state NAACP officials.
The Record Expungement Clinic is from 3-6 p.m., April 15, in the Preston Taylor Boys & Girls Club, 915 38th Ave., North, at Moses McKissack Professional Development School.
Expungement is a legal process ending with a judge’s order to erase criminal records. Expungement can lead to recovery of U.S. citizenship rights including the right to vote and run for political office. It’s done in cooperation with the District Attorneys Office and the Criminal Court Clerk’s Office. Clerk Howard Gentry has portable computers, printers and a secure wifi system to start the process for people to file petitions with the court.
The Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP is partnering with a Nashville group, Justice For All, to help people regain their right to vote. Also supporting the expungement clinic are Teamsters Nation Black Caucus (Nashville Middle Tennessee Vally Chapter), Transit4Nashville.com, and Democracy Nashville.
Justice For All activist Marilyn Brown of Haynes Estates says Daniel A. Horwitz, a constitutional lawyer practicing in Nashville, helped the volunteer group start expungement clinics. Horwitz suggests that people read a page from his website before proceeding with the clinic. It’s at https://expungementnashville.com/frequently-asked-questions/. Horwitz was the first attorney in Tennessee to successfully expunge multiple convictions and the first attorney to obtain a partial expungement.
Brown recommends that people bring a photo identification card to the clinic.
Officially dubbed the Judges Forum and Record Expungement Clinic, the three-hour program is to do what’s been done at two other clinics, both held at the Limelight Events Center on Woodland Avenue.
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