Has anybody had any of these cases start percolating up in your courts? Not a fan of this provision. How are your judges ruling on the issue of vacating convictions and dismissing indictments?

We've had quite a few of these filed lately, and no one seems to really know how to handle them. It seems like an extremely odd section to me.

This must have been a topic at some defense bar conference recently.

As with most things, we're taking it on a case-by-case basis. A few times we've objected strongly, usually on the grounds that it was a crime of violence in that particular circumstance.

Recently, we had a Possession of Marijuana from 1970 that would today be a misdemeanor, and considering the defendant had no prior criminal history, nor any subsequent history (other than a speeding ticket or two), we agreed to it. Our rationale was that were a similar circumstance be presented today, he would at worst face a misdemeanor, and would have most likely received deferred, and therefore be eligible for a petition for non-disclosure. Under those particular circumstances, we really didn't see the need for a hearing.

One of my prosecutors has got another one coming up in May sometime, and we're thinking that we might just 'punt' it to the judge and see what he thinks . . .

The way the section is written it can be done without any defense attorney being present. I would think that would not make the defense bar happy. That would cut into their bottom line.