Expunge critics who don’t read carefully

In reference to a recent letter written by Herminia Matsumoto Fusco, which was mass-delivered to the Governor’s Office, the Senate, and the House of Representatives, I feel compelled to respond to this letter due to the author’s lack of simple research and reading and, subsequently, the author’s overreaction to non-existent threats to her special existence.

Ms. Fusco has the right to freely comment on legislation drafted by elected members of the CNMI Legislature, but readers of her ranting diatribe on House Bill 17-52, titled, “The Restoration of Rights and Expungement Act of 2011,” have the right to have her ill-informed and derogatory comments expunged from their minds.

The truth about the intent and contents of the bill is simple enough. Every state in the United States of America has some sort of expungement law, and the Commonwealth should also offer to those who qualify a chance to modify their past mistake into a positive step for their future goals and desires. Furthermore, the restoration of rights or expungement is not an automatic “gift” for past offenders of the law. The process to restore one’s rights or expunge one’s records is a lengthy process that must be approved by the courts. The Attorney General’s Office can also object, along with the Victims’ Rights Office and the public at large.

As the bill stands for final legislative review, felony convictions will not be removed from the records. A felon, after waiting five years, can petition the Commonwealth Superior Court only for a “restoration of rights,” and not for an expungement or erasure of his or her records. The restored rights include voting, government employment, holding office, serve on a jury, and be a notary public. It doesn’t include the right to possess or carry any firearm. Moreover, the bill does not extend the right of expungement or a restoration of rights to: 1) any person registered as a sex offender per Public Law 11-35; 2) any person convicted of any heinous crime such as murder, rape, aggravated sexual assault, or any other conviction deemed by the CNMI Superior Court and the Office of the Attorney General as justification to forfeit a person’s right for expungement or a restoration of rights; and 3) any person who has more than one conviction for a violent crime or offense that is punishable by five years or more.

In lesser offenses, any person guilty of a misdemeanor can petition the court after waiting three years, and misdemeanors can be expunged under the right circumstances and only by a judge following a thorough review.

So, what is Ms. Fusco’s problem with allowing certain convicted people the right to petition the court for the possible restoration of their rights or the expungement of misdemeanors? Furthermore, one must understand that these people will be re-examined and challenged all over again and will be exposed and judged again in public view. And if a convicted felon is fortunate to have his or her rights restored, and then runs for elected office and wins by a majority of his or her law-abiding supporters, is there a problem with the law, or a problem with people who have self-righteous and narrow-minded views on everyone’s rights except themselves, like Herminia Fusco?

Rep. Stanley T. McGinnis Torres
Capital Hill, Saipan