A Cook County judge is threatening the Illinois State Police with criminal contempt of court. He says the State Police have repeatedly failed to follow orders to expunge criminal records.
In the case at hand, the court agreed to have a dismissed charge expunged from a Dolton woman’s record. But state police sent her a letter saying it couldn’t be removed. Judge Ronald Riley says state police have routinely disobeyed orders to expunge records. Christopher Wilmes is a staff attorney at the Legal Assistance Foundation, who is working on the case.
WILMES: It’s not just sort of one isolated incident of one person at Markham courthouse not getting their record expunged after they were supposed to do so. This is a systematic problem that affects many, many people.
A spokesman from the Illinois Attorney General’s office, Scott Mulford, says he had no comment on that. He says the office is consulting with its client, the Illinois State Police. The parties will meet back in court on July 16th.