Mayor Justin Bibb, left, and City Council President Blaine Griffin, right, hand deliver court motions on April 6 that seek to wipe clean low-level marijuana convictions and charges.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Mayor Justin Bibb’s rollout of a well-intentioned plan to wipe clean thousands of low-level marijuana cases was legally messy and now requires a new approach, due to Ohio laws that may not grant Cleveland the ability to initiate the sealing of criminal records without the defendants’ involvement.
With great fanfare, Bibb announced April 6 that his administration was filing motions to expunge 4,077 minor misdemeanor convictions and charges filed in Cleveland Municipal Court since 2017. The splashy announcement entailed Bibb, Law Director Mark Griffin, City Prosecutor Aqueelah Jordan and City Council President Blaine Griffin toting boxes of legal paperwork through the downtown courthouse before hand-delivering their motions to the clerk of court’s office.
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