Case Review - Commercial Driving License - Not Elgible for Expungement

Any person who has been issued a commercial driver's license is ineligible to have an expungement of an alcohol-related driving offense pursuant to section 577.054.  This statute allows for a person convicted of an alcohol-related driving offense, first offense, to have the record expunged after ten years if the person has not been convicted of any other offenses during that time.   However, subsection 2 of the statute states that the expungement shall not apply to a person who "has been issued" a commercial driver's license.  In State v. Owen, the defendant received a conviction of driving with excessive blood alcohol content on August 21, 1981.  This offense did not involve a commercial vehicle and the defendant did not receive any other convictions.  After ten years he filed a petition to have the record expunged.  The Director of Revenue objected because the defendant had been issued a commercial driver's license and had only surrendered it right before the petition had been filed.  The Director contended that this made the defendant ineligible to have his record expunged.  The defendant contended that because he did not have a commercial driver's license at the time he filed the petition, he was eligible for the expungement.  The trial court and the appellate court agreed with the Director of Revenue's interpretation of the statute and the defendant's record was not expunged.

Source:  State v. Owen, WD66655, (Mo. App. W.D., 03/06/2007)