Fight to expunge records frustrates attorney, clients

Frustration over the long road to getting old marijuana offenses expunged isn’t just limited to those who want their records cleared: It can also be a headache for attorneys.

“I have been fighting the Illinois State Police and local authorities on this,” said Thomas Glasgow, a Schaumburg-based defense attorney.

Court clerks send notice after the judge rules on a sealing or expungement petition. Glasgow said in DuPage County the clerks send them to state police the next day. Court clerks in McHenry and Lake counties also are good about sending the notices quickly, Glasgow said.

“The problem is in Cook. It just does not get there,” he said.

Glasgow’s office keeps a calendar to send reminders to police after 30, 60 and 90 days, if a client has not received notification that his or her record has been cleared.

“If we did not do that, some of these would never get expunged out of the client's background (check),” he said.

“The problem is the Illinois State Police,” Glasgow said. Within the last year, he has filed five petitions in court asking a judge to hold the state police in contempt. That seemed to light a fire under them, according to Glasgow.

ISP spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said in 2025, the agency’s average time to expunge or seal records was just under 44 days. “Currently, there is not a backlog to expunge or seal cannabis-related offense records,” Arnold said.

She said there are factors that affect the timeline. Some courts, she said, wait until they have “numerous” cases before they send them to state police. Sometimes, she said, there are hundreds of cases attached to a single order. The absence of fingerprints on file or the need to verify the original court disposition can delay the matter. And sometimes, there is an outdated address to which the notification letter must be sent, Arnold said.

“It is frustrating for the client,” Glasgow said. “It is maddening for them.”