A new law to help inmate firefighters expunge their felony records is working, but it's slow and complicated even as we enter another wildfire season.
For the second time in two months, Da’Ton Harris showed up for court this week in San Bernardino County, hoping that a judge would have mercy and expunge his criminal record.
But in April, the judge delayed the proceedings to research the law, which he’d never heard of. This week, the judge sent Harris away because the state had yet to confirm his eligibility to take advantage of it.in a state ravaged by drought, Assemblywoman Eloise Reyes , second from left, listens to the discussion at the Capitol in Sacramento. She sponsored Assembly Bill 2147 to help formerly incarcerated people become career firefighters.
Harris is just one example. For months, the Victorville resident has been working with Giovanni Pesce, an attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, in hopes of getting a judge to expunge his record, including the drug charge that led him to stints at multiple prison fire camps.
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