Sealing Criminal Records of Convictions for the Former Class E Crime of Engaging in Prostitution

Criminal convictions often have collateral consequences — meaning things that could impact your life and your future, in addition to the sentence imposed by the court.

The Maine Legislature has approved a process by which persons convicted of the former Class E crime of Engaging in Prostitution may have their records sealed if:

(1) At least 1 year has passed since your sentence alternative has been fully satisfied. Sentencing alternatives include at least one of the following:

• Unconditional discharge;
• A split sentence of imprisonment with probation or administrative release;
• A fully suspended term of imprisonment with probation or administrative release;
• A term of imprisonment;
• A term of imprisonment followed by a period of supervised release;
• A fine; or
• A specified number of hours of community service work.

AND

(2) You have not been convicted of one of the following Maine crimes:

• Aggravated Sex Trafficking;
• Sex Trafficking;
• Engaging a Prostitute;
• Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Minor or Person with Mental Disability; or
• Engaging in substantially similar conduct in another jurisdiction.

Process to request that a conviction for engaging in prostitution be sealed

File Form CR-289 with the clerk’s office for the court in which the conviction occurred. 

You may do this with an attorney, or you may represent yourself (pro se). The State will be represented by a prosecutor from the office that handled the original case.

The court will schedule a hearing. At the hearing the court will review the requirements listed above and will grant the motion and order the conviction sealed if the person filing the motion has proven by a "preponderance of the evidence" (meaning "more likely than not") that each requirement has been met.

If the motion is granted, and an order sealing conviction is issued, the court will send notice of the sealing to the State Bureau of Identification (the agency maintaining criminal history records for the State of Maine).  The State Bureau of Identification will then seal the conviction and send notice that this has been done to the person's last known address. 

See 15 M.R.S. § 2264 (Post-Judgment Motion to Seal Criminal History Record; Motion and hearing; process).

What is "sealing"?

If your Maine criminal conviction is sealed under this process, it means that you may respond to inquiries from persons other than criminal justice agencies, the court, and other entities described in 15 M.R.S. § 2265 as if the conviction had not occurred. The record is not completely erased (Maine does not have "expungement"), but the record will not be disclosed to third parties, including employers, lenders, landlords, school admissions officers, and others.