The Missouri Supreme Court rejected arguments made by a man in Lafayette County that his conviction for a firearms offense be expunged because the charge was tied to his possession of marijuana.

The court handed down its 6-1 decision Tuesday, July 22, denying the man’s request that his two convictions from 2020 be expunged: one for possession of marijuana and the other for unlawful possession of a firearm while also possessing a controlled substance. The man, identified in the court’s decision as “C.S.”, pleaded guilty to both charges in a Lafayette County courtroom before Judge Dennis Rolf, two years prior to Missouri voters legalizing recreational marijuana and providing a pathway to expunging previous possession convictions. C.S. sought to have both convictions stricken, arguing that because state law no longer could consider marijuana a controlled substance, the possession of firearms conviction could no longer hold.

Only Justice Robin Ransom agreed with the argument presented by C.S., writing a dissent to the effect. In the majority opinion, Justice Zel Fischer penned that the circuit court “correctly concluded” that the term “marijuana offenses” should only apply to possession of the drug, rather than any offense that stems from its presence, and as such the other conviction was for a “firearms offense”.