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It was then that the mayor of Salt Lake County was asking employers here in the Valley to hire participants in drug court. “Give these people a second chance; they deserve a second chance.” He decided he should do the same thing that he was asking the employers to do. He gave me a job in the mayor’s office as a front desk receptionist. Once I got that job, he hired me at a great salary; more than I had ever made in my entire life. Before this time in my life, I was always on housing, I was always on food stamps, I was always getting some type of state assistance. When he hired me at that wage, I was able to leave all that behind and support myself. I was able to get into an apartment of my own, only with the help of my adult son. Because when I was looking round for apartments, nobody want- ed to let me live in their complex because of my criminal history. My adult son signed for me, we moved in together, and I was able to get my own apartment.
I was able to pay all my fines and fees and restitution associ- ated with the drug court. I was able to get my license back. I was able to get my first car again after being homeless. And then once I remained crime free for a certain amount of years and did everything the court asked me to do, I qualified to get my record expunged. So when I applied to get my record expunged, I got a letter saying I could ex- punge thirteen things off my record. They asked me, “How many of these do you want to expunge?” and to me the answer was simple; I wanted to expunge all of them. But what I learned quickly was what it meant was ‘how much can you afford to expunge’?
In Utah, once you agree to the expungement, you have 90 days to come up with that money. In my case, my 13 cases, it was $3,600 to expunge. I did not have that money. I didn’t have a savings of any kind. I was literally rebuilding my life from homelessness. I was arrested with no shoes on my feet, to having a car, having an apartment, having food in my house. And I told myself that I would never become homeless again. So when it came down to choosing my monthly bills, my rent, my car payment, my food or my expungement, I chose my monthly bills.
Being the recipient of this award is going to change so many lives. There are so many low-income families that can’t afford to get their record expunged. My story’s a lot different than most; I was afforded opportunities that most people don’t get. Most people with a criminal re- cord that are trying to rebuild their life from the mis- takes that they made are making minimum wage; they can barely afford their bills, they can barely afford food, they can barely afford to feed their children. I was given opportunities different than most people get so my story is a little different and I’m grateful for that. The money that we received from the Foundation and the American College of Trial Lawyers is going to help so many low-in- come families here in Utah be able to access those oppor- tunities that I was able to access and hopefully their lives will change the way my life has changed.
I would like to thank the Foundation and the American College of Trial Lawyers once again for choosing Clean Slate Utah as this year’s recipient of the Emil Gumpert Award.
Thank you.
Kathryn Snapka Corpus Christi, TX
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When my colleagues in the mayor’s office heard about this, they decided to do a fundraiser for me and they raised the money for my expungement. Af- ter I got the expungement, my life changed dramat- ically. I was able to purchase my own home. I got a raise and was able to pay off my car, able to provide for my children, able to live a healthy life. I was able to buy those healthy foods that I normally couldn’t afford because I was homeless. My life changed so much because the mayor’s office helped me pay for that expungement.