Clarence Jones v. State of Mississippi, 158 So. 3d 1144

In 1992 Clarence Jones pleaded guilty to murder in Warren County and received a life sentence.
His sentence was suspended in 2004, he was paroled, and in 2008 Governor Barbour issued a full, unconditional pardon.
In 2013 Jones petitioned the Warren County Circuit Court to expunge his murder conviction based on the gubernatorial pardon.
The trial court denied expungement, concluding expungement relief is statutory and the Legislature has not made pardons a ground for expungement.
Jones appealed, arguing the court had statutory authority or a constitutional obligation to expunge a conviction after a full pardon.
The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed, relying on its recent decision in Polk v. State and rejecting the view that a pardon automatically entitles a pardon recipient to expungement.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a full gubernatorial pardon requires or permits court-ordered expungement of a murder conviction	Jones: A full, unconditional pardon obligates or authorizes the court to expunge the conviction	State: No statutory basis exists tying pardons to expungement; expungement is governed by statute, not automatic consequence of pardon	Court: Denied — a pardon removes legal punishment and disabilities but does not automatically erase or expunge the record; no statutory authority for expungement on that basis

Polk v. State, 150 So. 3d 967 (Miss. 2014) (held no automatic expungement follows a gubernatorial pardon and construed Ex Parte Crisler narrowly)
Ex Parte Crisler, 132 So. 103 (Miss. 1931) (narrowly construed by Polk as limited to relieving a pardoned attorney from disbarment consequences)