Recently an inmate asked me about him being able to obtain a medical job once he gets out of the County Lock Up. I inquired what he was in here for and it was a misdemeanor Domestic Violence conviction. First off, I always tell them I am not a lawyer and cannot give legal advice. Then I explain my whole career was as a police officer and I will not tell them how to get out of a charge. I will only explain the law and give them the explanation of why a police officer would do or handle a certain situation in a particular way. I will not read their reports and tell them who said what or did what. That would be against department policy and would be illegal.
This particular inmate was told to contact an attorney for a legal opinion. There are so many attachments to different crimes that some jobs are off limits to people with certain convictions. For instance a DV conviction with the judge prohibiting the possession of a firearm would be become prohibitive in the field of law enforcement, the military or security work.
A conviction for theft of medication would prohibit a person from working as a Pharmacist Assistant, or practically any position in the medical field. Any conviction for embezzlement or forgery would prohibit a person from working in the finance and banking industry as well as Real Estate.
We did have a case once with a doctor being charged with DV. The doctor did have a medical board hearing and was disciplined. The doctor sought counseling and was eventually reinstated with full privileges. Moving out of state, the doctor is now doing fine and the family is in a much healthier situation.
The next part of the inmate’s inquiry was if a DV charge can be expunged. Any expungement is for the person who had a one time lapse of good judgement but then has served the sentence handed down and has turned their life around. It does not help someone who is a repeat offender.
After one year from the date of conviction on a crime, the person can request a hearing from the sentencing judge for expungement. It is at the complete discretion of the judge to grant the request or deny it. Should a person with a conviction for possession of a marijuana pipe ask for the record to be expunged, I would not expect a favorable response from the judge if the petitioner has 8 such convictions.
Some crimes resulting in a conviction cannot be expunged at all. Murder, rape, sexual battery involving juveniles is just a few examples. Just about any conviction with a juvenile being the victim are prohibited from being considered for expungement.
As for what expungement is, when the judge orders a record expunged the police department must place all paperwork relevant to that case in a folder or box and seal it. The expunged records must be maintained separately from all other records to prevent accidental opening.
The expunged or sealed record can only be opened if the person is newly charged with a similar crime. Then it takes a court order to unseal and allow the information to be used in a new case.
It is common practice in juvenile court for the judge to order the sealing of any juvenile when they turn 18 years of age.
The big exception to expungement is traffic convictions. It is a common perception that after so many years a ticket drops off your record. That is not the case in Ohio. A traffic conviction remains on your record as long as we have computers to record it. What does drop off are the points assessed to your license for said convictions.
Say for instance you have an OVI (6 points), 2 speeding tickets (2 points each) and a red light violation (2 points) within a 12 month period. That is 14 points total and you will lose your driving privileges for having more than 12 points in a year.
As each conviction passes the 1 year point of conviction, the points drop off and you eventually can begin accumulating points again. However each of those convictions will remain on your driving record held by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The insurance company cannot continue to count those points against you in deciding how much to charge you for your insurance. And when you start accumulating multiple OVI convictions in a certain number of years, the charge eventually becomes more severe and even rise to prison time felonies.
Domestic Violence is the same way. The second offense with a conviction is automatically a felony.
So unless you are willing to pay a large sum of money to attorneys, insurance agents and in court fines, think about the consequences of your actions. If you can’t pay the fine, don’t do the crime.
