First Offender Status for Purposes of Expungement in Ohio
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| Question: If I was convicted of several crimes at the same time, and one of them was not eligible to be expunged, can I expunge the others? |
A. No. The Ohio Supreme Court recently considered the case of State of Ohio v. Futrall (2009) 123 Ohio St.3d 498. In that case, Mr. Futrall was convicted of a crime of violence which was a first degree misdemeanor. R.C. 2953.36 (part of the Ohio Expungement Statute) lists the crimes that cannot be expunged, including convictions of an offense of violence when the offense is a misdemeanor of the first degree. R.C. 2953.36(C). Therefore, Futrall's conviction for aggravated menacing cannot be sealed. all stemming out of the same incident.
But there were other offenses to which he plead guilty on that same day which were not listed as exceptions to the expungement statute. Futrall argued that the judge should have been allowed to expunge those cases, leaving only the one unexpungeable conviction on his record.
The question then became whether an applicant with multiple convictions in one case may seal the portion of his or her criminal record that is eligible pursuant to R.C. 2953.32 when one of the convictions is statutorily exempt from being sealed.
The Ohio Supreme Court held that: "when an applicant with multiple convictions under one case number moves to seal his or her criminal record in that case pursuant to R.C. 2953.32 and one of those convictions is statutorily exempt from sealing pursuant to R.C. 2953.36, the trial court may not seal the remaining convictions." Futrall at 500.
The Court reasoned that since the eviction statute calls for the sealing of all records of multiple convictions, it must mean that all of those records have to be eligible for sealing.
Continue on to our complete guide to Ohio expungement law
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