25 year old Domestic Violence Conviction

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punkyb723
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Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2018 11:17 pm

25 year old Domestic Violence Conviction

Post by punkyb723 »

My fiancée was convicted of a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in 1994. We have been working with an attorney to get his rights reinstated. We were to go to court on 2/13/18 to discuss with a judge but we received an e-mail at 8:30 p.m. on 2/12/18 saying that the prosecutor is going to fight this and that is not able to get his CCW. We were told by our attorney that there have been other cases in Ohio where people who have had the same thing as my fiancée and have been able to get their CCW. Does anybody know this to be true? I have been with my fiancée since 1997 and he has not been in any trouble since we have been together and has led a very law abiding life. I understand the whole domestic violence issues but shouldn't something be done to help those people who have turned their lives around and have proven they are good people. Any help, suggestions, or options that are available would be greatly appreciated. We were told that there is a new ruling Terry v. Ohio that is now being used as the precedent. I am so overwhelmed at how the system works and these laws need to be changed or at least amended to see what the circumstances are and how the person has lived their life since their domestic violence charge.
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djthomas
Posts: 5961
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2006 11:09 am

Re: 25 year old Domestic Violence Conviction

Post by djthomas »

The prosecutor has no bearing on whether one is eligible for a CHL. Either the court will grant the restoration of rights/sealing of the record or it won't. The prosecutor has the statutory right to object to your fiancée's petition but the court is free to weigh his objection as it sees fit. Once the court disposes of the petition that ends the prosecutor's legal interest in the matter.

Having said that I think the court could probably say it will grant the petition on the condition that he does not obtain a CHL. If he goes ahead and does so it would be contempt of court. You can say hey that's BS, but the court has full discretion on whether or not to grant his petition so options are kind of limited.

I don't know the particulars of your fiancée's case or the politics of the jurisdiction involved, but it seems to me that 24 years of leading a law abiding life (hopefully not even traffic tickets) is a pretty strong track record to point to. Particularly if the circumstances of the conviction weren't major, e.g. didn't cause serious injuries and get pled down from a felony, etc. For the prosecutor's sake he'd better have some strong, articulable objections beyond "I don't like this."

At the end of the day the court makes the call, and props to you for having an attorney involved rather than proceeding pro se.

As an aside, it's my personal opinion that somebody looking to have their record sealed should never mention firearms ownership/hunting/obtaining a CHL as a reason. Those are sure to raise red flags along the way. There's far more politically correct reasons that can be offered. If, after the record is sealed, one were to choose to obtain firearms or get a CHL, well that's their business. Again I don't know the particulars of your fiancée's pleading but to somebody coming across this thread later it's something to consider.
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