If you had a criminal case in Union County, Ohio and are thinking about having your case record expunged and/or sealed, you may have questions. What is expungement/sealing? Why would I want to have my records expunged/sealed? Is my case eligible to have the records expunged/sealed? How is expungement/sealing accomplished? Should I retain a lawyer to represent me? Those questions are answered in this page. If you want a lawyer to represent you for expungement/sealing in Union County, the Dominy Law Firm can help.
Expungement and sealing are both ways to have the records of a criminal case removed from public records, but they are different in Ohio. Expungement is the destruction/deletion/erasure of records. Sealing is making the records unavailable to the public.
Criminal records checks are done for various purposes. They are often conducted by employers, and they are also conducted for professional licensing, volunteering, military, immigration, housing, and loans. If you had a criminal case in Union County, the case will be present on a criminal record check.
Your record should not impact you forever. If you do not want your criminal record to appear on a check of court records, you may want to have the case records sealed/expunged. If the case records are sealed/expunged, the record will not be present on a check of court records.
The Marysville Municipal Court has jurisdiction to hear misdemeanor crimes. That court also has jurisdiction for the initial phases of felonies. If you were charged with a misdemeanor crime in the Marysville Municipal Court, that is the court where you seek to have the case records sealed/expunged.
The records for most criminal cases in the Marysville Municipal Court can be sealed/expunged. However, there are exceptions. Traffic offense convictions, for example, are an exception. Other exceptions include Domestic Violence and Violating a Protection Order. A complete list of exceptions is found in section 2953.32 of the Ohio Revised Code.
The Union County Common Pleas Court has jurisdiction to hear felony crimes. That court also has jurisdiction to hear misdemeanors, but most misdemeanors in Union County are heard in the Marysville Municipal Court. If you were charged with a crime in the Union County Common Pleas Court, that is the court where you seek to have the case records sealed/expunged.
The records for many criminal cases in the Union County Common Pleas Court can be sealed/expunged. However, there are exceptions. Felony offenses of violence, for example, are an exception. Other exceptions include first-degree felonies, second-degree felonies, and sexually oriented offenses when reporting requirements are in place. A complete list of exceptions is found in Ohio Revised Code section 2953.32.
The process for criminal record expungement/sealing begins with the filing of an application. The application cannot be filed until the applicable waiting period has expired. The waiting period depends on the type of case outcome and the category of the case. Waiting periods are explained in Ohio Revised Code sections 2925.32 and 2925.33.
After an application is filed, the prosecution is given the opportunity to object to having the records expunged/sealed. The judge then holds a hearing to decide whether to grant or deny the application. At the hearing, the judge will hear from the applicant, the prosecutor, and any victims. The judge must decide if the case is eligible for sealing/expungement, if the applicant has been rehabilitated, and if the applicant’s interest in having the records sealed/expunged outweigh the government’s interest in not having the records sealed/expunged.
Even if a case is eligible for expungement/sealing, a judge is given complete discretion to grant or deny an application. For this reason, it may be beneficial to be represented by a lawyer for record expungement/sealing.
The lawyers at the Dominy Law Firm regularly represent clients for criminal record expungement/sealing. Our firm represents clients in courts throughout central Ohio, including the courts in Union County. If you would like to arrange for a free consultation about our firm’s representation, you can do so by submitting a CONTACT FORM or by calling our office at 614-717-1177.