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Pleas & Sentencing – Expungement

By: Derek Hawkins//September 1, 2015//

Pleas & Sentencing – Expungement

By: Derek Hawkins//September 1, 2015//

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Civil

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and ROVNER and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges

Pleas & Sentencing – Expungement

No.14-2961 Michael A Kelley v. Greg Zoeller

Appellant attempts to expunge record prior to establishment of expungement statute.

“Finally, we note that the State of Indiana did not have a statute allowing for expungement of criminal convictions until 2013, nearly forty years after Kelley asserts that Indiana prosecutors agreed to expunge his conviction upon successful completion of his federal sentence. See Ind. Code § 35-38-9-1 et seq. (2013); Taylor v. State, 7 N.E.3d 362, 366–67 (Ind. Ct. App. 2014) (noting that the Indiana legislature passed the expungement statute in 2013 in order to give “individuals who have been convicted of certain crimes a second chance by not experiencing many of the stigmas associated with a criminal conviction–especially where an individual has completed the requirements established by the trial court and has since been a law-abiding citizen”). Although Kelley cited the FYCA as the law authorizing expungement of his federal conviction, he has never cited any Indiana law that would have allowed expungement of a state conviction in 1975. Nor has he ever asserted that prosecutors tried to mislead him regarding the terms of his plea agreement or the availability of expungement in Indiana, and we note that he was represented by counsel at the time. It therefore seems unlikely that his 1975 plea agreement with the State of Indiana contained the terms that Kelley asserts.”

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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