When One of Offender’s Convictions May Not Be Sealed, Does Law Allow Sealing Record of Other Offenses?
State of Ohio v. Douglas Futrall, Case no. 2008-2391 Lorain County ISSUE: Under a state law that allows remedial expungement of misdemeanor convictions from the record of a first offender under certain circumstances, is a trial court barred as a matter of law from sealing the record of several offenses that are eligible for expungement if one of the defendant’s convictions, charged in the same indictment, involves an offense that is not eligible for expungement? BACKGROUND: Based on a single incident in 2001 in which he engaged in a verbal altercation with his estranged wife, Douglas Futrall of Lorain was charged with and entered guilty pleas to five misdemeanor offenses. He was sentenced to a term of community control from which he obtained an early release after meeting all of the conditions imposed by the court, and he has not reoffended since that time. In 2007, Futrall filed a petition under Ohio’s expungement statute, R.C. 2953.32, asking the trial court to seal the record of fou
