Effective October 3, 2023, Ohio has once again changed what can and can’t be sealed and expunged. The two biggest changes involved domestic violence and third degree felonies. Ohio has once again made fourth degree misdemeanor domestic violence convictions sealable. This fixed the change from April of this year that rendered the convictions not sealable, even though prior to April they were always able to be sealed. These convictions, however, still cannot be expunged.
The other major change involves convictions for third degree felonies. If a defendant has a third-degree felony conviction, then they are ineligible to have that conviction sealed if they have any other non-related felony on his or her record. They can still have the other felony sealed and expunged, though. For example, if a defendant has a third-degree felony conviction for drug possession and also has a fifth-degree felony conviction for theft then they cannot have the drug conviction sealed but can have the theft conviction sealed. Additionally, a defendant is ineligible to have their third-degree felonies sealed if the defendant has exactly two convictions of a felony of the third degree, and has more convictions in total than those two third degree felony convictions and two misdemeanor convictions.
A number of offenses are still ineligible to be sealed or expunged, including:
- Traffic offenses, including OVI’s
- Felony offenses of violence
- Sexual offenses where the Defendant is still registering as a sexual offender
- Convictions where the offense involved a victim under the age of 13, except for non-support of defendants
- Felonies of the first or second degree;
- First-degree misdemeanor domestic violence convictions and convictions for violating a protection order
If you are considering sealing or expunging your record our experienced criminal defense attorneys can help you determine whether you are eligible help guide you through th