The sealing and expungement of a criminal record can be an important process when it comes to achieving post-conviction goals, such as employment. These two terms are often confused, but in fact they are two very different processes. This is an important distinction for Ohio, because this state offers record sealing but not expungement.

According to Ohio Revised Code 2151.355, erasing is destroying, erasing, and erasing a record to make the record permanently unrecoverable, while sealing a record is removing it from the main file and placing it in a secure archive. This protected file is only accessible to law enforcement or other legal entities specified in ORC 2953.32.

Due to Ohio’s punitive stance on OVI (known as DUI in other states) and related offenses, an OVI conviction is not eligible for record sealing under ORC 2953.36. The only OVI conviction that has the possibility of being sealed is an OVUAC, and then only by a judge. This makes pre-trial strategies and moves the most important when it comes to your arrest for OVI. Depending on your case, hiring a qualified Ohio OVI defense attorney immediately after your arrest could give you an advantage when it comes to pre-trial meetings, motions to dismiss, and protecting your rights.

Knowing that you are not eligible for record stamping can be daunting, especially when it comes to finding a job. If you have not yet been convicted of an OVI and are convinced that the court will either dismiss your case or find you not guilty, you can rejoice in the fact that under ORC 2953.52, all arrests and charges that do not result in a conviction are eligible for sealing. . If you have already been convicted of OVI or a related offense such as vehicular assault, there are still important employment considerations provided by Ohio Senate Bill 337 that went into effect on September 28, 2012.

Although SB 337 does not change the fact that your OVI misdemeanor or felony cannot be sealed or expunged, it does provide essential considerations for your future. First, under this bill, you may be eligible to find or regain a job that your conviction previously disqualified you from. This is because the bill did the following

• Created a Certificate of Qualification for Employment that will remove disqualifications from certain occupational licenses

• Eliminated certain restrictions on occupational licenses

• Reduction of collateral sanctions for people with serious crimes.

Also, if you face another unrelated conviction in the future, the OVI conviction will not prevent you from sealing that offense later. The scope of what Senate Bill 337 can do for OVI cases is still being determined by legal counsel and judges on a case-by-case basis, so some form of legal guidance is recommended in the process.