New Expungement Law in Ohio
- By ctlaw
Ohio Senate Bill 337 took effect on September 28, 2012 changing the requirements for having a criminal record expunged in Ohio. Under previous expungement law in Ohio, only “first offenders” were eligible to have their records sealed. This meant if you had been convicted of a crime on more than one occasion you were likely ineligible.
Under the new expungement law in Ohio, people with multiple convictions can get their past offenses expunged so long as they are an “eligible offender.” Under this new law, an “eligible offender” is someone who “has not more than one felony conviction, not more than two misdemeanor convictions if the convictions are not of the same offense, or not more than one felony conviction and one misdemeanor conviction in this state or any other jurisdiction.” This means that a person with one felony conviction or less, a person with two separate misdemeanor convictions or less if not the same offense, or a person with no more than one felony and one misdemeanor, is eligible for expungement under the new law.
The time requirements from the old law still apply. For misdemeanors, a person is eligible for expungement one year after the case concludes. For felonies, a person is eligible for expungement three years after the case concludes.