Felony Drug Charges Dismissed Nolle Prossed

[tll9284]

My question involves a professional license in the state of: PA (nursing)

When I was 19 years old I moved from Pennsylvania to Georgia to live with my father. After about a year living there I met the most wonderful guy. I dated him for about 2.5 years and decided to move in with him, and started college at West Central Technical College. I was taking prerequisites for their nursing program. about a year after I moved in with him, he started to not come home at night. He went out every weekend and wouldn’t let me go. Then he would start sleeping all day and not go to work (he owned a car stereo shop) . I finally realized that he was using drugs, so I brought it up to him. he told me it was GHB, the date rape drug. (great!) anyway, matters got worse after he told me about it and at that point didn’t try to hide it. I left and moved in with my father for about a month. Eric begged and pleaded for me to come back and that he had stopped using the drugs. So I moved back and everything was fine. No drugs. Or so I thought. On December 30, 2003 I was just getting out of the shower when there was a knock at the door. I opened the door and it was a man dressed in black that stated he was from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. He showed me his badge and I told him to just give me a minute I was in a towel and I needed to get dressed, so I went to close the door and he said no and made me sit on the couch. Of course I was mortified. And at first I thought that it was really not law enforcement and they were going to hurt me. But then about 3-4 others came in and started searching every inch of the house. They asked me where he was hiding stuff, I had no clue what they were talking about. They called me a liar, told me I was playing stupid, all I could do is cry. I told them that he did use drugs, but I had never seen them. they told me to call him, so did and I politely asked him if there was something that was going on that he was not telling me. He hung up the phone and came home. They took him into a room and talked to him for a long time. They finally came out and handcuffed me and him. he told them that I wasn’t involved and the only thing I remember screaming is “what wasn’t I involved in, what is going on??” I still had no idea. They took me to the jail and I was put in a cell, I went to see the judge and the officer that took me to him told me not to speak unless I was asked a question. The judge then read my charges, I had no idea what they meant, so I asked and he looked at me and then told me what it was. I started to cry. 3 felony charges of attempting to distribute, attempt to manufacture, and possession of marijuana. I lost it. I cried and told the judge that I don’t even do drugs, and he could give me any kind of test he wanted, I would pass them all. He let me out of jail on bond and I was released. I had to get a lawyer. I was 24 years old, I didn’t know how to do any of this or even know what to do. My lawyer told me not to worry about it. I never had any type of criminal record, not even a traffic record. So a few months later he told me that all charges were dropped. (I had moved back to PA at that time – with the courts consent, because there was no way that I was going to stay anywhere near Eric. He was in jail, and I left before he got out. The judge said it was ok and so did my lawyer. I came back to Georgia to fill out the paper work, because my case and charges were dismissed. I never had to go to court, never had probation, I did not have any fines and no conviction The lawyer said that I wouldn’t have to worry about it. I did ask him if this would be on my record and he said that because the case was dismissed before even going to court, that I wouldn’t have to worry about it. I was never convicted. Again, I was 24, so I didn’t know anything about the court system and how that worked and i really have no idea now.

So I put all that and my ex behind me. I didn’t talk to him ever again. And I didn’t want to. The whole thing was a traumatic experience for me. It felt so surreal, like I was watching a TV show or something. I moved back to PA, and after a lot of time being single (because of trust issues with men – understandably) I finally met someone and my life was right again. I had my daughter in 2006 and after she was born I knew that I wanted to go back to school and my fiancé was behind me 100% and told me not to worry about work and go for it. I am now ready to graduate. I have had tons of background checks since I have been in school and this never came up – and I didn’t think it was going to because nothing ever came of it. I didn’t even have to go to court. And I even asked the lawyer about nursing school, he said it wouldn’t hurt anything because I wouldn’t have a record. But it is there. It is on my record. It does say dismissed Nolle Prossed, but it is still there and when I saw it, my heart sank a little bit and I immediately became nauseous. After all this hard work, dedication, and sacrifices – this could become something that I have to be judged by. I want you to know that honest to God, I do not do drugs, nor have I ever.

[jk]

was there a question in there somewhere?

the problem: you were arrested and that is part of your record. The charges being dismissed does not mean there was not a reason for the charges. It means the DA was officially dropping the charges for some unstated reason. That could be something such as you convinced them the charges were not warranted or it could mean they simply did not have enough proof to successfully prosecute.

I would suggest attempting to have your arrest record expunged.

from the Georgia Bureau of Investigations website:

O.C.G.A. § 35-3-37(d) (1) allows for the expungement of arrest charges by a local law enforcement agency when certain conditions are met (as outlined in this statute). If approved by appropriate prosecutor, the arrest cycle is sealed on the Georgia criminal history report by GCIC. Access to that arrest information is restricted to criminal justice agencies only.
The following are examples of final court dispositions that may qualify: Dismissed: Not Presented to Grand Jury: No Further Action Anticipated; Nolle Prossed/Prosequi; Dead Docket; or No Record on File. Dispositions of Guilty, Not Guilty, Nolo Contendre, and First Offender Act are not eligible. It is recommended that you review a copy of your criminal history, prior to submitting the Request to Expunge Record, to ensure that all charges have a final disposition listed and the disposition may qualify for expungement. If a disposition is missing or incorrect, please contact the appropriate court; the court may transmit the disposition on-line.
All applications must be approved or denied by the appropriate prosecutor.
To apply for the local record expungement, contact the arresting law enforcement agency to obtain an application for Request to Expunge Record. Also the Request to Expunge Record can be found on the GBI website, www.gbi.georgia.gov by selecting Publicationsand then selecting Georgia Criminal History Record Expungements or click on this link Georgia Criminal History Record Expungements. The Request to Expunge Record is a three-part form:
Section One - You will complete Section One and return to the arresting agency.
Section Two - Completed by the arresting agency that forwards the request to the appropriate prosecutor (District Attorney or Solicitor).
Section Three - Completed by the prosecutor who will approve or deny the request.
Once the prosecutor completes their portion, all three sections should be forwarded to GCIC with the $25.00 processing fee payable by certified check or money order.

[tll9284]

my question is will i be able to still get my nursing license. i never thought this would show up. i am not a criminal and have no idea about the law. i have had tons of background checks for school (clinicals), for financial aid, jobs, and this has never come up. i thought that since nothing came of it (no conviction, no probation, no fines, nothing), that it didn't count against me. i am sick to my stomach about this. it was 10 years ago. i have not thought about it since then. i have emailed the BON in PA and plan to meet with my director of nursing first thing Monday morning to talk about this. i honestly never said anything about it because i didn't think that something that never went to court would be on my record. what is expunge? and what will that do?

[jk]

I do not know the policies of the licensing board.

as to what an expungement is: it is where the item expunged is basically removed from your criminal record. It doesn't disappear completely but is generally only available to certain law enforcement agencies.