Battery Record and Becoming a Police Officer
Hello Everyone,
My fiancee is looking into getting a job in law enforcement, back in 1997 he and his ex wife got into a fight and he grabbed her arm and she called the police, the rest is history.
He pleaded no contest to PC 242 and his disposition was no contest/misdameanor and received 3 years formal probation. This is California Law.
My question is , PC 242 is battery, does this disqualify him from becomming an officer? He wasn't found guilty, just no contest (whatever that means) and didn't serve any jail time, pay any fines or ordered to anytype of classes. Also he wasn't charged or found guilty of a felony beacuse if you have a felony in the state of CA you can not possess a firearm.
A lot of the questions on the applications ask if you ever had a felony/domestic violence charges. I don't know if the battery is considered domestic violence, or if battery is a severe enough charge to hold him back.
Any advice anyone has is greatly appreciated. Thanks - Marie
Re: Battery Record and Becoming a Police Officer
Sounds like he was convicted of a misdemeanor domestic battery which certainly is a crime of domestic violence. Background checks on police officers are usually far more extensive than that on regular citizens in that the police agencies have access to the criminal justice databases that the public at large would not have access to, e.g., NCIC.
The Lautenberg Law may impact him although I understood that police officers won a case striking the law as it applied to them in one part of the country--but I don't know how the case ultimately ended up. That may be his biggest concern because it is going to be difficult being a police officer if he is disqualified from carrying a firearm. If he qualifies, he might look into getting an expungement as this should serve to restore his firearm possession rights if he is disqualified under the Lautenberg Law.
A nolo contendere plea has the same effect as a guilty plea for purposes of the criminal law as under a nolo plea the person is not contesting the sufficiency of the State's proof regarding what they are charged with and under the guilty plea they are admitting that they are guilty with what they are charged with. A nolo plea does not hold the magic that some people think it has.
Here's a link:http://www.saf.org/LawReviews/Pressler.htm
Re: Battery Record and Becoming a Police Officer
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Quoting marie224
My question is , PC 242 is battery, does this disqualify him from becomming an officer?
On its face? No. It would appear that he pled to misdemeanor battery as opposed to the misdemeanor domestic violence battery section of 243(e). However! In 1997 I do not believe 243(e) was in existance so this may be a DV related battery under 242.
If the battery is considered a DV offense, he will be prevented from employment in law enforcement.
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He wasn't found guilty, just no contest (whatever that means)
It has the same effect.
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and didn't serve any jail time, pay any fines or ordered to anytype of classes.
He probably served a term of probation, however.
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A lot of the questions on the applications ask if you ever had a felony/domestic violence charges. I don't know if the battery is considered domestic violence, or if battery is a severe enough charge to hold him back.
Any advice anyone has is greatly appreciated. Thanks - Marie
Domestic violence will be an automatic disqualifier. A non-DV misdemeanor battery will prove a daunting obstacle as he will have to explain it to any background investigator and they will obtain a copy of the report and find out that it was DV related in any event. More than half the agencies in CA would not proceed any further with an applicant that pled 'no contest' to a DV related battery even if the section is not one that is an automatic bar to employment.
Here's a link to cleaning up a criminal record in CA:
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp...imlawclean.htm
And for information on how to find out about his criminal history:
http://ag.ca.gov/fingerprints/security.htm
I would recommend that he obtain a copy of his criminal history to see what it says he was convicted of. He shoul dkeep in mind that he will have to divulge the incident regardless of whether it appears or not, and the backrounding agency will almost certainly seek a copy of the police report and a court record.
- Carl
Re: Battery Record and Becoming a Police Officer
Thank you for your advice, we filled out the paper work and we have a court date in 8 weeks to have the case expulged from his record. This will turn his NC plea into a not guilty plea and have the charge of battery dismissed.
We are also going to go to the court house and look at his case to see if it was a domestic violence charge ( it is probably PC 243(e) but we want to make sure. He was so young at the time and he doesn't really remember everything that the judge said and all of the information.
We can only hope for the best, he does plan on being upfront and honest about what happened and the charges, at least having it expulged looks better then a no contest "guilty" plea. Thanks.
" It is, what it is." - Marie
Re: Battery Record and Becoming a Police Officer
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Quoting marie224
Thank you for your advice, we filled out the paper work and we have a court date in 8 weeks to have the case expulged from his record. This will turn his NC plea into a not guilty plea and have the charge of battery dismissed.
I don't see how changing his plea will result in a dismissal.
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We are also going to go to the court house and look at his case to see if it was a domestic violence charge ( it is probably PC 243(e) but we want to make sure.
I do not believe that PC 243(e) was on the books in 1997, so it is likely he was charged with PC 242 with a notation that it was per PC 13700 (the section for domestic violence). I believe a misdemeanor DV battery used to be charged something like: "PC 242/13701" or some such thing.
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He was so young at the time and he doesn't really remember everything that the judge said and all of the information.
If it's 243(e), he can forget about law enforcement. If it's 242 with a notation for DV, he can also forget about law enforcement. If he gets the charges dropped or expunged, he still has to tell a background investigator and he will still have a tough time getting hired ... not impossible, but tough.
Having a battery conviction of any kind is a tough nut ... having one even related to domestic violence can be even tougher.
- Carl
Re: Battery Record and Becoming a Police Officer
I was referring to PC 1203.4 where if you have completed your probation period, you can open the case go before a judge and change your no contest to not guilty and you can expulge your record to dismissed. Most people who have a mis. DV conviction do this to get posses a firearm again.
I also called the academy today and talked to an officer and I explained to him the situation and they said everyone is treated case by case, PC 242 doesn't mean you can't join it all depends on how long ago it happened ( almost 10 years) and the current status of the case and what actually happened. His ex is even willing to talk to them and tell them her side of the story and how young and stupid BOTH of them were at the time.
We know this is going to be a tough but we won't know until we try.
Re: Battery Record and Becoming a Police Officer
Quote:
Quoting marie224
I was referring to PC 1203.4 where if you have completed your probation period, you can open the case go before a judge and change your no contest to not guilty and you can expulge your record to dismissed. Most people who have a mis. DV conviction do this to get posses a firearm again.
Keep in mind that being able to apply for it does not mean that a judge will grant it.
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I also called the academy today and talked to an officer and I explained to him the situation and they said everyone is treated case by case, PC 242 doesn't mean you can't join it all depends on how long ago it happened ( almost 10 years) and the current status of the case and what actually happened. His ex is even willing to talk to them and tell them her side of the story and how young and stupid BOTH of them were at the time.
That's right ... because, as I said, PC 242 is not an exclusionary offense. However, if it was somehow a conviction as a domestic violence offense (per 13700 et seq.) then he would be unable to carry a firearm under state and federal law and thus could not work in law enforcement.
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We know this is going to be a tough but we won't know until we try.
Sure. And, as I said, he will likely get a lot of "Sorry" notices before he gets hired. Many agencies would set the package aside once they got to that part of the background. Others might delve deeper into it and then decide on it based upon the merits (provided it is not a DV conviction).
In any event, it WILL be difficult and will weigh heavily against him. Fortunately, it IS almost 10 years behind him so if it is NOT a DV conviction, he might stand a halfway decent shot.
- Carl
Re: Battery Record and Becoming a Police Officer
Just an update.
We looked at his record from the court house and it says he was found guilty of PC 242, misdameanor battery. There was NO reference to any other penal codes listed in the file. He served out his probation with no violations since. Two boxes check in the file were, " no strike victim and no domestic violence fee.
We are waiting for our court date to see if we can expunge this from his record. Thanks.
Re: Battery Record and Becoming a Police Officer
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Quoting
marie224
Just an update.
We looked at his record from the court house and it says he was found guilty of PC 242, misdameanor battery. There was NO reference to any other penal codes listed in the file. He served out his probation with no violations since. Two boxes check in the file were, " no strike victim and no domestic violence fee.
We are waiting for our court date to see if we can expunge this from his record. Thanks.
As I said, expunged or not, he will have to admit in a peace officer background and they WILL look at the circumstances behind it. While it would not be an automatic disqualifer (even if not expunged) it will be a serious negative due to the DV implications.
- Carl