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Expungement, Record Sealing, Pardons

A research guide on expungement, record sealing, and pardons. Updated Sept., 2020 (AD).

Record Sealing: General

If your client qualifies for record sealing, the record of his conviction will no longer appear if someone searches the court website or the BCI database. It is as if the record of the conviction is put in a locked filing cabinet.

Unfortunately for your client, there are some entities that have the key to this filing cabinet because a criminal conviction makes a person ineligible for employment in certain fields. If he wants a job in those fields, he will need a Certificate of Qualification for Employment (CQE).

Record Sealing: Law and Forms

Ohio Revised Code section 2953.32 contains laws about sealing a conviction.

Checklist: Eligibility for Sealing of Adult Criminal Conviction(s) (Miami County, Ohio) 

Forms:

  • The Cuyahoga County Public Defender has links to courts that have their own forms. 
  • As of May 22, 2019, the Ohio Supreme Court was evaluating "comments on proposed amendments that would create standard forms for the sealing or expungement of court records" (source).