Charges can be dropped but still cost jobs

A 21-year-old Monument-area resident got a bogus domestic violence charge dismissed, but the arrest and court case showed up on his criminal record and kept him from getting a job with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.

When the man requested his arrest record be sealed, he doubted the prosecutor would object, because the charge was dismissed for lack of evidence.

Wrong.

The 4th Judicial District attorney’s representative objected to the sealing, saying not enough time had passed.

Fortunately for the man — who asked that his name not be used out of fear of being labeled a domestic abuser — a judge sealed it anyway.

“People have a penchant for labeling someone with a domestic violence tag,” ruled Senior Judge David Parrish. “That carries a heavy load with it and affects his ability to go forward in life.”

The same day, another judge denied a woman’s request to have her record sealed. She had pleaded guilty to abusing an 87-year-old Alzheimer’s patient while she was a nurse at a Colorado Springs nursing home.

The woman had completed her community service and anger-management classes as part of a deferred sentence — in which a conviction is not entered as long as the defendant completes the terms of the plea agreement. But she couldn’t get a nurse’s job.

District Judge David Miller refused to seal her records.

“It’s your burden to prove why your privacy interests should outweigh a potential employer’s . . . right to know that you were charged with slapping an 87-year-old man,” Miller said. “There’s significant public interest in keeping these records open.”

Colorado law allows defendants to ask the court to seal their arrest records, and any court file created from that arrest, if the charges are dismissed, the person is found not guilty by a jury or the case involved a deferred sentence.

The person must pay $136 to file a civil petition to seal the records.

Deputy District Attorney Jayne Candea-Ramsey, who heads the district attorney’s civil division, reviews petitions.

So far in 2006, 242 such petitions have been filed in the 4th Judicial District, which includes El Paso and Teller counties. The district attorney’s office has agreed to 73 of the requests, and had 55 more sealed over its objection.

Before District Attorney John Newsome took over in 2005, the office objected to every petition.

“The requests are evaluated whether it’s in the interest of justice to have the case sealed,” said Candea-Ramsey. “There are good people who get into trouble. But then, there are also people who get into trouble who we need to keep a record of.”

The domestic violence suspect had no criminal record. The felony charge — and subsequent arrest by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office — came after he had fought with his now ex-girlfriend. She bit him in the shoulder hard enough to draw blood, so he pushed her off him, he said.

Deputies arrested him despite the fact that he still had bite marks on his shoulder three days later when pictures were taken, and the woman had no visible injuries.

The man spent almost two days in jail, and prosecutors took the case up to the day of trial before dropping it.

He had to attend counseling with the woman despite having broken off the relationship. So the man was stunned when he showed up to court to get his record sealed and Candea-Ramsey objected.

“Why should that be on my record?” he asked. “I had to spend two days in jail, pay all that money for an attorney, do counseling, and they still wanted it on my record? I had done nothing wrong!”

At least one judge thinks if prosecutors drop the charges, the case should be sealed.

“If it’s dismissed because of lack of evidence, a not-guilty at trial, I see no reason not to seal it,” said Senior District Judge Richard Toth. “Sometimes they got the wrong guy.”

Candea-Ramsey said otherwise during the hearing: “The public has a right to know that when he is confronted, he gets angry and lashes out at others.”

The man’s attorney, Dan Kay, said he, too, was surprised by the district attorney’s position.

“If they didn’t feel they had a prosecutable case, he’s entitled to get it sealed,” Kay said. “Sometimes it’s so arbitrary.”

Candea-Ramsey counters that the district attorney’s office has to consider the alleged victim’s wishes, as well as look at the defendant’s prior criminal history.

It’s an especially difficult decision when it comes to domestic violence charges, since victims often change their minds and reconcile with suspected abusers. The victim will often refuse to testify, and prosecutors then have no choice but to dismiss the case.

That’s why Candea-Ramsey doesn’t agree to routine sealings in cases that have been dropped by the district attorney.

“We really do look at it on a case-by-case basis and try to do what’s fair but also do justice,” she said.

The Monument-area man wonders about innocent defendants who don’t have the financial support he had from his parents and how they would get their names cleared. “I hate this system,” he said.