Walk It Through: The Old Felony
Probation ends, a voter registration, an expungement petition, and a question about owning a gun.
A man finishes probation on a nonviolent felony for a bad check and wants to vote in the next election.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One man's record. A violent felony, a federal conviction, jury service and federal firearm law are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Deadly weaponAn instrument designed or readily adaptable to be used as a weapon, including a knife with a sharp-edged or sharp-pointed blade capable of inflicting cutting, stabbing or tearing wounds.
- Domestic violenceBetween family or household members, causing or attempting physical harm, placing someone in reasonable fear of it, creating fear through harassment, stalking or threats, sexual assault, or holding someone against their will.
- Prohibited personA person the weapons article bars from possessing a firearm, including anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year, an unlawful drug user, and a person adjudicated mentally incompetent or involuntarily committed.
- Conditional dischargeFor a person with no prior drug conviction, the court deferring the case and placing the person on probation, then discharging the person and dismissing the case without a conviction once its terms are met.
- Domestic batteryUnlawfully and intentionally making insulting or provoking physical contact with, or causing physical harm to, a family or household member.
- ExpungementA circuit court order clearing an eligible conviction and its records, available for a misdemeanor one year after the sentence and a nonviolent felony five years after.