Thursday, August 30, 2007

Judge agrees to expunge record of doctor accused in hospital deaths

A judge agreed Thursday to erase the public criminal record of a doctor arrested but never charged in the alleged killing of patients at a sweltering, flooded New Orleans hospital following Hurricane Katrina.

State District Judge Calvin Johnson also said authorities must keep secret all materials put before the grand jury that last month declined to indict Dr. Anna Pou.

Pou called Johnson's decision to expunge her public record "a huge step in helping me get by life back together."

Pou was arrested last year. Attorney General Charles Foti accused her of giving lethal doses of drugs to patients at Memorial Medical Center in Katrina's aftermath, but a grand jury refused to indict her on July 24.

At least 34 people died at Memorial after the Aug. 29., 2005, hurricane, many from dehydration during the four-day wait for rescuers. Katrina had flooded the lower floors of the hospital, knocked out electricity and left patients and medical personnel stranded for days.

> Posted by Records Removal Services. The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Former deputy‘s criminal record expunged in Former Collier County, Florida

A former Collier County sheriff’s investigator who quit his job two years ago after he was caught altering painkiller prescriptions has been granted an expungement after successfully completing a drug counseling program.

Collier Circuit Judge Fred Hardt on Wednesday granted the expungement requested by attorney Donald Day, who represented Kyle Beiner, 33, after Assistant State Attorney Lisa Mead said the state didn’t object. Day was out of town and Beiner, who was not in court, was represented by another attorney in Day’s firm, Kristen Rodger.

Day said later that he will now move toward getting Beiner’s record sealed. Day said Beiner, of Cape Coral, got hooked on painkillers after being prescribed the drugs for an injury on the job.

Beiner, who had worked for the Collier Sheriff’s Office since 1996 before quitting in August 2005, completed conditions of a pre-trial release program, which included urine and Breathalyzer tests, staying away from drugs and alcohol, and reporting monthly to a probation officer.

On Aug. 24, 2005, Beiner was arrested on two felony counts of fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance for trying to get refills that weren’t prescribed. That was a week after he met with supervisors, who confronted him with information about the drug case. He quit at that meeting.

> Posted by Records Removal Services. The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice.

Friday, June 1, 2007

Colorado legislators have approved a bill that would permit convicted criminals to seal certain criminal court records

Colorado legislators have approved a bill that would permit convicted criminals to seal certain criminal court records, a move open government advocates say would impede the public's right to know.

The bill is now on the desk of Gov. Bill Ritter, who has until June 4 to sign the legislation. The proposed law would allow people convicted of crimes to petition the courts 10 years after their cases have ended to have their criminal records sealed. The bill applies to people who have had no convictions in a decade and excludes certain criminal convictions, including traffic offenses, DUI, child abuse and sex offenses.

If their requests are granted, those people then would not have to indicate on a job application, except to a criminal justice agency, that they were convicted.

In a nod to the concerns raised by the Colorado Press Association, the bill was amended to require court administrators to post notices of requests to seal criminal records on court Web sites for 30 days. The public may also ask to have cases unsealed based on new information or circumstances that could tip the balance in favor of public disclosure.

Greg Romberg, a lobbyist for the press association, said the media is still opposed to the bill. "Public records should remain open to the public," he said.

Romberg said, however, that the changes at least mitigate some of the negative effects of the bill by allowing the public's concerns about sealing records to "come to light" in a court hearing, which the original version of the bill did not allow.

He also said the change about allowing previously sealed cases to be reopened could apply in cases where people have made themselves into public figures by, for instance, running for public office.

"That would be a situation where it would be hard for a judge not to take a look at that," he said.

Currently, Colorado law allows records to be sealed when a person was not charged or when charges were dismissed because of a plea agreement in another case. The bill now under consideration would also reduce the amount of time those people must wait to ask to have their records sealed, from 15 years to 10 years after all criminal proceedings end.

The state House approved the legislation by a 46-18 vote in April, while state senators passed the bill earlier this month in a 26-8 vote. The proposed law was introduced in January.

> Posted by Records Removal Services. The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice.