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sdan75thrgr · Mar 6, 2009, 04:23 AM

In the year 2002 I was charged with misdemeanor assault (domestic) in the 4th degree in Tennessee. I was on active duty in the us army. My wife and I hired an attorney and I went through pre trial diversion and was advised to plead "no contest". I wound up with one year of probation and nothing else.

Here's the kicker... I never assaulted my wife. The arresting officer charged me with that crime because my wife's face was blotchy and red from crying, she told the officer I hadn't touched her but he didn't believe her and in Tennessee the state presses domestic assault charges not the spouse. I had attempted suicide and she was hysterical. I had returned home from afghanistan and just wasn't in a good place in my head. I'm OK now and continued on with my military career after the incident and continued to fight overseas. Something about coming home and having your best friends wife blame you for her husband dying in your arms and not protecting him puts your mind in a place where it shouldn't be.

At the time of the incident the attorney advised me that my best course of action was to plead no contest because I couldn't afford to go to trial. As it was he charged me around $1500 for the services he gave me. It would've been another $3000 to take my case to trial. I'm finding out now that I had other options that would've kept my record clear. This attorney doesn't even practice anymore. I started the expongement process but that's not going to help with the career field I want to get into... can you guess its law enforcement. The expongement only clears my record from civilian background checks. While talking to the clerk, she asked my attorneys name. I told her and she told me that there are a lot of people who have had problems with him. I spoke with an attorney in Tennessee and asked if I could reopen the case and get the charges dismissed. Like I said, the assault never happened and my wife and I are still married. This attorney said that its not possible because it is from so long ago.

My questions are... is there a way to get this charge removed from my record? Was the other attorney I spoke with about reopening the case full of crap? How was I able to continue my military career? (because one of the penalties for domestic assault is not being around firearms... hello I was in the freakin infantry, we don't exactly use slingshots. I was even able to reenlist with this charge.) does anyone know of any police officers with this type of record? Would writing to the governor of Tennessee help at all? Does anyone know of anything I can do so I can pursue the career that I want?

Thank you in advance for any responses.

sdan75thrgr · Mar 6, 2009, 04:26 AM

By the way I am now a resident of Kentucky if that matters at all.

excon · Mar 6, 2009, 06:12 AM

Originally Posted by sdan75thrgr

was the other attorney i spoke with about reopening the case full of crap?

Hello s:

Yes, he was.

I think you have a good shot at getting a pardon. I'd hire a lawyer to do it, too. But, do your lawyer shopping a little better than you did the first time.

excon

sdan75thrgr · Mar 8, 2009, 10:44 PM

Ex,

I'll try the pardon route and yeah I know to do the lawyer shopping better this time. I was nervous and called the first lawyer's ad in the yellow pages and took his word that his price was good. But... I thought pardons were only for people currently incarcerated or on parole/probation. This offense is from so long ago, can it even be pardoned? Thanks for the last response.