Becoming a pilot with an arrest...

[FN FAL]

hey BR,

he was not a public defender he did service as head DA for the boston region for several years, and also an attorney for the police union

Well there you go...put him to work to find the vouchsafed answer for you. That's what I would do. The money spent is worth the peace of mind.

 

[pilotmiketx]

You need Denny Crane.

Seriously, did your half-assed ambualance chaser ever mention words "deferred adjudication" (dee furred a jude uh cay shun?) In some cases, at the judges discretion a charge can be dismissed if you meet certain criteria. The criteria can be anything from going a certain time without another arrest or doing community service or getting your gang tattoos removed, etc. Basically the disposition (adjudication) is put on hold (deferred) until the action is completed or the time has expired. Unlike receiving probation, it is NOT a conviction if the judge's criteria are met.

Since I'm sure you all are wondering how I came to be so knowledgeable about this topic...Once upon a time I had a student who got caught with a "green leafy substance"...and he waits 'til the day before his checkride to bring it up.

 

[lawfly]

Not personally familiar with deferred adjudication, but is an informative post. There can also be instances where there may appear to be no public record of a particular criminal conviction (to a include guilty or nolo plea) but where there is an internal record for purposes of sentencing in the event of any subsequent convictions. In other words, should there be another criminal conviction downstream, there could be a "prior" for purposes of sentencing. Cannot tell what exactly is your situation. A plea agreement can include a reduction to a misdemeanor, a dismissal (of the original charge/complaint), and an eventual expungement if all terms are complied with, but the whole thing could still constitute a "prior" should there ever be an occasion to pass sentence later for something else. Of course, talk to your attorney and this is not intended to address your particular case--only general info.

 

[FN FAL]

Don't forget, police departments keep local files for life.

What's on local files? Anytime you ever called the cops for anything, any time your name was mentioned when someone else called the cops and warning tickets (look at the top, It'll be called a "citizen contact report"). Usually, local files are for investigative purposes only...but I would imagine that a police department might share this dossier with other local police agencies and possibly the feds if the Police Chief was being nice that day.

Also, courts have laws on when they may destroy court records. In Wisconsin, felony court records may be destroyed at 50 or 70 years. Misdemeanor crimes may be destroyed at 20 years and some types of court records may be destroyed at 5, 7 and 10 years. May means may, not must.

I would imagine that the cost and liability of maintaining files that are no longer required, means that most courts do an annual shredding or burn fest.

 

[NYCPilot]

It may not be a conviction even though he has served community service. It's not uncommon for kids around the city to get busted doing almost anything, from hopping a turnstyle to something more serious. You can get "pinched" for the trivalist thing. Tresspassing for instance, on someones abandoned property.

Anyway, most arrests are usually felonies but 10 out of 10 times the court reduces them to a lesser charge and assigns community service to individuals. They basically clean a park or subway station for a couple of weekends. Contingent upon completing the comunity service AND not being arrested for 6 or 12 months, they are issed an ACD which is a conditional discahrge. IF you complete the coumminty service and stay out of trouble for the period of time (6 months) it will be as if it never happened. It is NOT a conviction. I belive that if you viloate these terms by being arrested within this period of time you will be convicted of the lesser charge agreed upon. Otherwise, if you stay clean it is technically "sealed" and you can legally state that you were never arrested.

IF I were you, I would do that FBI background check thing for $18 and see what it turns up. Consideringthe circumstances, its is very minor and shouldnt be a problem.

 

[SeanAucoin]

hey nyc,

for the fbi background check can I just go to the local police to get the fingerprints needed?

sean

 

[NYCPilot]

hey nyc,

for the fbi background check can I just go to the local police to get the fingerprints needed?

sean

Not sure how to obtain them, but that might be a good place to start. Give them a call and explain your intentions. They should be able to help you from there.
Good luck and don't worry too much.

 

[SeanAucoin]

I just called, they'll do it free of charge and take care of sending everything over there for me!

Yea im not going to worry to much. as long as im upfront and explain the situation, its understandable. Ive talked to pilots who couldnt get hired in the regionals and they said corporate aviation overlooks charges for the most part. plus there are many other routes of aviation. i'll get there somehow. not a big deal!

 

[Metro752]

So when is someone going to say to find an older well known lawyer who knows judges. Pay him his fees, and get it all taken care of.

You didn't do ANYTHING wrong from what you said here, nothing should have ever came of it.

Quit posting here and get a lawyer. Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Cap Gun Man

 

[soarby007]

This is sounding to me like a pre-trial diversion. Call the clerk of the court or go see the judge's clerk and ask the simple question. "have I been convicted of anything?"....or call the officer. Often times on minor offenses the judges will allow the defendant to complete some type of service and after successful completion, dismiss the charges, ergo, leaving no record of conviction. There would be a record of arrest and that doesn't go away, but that doesn't necesarilly ruin you.

Most of the time this applies to individuals of a more youthful nature, i.e. under age 26. It is a rather simple matter to check one's own criminal record at the sheriff's office or police department. By the way, did you have a lawyer during this ordeal? You could hardly be convicted of anything other than a misdemeanor without a lawyer these days. Most judges require it

You need to keep aware of what you are doing in a courtroom buddy and ask questions of the right people, not a web site.

 

[Snakum]

It is NOT a conviction. I belive that if you viloate these terms by being arrested within this period of time you will be convicted of the lesser charge agreed upon. Otherwise, if you stay clean it is technically "sealed" and you can legally state that you were never arrested.

This is directly and clearly in complete opposition to what I was told, and shown, by a Federal Agent who works for the FAA conducting background checks. I will say it one last time ... if you have ever, at any time in your life, been arrested for a felony offense, regardless of the eventual disposition of the case, the FAA will see it and they will chase down further info on the charges. And from everything I have heard from those who've been there-done that (two pilots fired in ground school, one fired after many years with Comair.), this same thing applies to the airlines. Ask Surplus1 about his friend who was told there'd "be no record". All his years of service at Comair down the drain. Ask the guys at Mesaba and at Chautauqua who were told that "the record will be sealed" and were then pulled out of groundschool and fired when the BGs came back.

The question is always "Have you ever been arrested for an offense punishable by blah blah blah ..." or something similar. There are never any stipulations. It is always, always crystal clear.

You guys do what you want, though. Who knows ... maybe you'll skate through.

Minh

 

[soarby007]

You are exactly right Snakum.

 

[A Squared]

However, to the best of my knowledge it is illegal to ask the question in the first place.

Not true, or at least not generally true. A few states have laws against asking about an arrest record. Massachusetts is one. There is no Federal law forbidding asking about arrest records. Asking about arrests could be considered racial discrimination, which is illegal. Apparently some racial groups may have higher arrest rates than others, and asking that question could be construed as discriminating against members of one of the more arrest prone groups, rather than discriminating agains people who do illegal things. Your federal court system at work. Asking about arrests is not, per se, a vioaltion of federal employment law.

 

[A Squared]

IF you complete the coumminty service and stay out of trouble for the period of time (6 months) it will be as if it never happened. It is NOT a conviction. I belive that if you viloate these terms by being arrested within this period of time you will be convicted of the lesser charge agreed upon. Otherwise, if you stay clean it is technically "sealed" and you can legally state that you were never arrested.

You're confusing conviction with arrest here. regardless of how things went after the arrest (convicted, dismissed, deferred adjudication, reduced, sealed, expunged, whatever) you were still arrested. If the question is asked, the answer is yes. Otherwise you may find yourself being booted out of groundschool like Snakeum's friends.

 

[SkyBoy1981]

Interesting thread. I was driving home from work a while back and I came up on this cop standing beside the hood of his car pointing what appeared to be a gun directly at me. At first it scared the hell out of me, then as I got a bit closer I realized it was just his radar gun. The way that he was standing there aiming it at me made it appear differently though. I thought about persuing it as it didn't seem like proper procedure, but I never did.

 

[ms6073]

Often times on minor offenses the judges will allow the defendant to complete some type of service and after successful completion, dismiss the charges, ergo, leaving no record of conviction. There would be a record of arrest and that doesn't go away, but that doesn't necesarilly ruin you.

While I understand everyones points concerning arrest records and convictions, I am confused by the advice with regards to the orginal posters situation. Since when did it become a criminal offense to be in posession of a cap gun even if it is a dead ringer it is still a non-firing replica that does nothing more than make noise?

It seems obvious to me that the orginal poster incurred some form of court supervised diversion or adjudication for an offense but I want to know why? Unless there is something we are not hearing from the orginal poster, such as unauthorized entry onto private property, I do not see how any crime has been committed (did they need permits to film maybe), and thus there should not have been a need for court interdiction or community service! Why was the case not dismissed outright and the arrest record expunged?

 

[A Squared]

Since when did it become a criminal offense to be in posession of a cap gun even if it is a dead ringer it is still a non-firing replica that does nothing more than make noise?

mere posession, no. However, I think (and some of the folks who are more up on criminal law can chime in) if you have a replica and you use it in a threatening manner, it is assault. Say you had a really real looking 1911 (glock, patterson colt, whtever) replica and you ran down the street shoving it in people's faces, tellimg them you were "going to bust a cap in thier A$$", It would be a felony assault, even though the gun wasn't real.

It seems obvious to me that the orginal poster incurred some form of court supervised diversion or adjudication for an offense but I want to know why? Unless there is something we are not hearing from the orginal poster, such as unauthorized entry onto private property, I do not see how any crime has been committed (did they need permits to film maybe), and thus there should not have been a need for court interdiction or community service! Why was the case not dismissed outright and the arrest record expunged?

Agree, I think we're not getting the whole story. If it really was a cap gun, and he really wasn't pointing it at the guy, and he really was involved in some reasonably legit activity like filming a video clip for a class project (as opposed to just hanging out on the street corner waving the cap-gun around for no apparent reason) It would be a no brainer, dismiss the charges completely, let the guy go, wipe the slate clean, to the extent that can be accomplished ... whatever extent that is. Seems like there's more to the story than is being told.

 

[mflyer]

Anything is possible!

I know guys that have been hired by the commuters for having DUI's...And a guy who stole an airplane (not the most recent idiot) that has been hired by several coporate departments!! So anything is possible, I don't want to give you false hopes but all boils down to who you know.

 

[erj-145mech]

This hasn't happened post 9-11, the TSA is involved now, so you know that its going to be fubar.

 

[SeanAucoin]

The cap gun did look like a real gun, its similar to what a squared said, its still assault with a dangerous weapon. the reason we were arrested was the guy we pointed it at was an off duty cop, So he naturally radioed it in. If I could bring you all there then you would understand that we clearly wernt pointing it at him. he just happened to drive by. He was new on the force and officers said he was probally just trying to get his name know. his response was "I felt threatened for my life, it looked like a chrome plated semi-automatic pistol" haah clearly there was a hugeee bright orange tip at the end. Anyways that is why they reduced it to just assault, cuz clearly it wasent a dangerous weapon. then after the assault reduction. I just did 30 hours of services as a disposition for the judge to learn my lesson. I called my lawyer today here is what I got...

-no felony conviction
-no midemeanor conviction
-no criminal record
-yes I did get arrested for a felony (assault with a dangerous weapon)
-the case ended on a disposition for the judge to have my learn my lesson, on the disposition of the case paper they actually put in a box next to where it says "case dismissed" and put some custom wording...

Im off to pack for florida...suppose to be leaving saturday morning to ft lauderdale. Hopefully wilma dosent kill the trip..

thanks for all the posts on this subject!