First off, I would like to say congratulations to our client for a successful expungement of her one and only criminal conviction. This expungement was necessary for her to obtain meaningful work, adequate housing, and personal safety.
Our client was charged with prostitution. A charge that many, if not most, consider a little unique. The victim in a prostitution case is normally the same person that is being charged. Prostitution is also considered an enhanceable offense, if you get in trouble more than once in a short time the punishment increases.
However, in this case, as I suspect in many prostitution cases, the conviction harms the victim. Every time our client would take steps to ensure that she would never be faced with that situation, the world put up barriers. She wasn’t able to get housing because of these charges on her record. She wasn’t able to get employment because of these charges on her record. And some of her “friends” would attempt to proposition her when they discovered these charges.
This conviction was readily available to the public by the courts and the executive branch. The State made no effort to protect the victim of this offense, because she was also the defendant.
If ever there was a case where an expungement was necessary, this was it. I am extremely happy to say that this expungement was granted, and I wish my client success in continuing to improve herself and her community.