Legal Question in Family Law in Washington

Few facts to start off 6yrs ago my ex fiance moved out after got depressed over the death of my brother. We continued to talk almost daily during the next 4 weeks this was two sided we called each other. I called her at 10 am to ask her if she wanted to go to my brothers grave with me with out speaking she hung up. I called back thinking we had bin disconnected and she stated she had had enough and was calling the police( i was puzzled at this as we had bin together the day before holding hands and even kissing) and hung up again. I did not attempt to call back instead i headed down to my brothers grave as i had planned on doing. As i pulled into the parking lot a police car pulled in behind me and i was arrested for DV phone harassment based solely on her statement.

I was not in a very right state of mind emotionally during this time was dealing with major depression and was simply trying to deal with life. I was issued a no contact order and released a day later. This is were it gets a bit strange. One week after the first arrest with little thought or ability to think straight i left a dozen red roses on the porch of the place she was staying at . This was at 9 am not the middle of the night.

I was picked up 3 hrs later at my home and arrested again for breaking the NCO.

I went to court with a public defender who refused to talk pre trail with me at all (i made 3 attempts to talk with said defender and was told not to call back). At trial they told me they were dropping the original charge due to lack of evidence! But they were going after me for breaking the NCO. Originally i wanted to take this to trail but i was threatened by the prosecutor to take a plea for 30 days monitored in home sentence or they would attempt to lock me up for 2 yrs if it had to go to trial. With little understanding and in an even worse depression i accepted the plea and went on my way. I did my 30 day paid my fees and figured it was over.

I have bin arrested a few times in the past but never charged or convicted of anything.

This is really the only stain on my otherwise clean record. But now 6 yrs later i am being turned down for jobs because of this (got turned down for a job as a janitor most recently and several others in the past) . It shows on my record as a DV crime.

I am unemployed and soon to be homeless as this single factor seems to be stopping people from hiring me. How is this possible that i have bin marked for life not for hurting anyone , or threatening anyone but for simply not following an order from the court 1 time. I am 45 yrs old served in the military for 4 yrs , have worked most of my life and suddenly no one wants to hire me because i have this DV conviction.

So how is it possible to even have this conviction if they dropped the original charge due to lack of evidence , would this not then make the NCO issued pointless they had no case to charge me with. I totally agree i didnt follow there orders 1 time during a time of great duress in my life. But this should not mark me as a violent man for the rest of my life.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to clear this or if it even can be , i have bin told this can never be removed, and i will forever be put into the same class as rapist, murderers and thugs. None of this makes any sense.

thanks for reading this and for any suggestion hope your day is better than mine


Asked on 1/20/13, 5:04 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jeff Holmes Jeff Holmes - Attorney at Law

I believe I may have seen this question posted on AVVO as well, and may have answered it there. I cannot recall specifically, however, so am going to answer it again at this point in time. RCW 9.96.060 provides the general guidelines for vacation of an offense from your criminal record. Domestic Violence Gross Misdemeanor offenses can potentially be vacated from your record if you petition the court in the proper manner. You can attempt to do this yourself, although I'm sure you could find a local attorney to handle it for you at a relatively low cost. A full review of your record, however, would be necessary to assure you qualify at this point in time. You may have to wait a bit longer as there is a general 5 year waiting period on DV Misdemeanor offenses after the time all conditions have been met. If you have outstanding fines or any other issues arising from that underlying case still unresolved, the five year clock may not have even begun to tick. Feel free to email me at [email protected] or call me at 360.975.9288 if you would like to chat further about this.

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Answered on 1/29/13, 5:29 pm


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