Expert: Don Reed Date: 5/10/2008 Subject: Restoration of rights VA
Question In 1993 while serving in the Marine Corps and living in Alexandria, VA I had an incident with an ex-wife in which she was trying to block my egress from the living room with her body during an argument. I pushed her onto the couch (which we were standing next to) to get by her. She called the police and I was arrested. She initially protested the arrest saying that she was trying to scare me but the police said that they were forced to make an arrest in a DV situation. My ex told my public defender that things got blown out of proportion and that she didn't want to press charges. The PD told her that wasn't up to her and told me to plead guilty to domestic assualt and battery. I did. 3 years later, while going thru the hiring process for NYPD (1996), the Lautenburg Act was affected and I lost my gun rights and my career retroactively.
I served 4 years honorably in each the Marine Corps and the Navy, have no ciminal record other than that and still have the dream of becoming a police officer. As a "domestic abuser" I have been pariahed and have never been able to find any information or help over the years. Do I have any recourse in this matter? I pled in VA in 1993 and lived there for about 2 weeks after that. I have never been back and currently live in AZ. I appreciate any and all help.
Answer Wow, you had a horrible Public Defender. For the record never make deals with Police Officers.
Your situation is very simple just google in Virginia Executive Clemency. There you will follow the links on the website for Commonwealth of Virginia restoration of rights. I'm not sure if your crime is considered violent or not but their are two different applications one for violent offenses and one for non-violent. Because you had a misdemeanor offense you should have no problem. You can do this application by mail. Make sure you send in evidence of good citizenship like your DD-214, a letter from your wife notorized explaining her part in the inncident, job reference letters, Etc. This process will take about 6 months from the date they receive it to be completed. Also send a copy of your driving record they will not process without that. You don't have to be living in Virginia because the offense happened in Virginia.
When you are done and you get approved apply for a Virginia Firearm Permit using your Restoration of rights Certificate @ Virginia State Police website. This will prove your gun rights restored along with federal firearm code 18. U.S.C 921 (A)(20)
