Federal judge creates 'certificate of rehabilitation' for nurse he sentenced in 2003
A Brooklyn federal judge who was concerned about job obstacles for a nurse he sentenced in 2003 decided to create an alternative to expungement.
In a March 7 order, U.S. District Judge John Gleeson said the nurse was entitled to a “federal certificate of rehabilitation” and he attached it to his opinion, the New York Times reports in an Editorial Observer column. There is no such certificate under federal law, though some state systems use them.
Gleeson said the 57-year-old woman, identified as Jane Doe, didn’t meet the requirements to have her record expunged. But she was never convicted of another crime after she completed her sentence in 2004 for participating in a staged car accident scheme.
“As her sentencing judge,” Gleeson wrote, “I owe it not only to Doe, but to her family and community, to do my part to lift any remaining hardship on her. Most prospective employers do not have the time or resources to gain a comprehensive understanding of who Doe is, and then to figure out what weight, if any, her conviction should play in the hiring process. So I have done that for them.”
Gleeson retired from the judiciary on March 9, two days after issuing the certificate. According to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, the New York Times DealBook blog and the New York Law Journal (sub. req.), he is reportedly joining Debevoise & Plimpton.
