Charged with a misdemeanor
 

Hello everyone,
Caught my girlfriend cheating on me on President's Day. Left a bunch of nasty notes on her car and got charged with Domestic Violence Harrassment(a misdemeanor). Spent the night in jail.
Is this going to hurt my chances of getting hired?
Thanks

Until convicted, it shouldn't.

I am convicted. Plea bargained with the prosocuting attorney. Got 12 months unsupervised probation and DV classes along with a restraining order.

You might want to ditch the witch and get some therapy for that.....

that will hurt you.....because you'll have to explain it.....but if people can get hired after a DWI, you should be able to get hired after this. HOWEVER - you'll need to show some definite improvement because issues will arise on the flight deck and your method of handling stuff isn't direct nor is it with tact. That will be a huge issue...you could be looked at as someone who might just go off the deep end one day........that is the issue.............you've got to find a way to make it look like you don't have control issues and cure any issues you may have.

Best of luck in all of it......don't worry - you can overcome.

LOL, went to Vegas for 20 hours after the 24 hours I spent in Jail. Definitely got some therapy ;)

Yes, definitely ditching the witch...

Ouch. I hate to have to say this, but if you want to persue a career in aviation you should have tried to beat this rap. To be brutally honest, I think this will hurt you far more than a DUI. A DUI is a known quantity. But an employer who sees this will not know what to think...it could have been anything from an honest misunderstanding, the Ex faking a situation to get revenge, to you being a full-on psycho, or anything in between. Unfortunately, society has gone way overboard with branding any sort of domestic dispute as "domestic violence".

I have never seen this in aviation, but it's common in the military..and it pretty much kills your career.

If there is any possible way to back out of the plea deal and beat this rap, I would recommend that you try to do that. Contact a really good lawyer if you haven't already.

You may need to the weigh the risk of getting convicted at trial vs. your aviation career.

All this over a girl, bad move. Good luck ...!

Depending on Jurisdiction, usually within 12 months you can seal the record. 2 years, expunge it. That is assuming first offense, non-violent etc.

I was charged with trespassing and had a citizens arrest placed on me! Complete misunderstanding and the judge recognized that and dropped all charges. Never convicted, never paid a fine, never had an infraction. I dont have to disclose it so I wont. Dont know if it will hurt me since I have not interviewed anywhere since this happened.
With that said, since you were convicted, you will have to talk about it when interviewing. I agree with what Rickair said and it sucks that society automatically labels you a "bad seed" without really knowing the facts. Hang in there and if there is any way you can get this off of your record, do it.

Yep,

in this society it's only cool if the shoe is on the other foot?

YOU didn't carve your name into her leather seats did you?

So if I understand all this correctly - you need to actually be convicted of a charge for it to show up on a background check, correct? I was charged with having a concealed weapon at 16 because I had an unloaded paintball gun in the back of my car. (Small town, bored prosecutor, etc) The charge was thrown out in court almost immediately and I was never arrested or cited, but all this talk lately about background checks has got me wondering...

Due to the "violence" aspect of this particular situation, would you say that this is more serious than a misdemeanor pot charge which was plead youthful offender to? I brought that up sometime in the past and you said it wasn't a career ender (though my career hasn't began). I could see it potentially being more serious if I were to have been behind the wheel when I was popped, but instead I was just a passenger.

Thoughts?

Misdeamor weed possession as a minor is nothing to worry about, just take responsibility and don't try to say it was your friends, or you didn't know it was in the car, etc. Possession with intent to sell would be a problem, as would multiple drug arrests.

I see...well, what constitutes a minor in the aviation industry? I was 20 years old when this happened, but in Alabama you are able to plea youthful offender once prior to 21.

If by minor you mean 18 and under, could it potentially be more serious?

Thanks as always

So what's the verdict, should I just give up trying for a career in aviation???
I always thought it was the felonies they were worried about.

"should I just give up trying for a career in aviation???"

I wouldn't, though it's hard to predict YOUR future from the sidelines. All you can do is press on and hope for the best. Maybe you should try an interview or two and see where you end up.

Juvenile records are sealed. A juvenile is <18, generally a minor is <21.

I know that this is a day late and a dollar short, but you should have asked for a suspended imposition.

Here's the deal. I'm in the middle of doing Multi Engine Commercial. I'm about $32k invested so far. I have 172hrs TT 13ME. Need 250 for the commercial so it's going to take a few more thousand to say the least. So I'm nowhere close to getting a job interview yet.

I don't know what to do. I know it was stupid, but at the time, I was making a point to my ex-girlfriend and wasn't looking at the consequences. I'm just happy that something broke and I can get her out of my life once and for all.

What exactly is a "suspended imposition?"

I'll say people have overcome much bigger obstacle's and been successful in the career. We all run into problems of one sort or another have to persevere through it on our way up.

I can't imagine quitting over what I read at an internet message board. If we had computers back in the mid-70's when I was a kid, I'm sure somebody would have said "you can't be a pilot cause you wear glasses and have 20/200 uncorrected, just give it up".

Where would I be now.....

It's a tough call, and only you can make it. I suspect that eventually you could a job at a regional, and I'm certain you could get general aviation or part 135 work. But the companies who readily hire folks with background issues may not be the best places to work.

How badly do you want to fly? What type of flying job would you be happy with? If you can do without a major airline, you will probably be OK in the long run.

I have no way of knowing for sure, but I suspect that your biggest challenge would arise when it comes to getting hired at a major. Try to get as many opinions on this as you can from major airline pilots, or even call an interiew-prep agency.

Thanks for the advice guys.
My ME Instructor says to just keep on keepin' on. He's seen people hired with worse things on their record, and only time will it help heal itself. So I am probably going to look at the CFI route for a while.

I'm not really expecting to ever get hired by a major for the fact that I don't have a college degree, so flying for regionals or cargo would be just fine with me. :)

Even if it is expunged, it will definitely show up on an FBI background check. Which is what the airlines do. Be open and honest. They will find out.

ae fo-

r u sure it will show up if it's expunged, cause he can try that and maybe make things alittle better? not sure on the laws of expungement?

Its going to be an uphill battle for you. If you can walk away from that disaster a better person that would be the best thing. You've now got a reason to do the best you can wherever you go because you're gonna have to, to be able to convince people you're serious about flying and you're a better person than you once were. Good Luck and don't let anyone tell you its over. I know a guy who got caught for multiple felonies when he was 18. He had a rough day but overcame it and is flying professionally. Lots of volunteer work and counseling even after he didn't have to. He turned a negative into a positive.

The expungement laws are simple: They are state/local laws. The US constitution says that FEDERAL law trumps state/local law in every case. The airline background checks are based on federal records which are "snapshots" of state and local records. Anything which gets into the federal records stays there...it's a one-way data transmission...there is no way for states or localities to reach into federal databases and expunge anything.

Since the federal records are used for intelligence and national security purposes, they are not releaseable to to the public. This means that there is no real concern that expunged records might be accessed and used unfairly by private citizens or employers. The airline background check is a national security issue of course...the public and congress are willing to risk unfair treatment of certain transportation workers in exchange for added security. Not perfect, but that's the way it is.

An expungement removes the record or seals it. Nothing more, nothing less. It means that your Fiance or Jiffy Lube cannot access the records when you apply for a job. It DOES NOT mean the event never happened.

I know this is anyone's guess but I just had an interview and have a question about something I did not bring up. I was arrested for trespassing and the charge was later dropped/dismissed. On the airlines application it said "do not list any arrests that did not result in a conviction" which mine did not. With that said, they never asked me "have you been arrested" and I didn't volunteer the information.....do you guys think this might come back and bite me?
If they would have asked I definitely would have been honest because I have nothing to hide, but I didn't think it would be in my best interest to bring it up on my own.

If they said not to list it, and they did not ask about it, then I would not have told them either. It will not come back and bite you.

Where people get in trouble is they lie or omit info when specifically asked, on the assumption that the airline won't find...but the federal records are pretty thorough (although not 100%).

Thanks for the response rickair. A little reassurance is always nice especially when you start to double guess everything after an interview:)

A suspended imposition of sentence is an agreement in which one serves a period of probation or is required to attend a class or do something else. If the conditions set by the prosecutor are met within a period of time and/or no other crimes are committed during the set period, the charges are dismissed.