Scott Roberts for www.theindianalawyer.com

The fact that a man admitted to committing a crime was enough to deny expungement of his records, the Indiana Court of Appeals said, despite the fact he was not convicted of one during his expungement time period.

David Lee Marshall was convicted of a number of operating while intoxicated and public intoxication charges, as well as a criminal recklessness and misdemeanor battery charge between 1992 and 2006. In April 2013, he was charged with Class D felony operating a vehicle as a habitual traffic violator and driving while suspended, a Class A misdemeanor. Marshall later signed a pretrial diversion agreement, admitting he was driving while suspended. The charges were dismissed when he completed the pretrial diversion program.

In January 2015, Marshall filed his petition for expungement, but the state opposed, saying he had not stayed crime-free during the eight-year time period he needed to in order to have his records expunged. The trial court denied his petition, saying he committed a crime in 2013, and he appealed.

The COA found that Marshall had had shown the requisite time lapse, the absence of pending charges, satisfaction of obligations and lack of a new criminal conviction, but said it needs to consider expungement statutes as a whole. While Marshall had never been convicted of another crime during the time period, he had committed one. He admitted it during diversionary proceedings.

The COA said the Legislature’s objective in the expungement statute was to provide assistance to those who remain law-abiding, and Marshall did not. He committed a crime, and therefore is not eligible for expungement.

“Expunging records where one has admitted to engaging in criminal activity does not further the policy objective of assistance to one who has paid his societal dues without incident,” Judge L. Mark Bailey wrote.

The case is David Lee Marshall v. State of Indiana, 20A03-1507-MI-973.

Indianapolis – Governor Mike Pence and the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency today announced a new partnership with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to curb opioid abuse among Hoosier veterans. Veterans receiving treatment in VA hospitals in Indiana will soon be enrolled in Indiana’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (INSPECT), a tool for health care professionals to address the problem of prescription drug abuse and diversion in Indiana.

“Indiana has always valued the service of our veterans,” said Governor Mike Pence. “This new partnership between INSPECT and the federal Department of Veterans Affairs is a continuance of our promise to ensure quality health care for our Hoosier veterans and a positive step forward in the fight against opioid abuse in Indiana.”

The partnership requires that veterans’ prescriptions through the VA be enrolled in INSPECT’s online database in which health care professionals and prescribers can access patients’ controlled substance information and flag abuses.

The partnership will begin with a pilot program at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis. Pending the pilot program’s results, the Adam Benjamin Jr. VA in Crown Point and both the Ft. Wayne and Marion, IN campuses of the VA Northern Indiana Health Care System will follow in utilizing the INSPECT program. The Evansville VA Health Care Facility, which transmits pharmacy data through the nearby Marion, IL VA Medical Center, will not be submitting data to INSPECT. However, Indiana health care practitioners will still have access to their veteran patients’ health data through an existing interoperability agreement with Illinois.

“Since 2007, INSPECT has been a valuable tool for health care providers in Indiana,” said Dr. Ginny Creasman, interim director of the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis. “This additional effort will ensure prescription information is made securely available to both the VA and community providers. Ultimately, health care will be safer for our veterans.”

Governor Pence’s administration has championed numerous initiatives to combat drug abuse in Indiana. In September 2015, Governor Penceestablished by Executive Order the Governor’s Task Force on Drug Enforcement, Treatment and Prevention to bring together Indiana experts from a variety of specialties to evaluate the growing national drug problem in Indiana.

Governor Pence also recently unveiled the state’s plans to build a new state-of-the-art neuro-diagnostic institute that will provide major advancements to Indiana’s public mental health delivery system. The institute, scheduled to begin serving patients in 2018,