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Domestic Battery plead to Simple Battery w/Conditional Discharge


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I'm asking for a friend, honestly, I'm good to good, my FOID and background checks are AOK :)

 

Some background, short of details but just the same.

 

My friend was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery, through a plea negotiation the domestic complaint was amended to just simple misdemeanor battery aka not domestic, he plead guilty to with a conditional discharge. His conditional discharge was completed without incident over 6 years ago.

 

His goal at the time was to possibly preserve his future rights to own firearms, thus getting rid of the domestic charge and pleading to the regular battery. He understood at the time that Illinois and the Feds might still consider it domestic charge under the 'substantially similar' clause, but he was between a rock and a hard place considering that it was her word against his word in a court system that generally favors the female's account.

 

Does anyone have any input or experience on if he would be able to once again get a FOID and/or pass a 4473 background check?

 

I know the obvious and simple answer is to apply and see what happens but he was hoping someone might have a clue as to what IL and the Feds consider 'substantially similar' especially relevant here when it was an amended complaint/charge that started as a domestic originally.

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Unfortunately, here in Illinois it will not be that simple. The ISP are classifying any battery conviction involving someone you have/had a relationship with or live with as a domestic. The ISP has gone so far at to look back 20-30 years and revoke FOID cards. This has happened to a lot of people who applied for a CCL and a battery conviction was found to involve a spouse/significant other, sibling, etc. Their FOID cards were revoked after having it for decades.

 

We have a lawsuit currently in the courts now about this and about it being virtually a lifetime ban under federal law.

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Molly thanks that is what I feared, my friend was told by his lawyer at that time that the 'substantially similar' clause was probably going to come back and haunt him in IL and at the federal level because they shared a residence and thus it might still be deemed domestic, but there was no confirmation either way.

 

Can you give me the lawsuit name so I can keep up on it?

 

Never mind found the case http://illinoiscarry.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=70079

Edited by Flynn
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I'm not a lawyer ner nuthin' but I do have an uninformed opinion. I'd say your friend should apply and see what happens. The worst case is he getd rejected up front, possibly leaving him an appeal option....with I guess the 'worserest' case being getting approved and sooner or later getting their FOID yanked by the vagaries of the Illinois system. But really he won't know for sure until he tries.

 

Best of luck to him.

Edited by RandyP
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Look into having the record expunged. Otherwise just apply and let it play out. If denied, keep a close watch or assist in the lawsuit Molly mentions. ^ this ***

Having his record expunged will do nothing for him. All of the information is still available to the police and the courts. It's only to make that information not readily available to employers, etc..

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Thanks for the input, I'm going to pass this on to him and probably advise him to follow the Shawna Johnson v. ISP case and see how it ultimately pans out if it's appealed, as her case was very similar to his, where the domestic charge was pleaded to a simple battery with conditional discharge. The positive is that even the lower courts in this messed up state are for once siding with the gun owner and saying the rights should not be denied in such instances.

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