Well its been 10 weeks now with no real indication as to the decision on my LTC Was wondering what other more knowledgeable licensees would suggest or think of my situation ?Application was made in a green town Mashpee, Ma. On the application I had listed a previous altercation I had about 23 years ago in Brooklyn NY that was thrown out of court with no merit, all charges dropped. Long story short, a union / work dispute. Unfortunately I went thru the system and was advised by counsel to have records sealed. Well since that time no arrests, been a good boy, not even a moving violation. Relocated to NC became an NRA instructor with 3 disciplines, filed with the State of NC to teach. Even was granted a LTC back in 1995 (NC) Now I know that MA does not give a rats ass about my previous background with NC but I've been living in this lovely Ma**h*** state for the last 12 years now and have just decided to reapply for the LTC. The last phone inquiry I had with Mashpee PD it was stated that they wanted to talk to a detective due to the fact their check came back as a felony ??? I was never convicted and all charges were dropped. Not to mention this all took place 23 years ago as a union /work dispute ! In my efforts to educate myself on Mass LTC rules is Mass. a "Shall Issue or May Issue" state ? Could this make any difference ?What course or suggestions would others suggest i take at this time ?
-
If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership The benefits pay for the membership many times over.
Applying for the LTC What would you do ?
- Thread starter LTC Squire
- Start date
MA is may issue.
And MA has a "look back period" that goes back to the day you were born, so age of the case is irrelevant.
There is a problem with sealed records from other states. Many PDs will put the burden on YOU to obtain the sealed records and provide them to the PD.
Do you have copies of the Docket Sheet with the adjudication of the charges on it?
To add to the confusion, each state uses different terminology and interpreting your case may have led to a wrong conclusion.
I'd be in close contact with your LO and offer to do anything you can to help them square it away.
Good luck.
And MA has a "look back period" that goes back to the day you were born, so age of the case is irrelevant.
There is a problem with sealed records from other states. Many PDs will put the burden on YOU to obtain the sealed records and provide them to the PD.
Do you have copies of the Docket Sheet with the adjudication of the charges on it?
To add to the confusion, each state uses different terminology and interpreting your case may have led to a wrong conclusion.
I'd be in close contact with your LO and offer to do anything you can to help them square it away.
Good luck.
No, I do not have any copies of the docket sheet or adjudication of charges, don't even know how to go about obtaining such information at this point in time.
It's been over 20 years and I have lived in 3-4 states since then.
Is there a way to acquire this docket sheet or adjudication summery so I could present this to the PD ?
All this seems so ridiculous seeing that there were no priors and or present day arrests .
If my application were denied based on this would I be able to contest the local chiefs decision by going to the next step ?
It's been over 20 years and I have lived in 3-4 states since then.
Is there a way to acquire this docket sheet or adjudication summery so I could present this to the PD ?
All this seems so ridiculous seeing that there were no priors and or present day arrests .
If my application were denied based on this would I be able to contest the local chiefs decision by going to the next step ?
blindndead
NES Member
If their interpretation is that you were convicted of a felony, your appeal in court would fail . . . unless YOU could prove that they misinterpreted the case. For that the burden of proof is on you to provide that proof . . . NOT on the PD to prove it was.
Sorry but ANY offense committed anywhere in the US from the day you were born will affect your ability to get a LTC in MA. That is the way MGL is written, no exceptions, no "time off for good behavior" allowed by the law. Additionally, MGL allows chiefs 100% DISCRETION on "Suitability" so even if you are "clean" you can still be denied and your chance of winning in court are almost nil.
Save the legal fees, wasted time and aggravation and get copies of your record from the court that heard the case and go sit down with your licensing officer. Then and only then will you know where you stand.
I wish you good luck and hope you prevail.
Sorry but ANY offense committed anywhere in the US from the day you were born will affect your ability to get a LTC in MA. That is the way MGL is written, no exceptions, no "time off for good behavior" allowed by the law. Additionally, MGL allows chiefs 100% DISCRETION on "Suitability" so even if you are "clean" you can still be denied and your chance of winning in court are almost nil.
Save the legal fees, wasted time and aggravation and get copies of your record from the court that heard the case and go sit down with your licensing officer. Then and only then will you know where you stand.
I wish you good luck and hope you prevail.
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2010
- Messages
- 707
- Likes
- 236
As a licensing official, I have seen this before. I believe that the issue ( if your account is accurate) may be that your history is showing a sealed record on file. Since it's a very old case, it may be stored at the bottom of some basement, on microfiche. Requests for this old information often take a long time to process. FWIW, I would never suggest sealing a record, as it's a waste of money, and that information will still be accessible to law enforcement. I hope this is helpful to you.
Many Thanks LenS, Just a little confused as to getting the docket # and basic info. at this time ? 20 + yrs I don't even remember where or what court house handled this.
I guess the PD could help me identify it so I could run this information down. I'll try this route
Thanks for your feedback.
Glasgow, what would be the proper procedure to acquire this history ? Getting all my ducks in a row to present it to my local LEO is what it sounds like.
This was an incident that did involve the National Park Police, US Coast Guard and should be well documented. Myself "a US Licensed Capt" & an unlicensed towboat operator were butting heads on SAR cases years back in NY Harbor when this frivolous lawsuit occurred. Seems like I'm still paying for this ! Sorry for the rant, but Its just not fair-play.
Any pointers on obtaining files that date back this far ?
This was an incident that did involve the National Park Police, US Coast Guard and should be well documented. Myself "a US Licensed Capt" & an unlicensed towboat operator were butting heads on SAR cases years back in NY Harbor when this frivolous lawsuit occurred. Seems like I'm still paying for this ! Sorry for the rant, but Its just not fair-play.
Any pointers on obtaining files that date back this far ?
fencer
NES Member
Quick question and not meant in any way to be a smart ass. Could you spare the money to hire an attorney? If so, you may just figure that rather than spend all this time and effort, spending $1500 bucks or so so that someone else deals with it may be worth it to you.
IMNSHO it's not a wise expenditure of money to pay an attorney to dig up your records, when he could do it himself with a few phone calls and maybe a letter.
A lawyer can only help once he gets the records in his hands so that the lawyer knows what he's dealing with. And perhaps the OP can do that himself if it was disposed of with no finding of guilt.
That's why I ALWAYS recommend getting the records for the court yourself.
Now to the OP:
You know where this happened (sounds like NYC Harbor?), Google is your friend. I'll help you out with the basics and then you get to dig out the phone numbers for the relevant court clerk's office.
In case it's not NYC, this link will get you where you need to go:
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/trialcourts.shtml
If it's NYC:
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/nyc/index.shtml
Since you mention Feds were involved, it might have been in a US District Court.
USDC-Southern District of NY:
http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/
USDC-Eastern District of NY:
http://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/
If you call the wrong courthouse and tell them WHERE the incident occurred, they should be able to point you to the right courthouse and give you the proper phone number.
Keep in mind that ONLY criminal courts matter wrt LTC applications. Civil lawsuits are totally irrelevant to licensing.
Good luck.
A lawyer can only help once he gets the records in his hands so that the lawyer knows what he's dealing with. And perhaps the OP can do that himself if it was disposed of with no finding of guilt.
That's why I ALWAYS recommend getting the records for the court yourself.
Now to the OP:
You know where this happened (sounds like NYC Harbor?), Google is your friend. I'll help you out with the basics and then you get to dig out the phone numbers for the relevant court clerk's office.
In case it's not NYC, this link will get you where you need to go:
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/trialcourts.shtml
If it's NYC:
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/nyc/index.shtml
Since you mention Feds were involved, it might have been in a US District Court.
USDC-Southern District of NY:
http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/
USDC-Eastern District of NY:
http://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/
If you call the wrong courthouse and tell them WHERE the incident occurred, they should be able to point you to the right courthouse and give you the proper phone number.
Keep in mind that ONLY criminal courts matter wrt LTC applications. Civil lawsuits are totally irrelevant to licensing.
Good luck.
Also, cases are searchable by the person's name, so knowing a Docket # is useful (searching on that gives one hit) vs. name (multiple cases or multiple people with same name), but not really a problem/impediment to finding the info you seek.
Mashpee has a very nice licensing officer ( I forget her name) and she does process things pretty well. 10 weeks is fairly long for them but not unheard of. You should wait 2 more weeks and then go down and see what the issue is. For all you know there is no problem except normal state processing "delays". My wait time was exactly 8 weeks to the day... Good luck.
I am confused a bit. In your first post you referenced an altercation, Then in another post you talk about a lawsuit.
I guess the bottom line is: was your case criminal (resulting in an arrest) or civil (which should have no bearing on denial other than perhaps suitability if you were the defendant and the judgement was in favor of the plaintiff and it was for some kind of really gross negligence, but even then this is speculative on my part).
I guess the bottom line is: was your case criminal (resulting in an arrest) or civil (which should have no bearing on denial other than perhaps suitability if you were the defendant and the judgement was in favor of the plaintiff and it was for some kind of really gross negligence, but even then this is speculative on my part).
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2010
- Messages
- 707
- Likes
- 236
I would go with this advice. The licensing official should have access to the info, it just takes time with older cases as the info needs to be requested via mail.
Sounds like solid advice, I guess I'll just have to wait it out but will still work on getting the file and how it all ended so that its clear for the issuing officer if needed.
Mark056, in the original post I did reference an altercation that lead to being ran thru the system (arrested) that is. So yes a criminal hearing date was set but the plaintiff later dropped all charges when he realized he was operating without a federal license. All this was just a business tactic used by my competitor in an effort to gain control of a specified area. Funny thing was, it should of been handled in the federal court system but he had the connections with the local precent. I was detained for several hours just long enough for him to make several thousand in marine salvage industry. It was a dogie dog business at times.
Mark056, in the original post I did reference an altercation that lead to being ran thru the system (arrested) that is. So yes a criminal hearing date was set but the plaintiff later dropped all charges when he realized he was operating without a federal license. All this was just a business tactic used by my competitor in an effort to gain control of a specified area. Funny thing was, it should of been handled in the federal court system but he had the connections with the local precent. I was detained for several hours just long enough for him to make several thousand in marine salvage industry. It was a dogie dog business at times.
fencer
NES Member
I admire your spunk. You should go Green. You will fit in well around these parts.
Ah Man, you're probably fine and your LTC will arrive before you know it. I waited 13 weeks in a very Green town just because the licencing officer had a stack of applications to wade through, and in the end he was a great guy. Look at the bright side, this gives you more time to save up for all of your shopping!
Best of luck and I hope it is all squared away soon
Similar threads
