Post: I was also denied an Illinois FOID Card

Posted by CJ on 9/13/07

When I was 17 years old, I was charged with posession of
Marijuana with intent to deliver - a felony, and they
charged me as an adult. However, in Illinois there is a
special class of probation called 710 or 1410 probation,
a "get out of jail free" card for first time cannabis drug
offenders. A plea of guilty is entered for the term of
your probation, but then the case is dismissed if you
successfully complete probation (which I did). Now at age
28, I applied for a FOID card and was denied, with the
state police stating my background check showed I had a
felony on my record. I know I'm not a felon, I'm
registered to vote for Christ sakes! It turns out that
the systems that Illinois is keeping criminal records on
are so outdated that it is making a large group of people
who got a special probation status look like Felons,
because they are literally using MS DOS in the Lake County
Courthouse to keep records.

Any lawyers out there know what I should do? I already
hired an attorney to take care of sealing my record, but
the very definition of sealing a record explicity allows
the state police to see your record! How do I convince
the State Police I'm not a Felon? I'll give a lawyer a
few hundred bucks if they can get my card for me!

Posts on this thread, including this one

I was also denied an Illinois FOID Card, 9/13/07, by CJ.

Re: I was also denied an Illinois FOID Card, 9/14/07, by duke.