Opinion
No. 82 CR 410.
November 9, 2005
MEMORANDUM ORDER
Ronald Dunlap-Lassere ("Dunlap-Lassere") has submitted a letter seeking to have his arrest record in this 20-year-old case "expunged, sealed, and/or assigned to a new Judge." That request has been pending for a regrettably long period — first because of some delay in the Clerk's Office directing the matter to this Court, then because considerable time had to be spent in an effort (ultimately unsuccessful) to locate the underlying file, and finally in the time required to obtain a response by an Assistant United States Attorney to whom the matter was referred for handling.
As it turns out, however, the delay has not prejudiced Dunlap-Lassere because he is not entitled to the relief he seeks. Even though he (charged in the 1982 indictment as "Ronald Lassere") was found not guilty following a jury trial, the uniform caselaw in this Circuit confirms that this Court is without jurisdiction to order such expunction (see United States v. Flowers, 389 F.3d 737, 738-39 (7th Cir. 2004), United States v. Janek, 10 F.3d 470, 471-72 (7th Cir. 1993) and Scruggs v. United States, 929 F.2d 305, 305-07 (7th Cir. 1991)).
In some sense the principle just announced is the legal equivalent of Stanza 71 of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Though it may well be true that the existence of the 1982 record "hinders him from obtaining both employment in the financial services industry and requisite professional licenses," the best that he can look to is to follow the final suggestion in the government's response of "providing prospective employers or licensing organizations with a certified copy of the disposition and termination of his case, or with a copy of the very document that Mr. Lassere has submitted along with his letter to the court." In any event, Dunlap-Lassere's request must be and is denied.