After being wrongly picked out of a police lineup and charged with two felonies she didn't commit, Jasmine Violens lost her home, her car, and most importantly, her harmful reputation.
When the single mother of two tried to pick up the pieces of her life in Atlanta after the charges were dropped, she faced more challenges than proving she was not involved in a street assault in Smyrna. But I also found that erasing my record was an even harder battle. Georgia in 2022.
Violens joins countless Americans who are accused of crimes they did not commit each year, and who struggle to clear their charges after they are dismissed from public records or the Internet. This is a predicament that can plague them when applying for jobs, loans, and other potential opportunities.
Experts and advocates say the number of people in violent situations is not tracked or compiled into databases, and the record-wiping process, which varies by state, is cumbersome and time-consuming. Most agree that it is difficult and often expensive.
“They messed me up, they took everything from me, and now I'm just realizing it. It's not fair,” Violenes said, adding that the harrowing experience left her with PTSD. He added that he still has symptoms.
She said she felt like a “zombie” for the first few weeks after her arrest. She rarely got out of bed and struggled to care for her sons. She was “sweating incessantly” due to her anxiety, and her hair and weight were also decreasing.
“My entire life, my identity, everything that made me who I am was stripped away from me. I don't know who I am anymore. I don't know what my purpose is,” she said. Said. “I'm dying inside.”
Violence, 34, dreamed of becoming a nurse. She was scheduled to begin a training program at Grady Hospital in Atlanta in April 2023, but in January of the same year she was arrested and charged with two felonies in connection with a street assault that occurred while she was working in another town. It was done.her car She said her then-boyfriend, Kevin McCoy, was at the crime scene while driving the car.
Hoping the mix-up would be resolved soon, Violenes told show officials about the felony charges. She didn't want any problems with her future background checks. The hospital postponed her start date, but The charges are still on her record and she has not been able to start yet program, she said.
Grady Hospital did not respond to multiple calls and emails from NBC News.
“I felt like all the sacrifices I had made were for nothing,” she said. “I wanted to be a part of something bigger and better. Getting residency at Grady College was a huge accomplishment, but I missed out on that opportunity because the justice system wasn't paying enough attention. did.”
Her legal troubles began on the night of November 2, 2022. McCoy, now her ex-boyfriend, was driving her car when they got into a road rage altercation at a busy intersection in the Atlanta suburb of Smyrna.
Derrick Lynn Hill, of Atlanta, was driving a silver Toyota Camry when two women in another vehicle “suspected of cutting him off,” according to a Smyrna Police Department report. He told police that he started screaming. The women followed Hill to the restaurant's parking lot and cornered him at an intersection after he left, the report said.
According to the police report, Hill told an armed stranger that one of the women called him to the scene and said she intended to shoot him, and the women said they pulled on the door handle of Hill's car. did.
McCoy drove a black Chevrolet Equinox and arrived at the scene during the disturbance after dropping Violens off at work at an urgent care clinic, police said. Hill, who did not identify McCoy by name in the police report, told officers that the driver of the Equinox got out of the SUV and also pulled the car's door handle.
McCoy, who was not taken into custody, said in an interview with NBC News that he never pulled Hill's door handle. McCoy said when she pulled into the intersection, she saw two women who claimed they had been cut off by a driver and wanted someone to call police. He said he went to offer help, but as soon as he saw what was happening, he got back in his car and drove away, adding that authorities never contacted him about the incident.
The next day, Hill filed a police report that included Violenes' license plate number and two months later singled her out in a photo as one of her alleged assailants, according to the police report. That's what it means. There was no indication in the police report that Hill knew Violenes. Police arrested her in January 2023 as she was on her way home after running an errand.
Both Hill and the Smyrna Police Department declined to comment.
A grand jury indicted Violenes in June after the Cobb County District Attorney's Office indicted him on two felonies of aggravated assault and false imprisonment and a misdemeanor count of trespassing.
Ms. Violens' attorney, David J. Koontz, provided prosecutors with timestamps showing when she logged on and out of shifts at an Atlanta urgent care clinic where she worked nights, but the investigation still remains unclear. said it had been moved forward.
Violenes said he was part of a unit that was fired from the emergency clinic shortly before the charges were filed. And when he started applying for jobs, he found out he couldn't pass a criminal background check. With her income gone, she lost her car and apartment and was forced to live with her relatives, along with her sons, ages 13 and 16. She said her oldest son started acting out on her, including skipping school, vaping and frequently arguing with her.
Violenes said she feels like a disappointment to her sons.
“I had plans for the boys. For years, I promised them a different and better life,” she said. “I broke my promise, but not intentionally. They don't believe me.”
Her case was dismissed by the district attorney's office in December, nearly a year after her arrest, for lack of evidence and proof that she was at work at the time of the crime. The prosecutor's office, in accordance with its policy at the time of her dismissal, placed restrictions on her criminal record, which would make her record private but not expunged. Georgia has not expunged her record.
But the charges remained on her public record because the Cobb County Superior Court Clerk's Office had not yet processed the documents, the district attorney's office said. Clerk Connie Taylor did not respond to calls or emails seeking comment.
Brenda Smeaton, legal director of the Georgia Justice Project, which helps residents expunge their records for free, said the clerk's office enters the restriction into the Georgia criminal information database within a month of the charge being dismissed. said it was necessary to do so.
In addition to this restriction, people who have had their charges dismissed and wish to have their records sealed (so only law enforcement can view their criminal history) can file a petition with the court to do so, Smeaton said. said it needed to be done. She said hiring a lawyer can cost petitioners thousands of dollars, and while it's not essential, it makes her job a lot easier.
Violenes did not take this step because she did not know until recently that it was necessary to clear her name, she said. She also doesn't know how to file her petition and can't afford a lawyer, she said.
“I didn't know there was such an option,” Violens said.
But if the person conducting the background check has law enforcement-level security clearance, Smeaton said some of your criminal history may remain known to potential employers. .
Acqua Amaning, director of criminal justice reform at the American Progress Center, a liberal public policy research and advocacy group, said the record expungement process varies by state, but it is too laborious and expensive to start. He says that some people think that.
Violenes also learned that her mugshot and the charges against her were posted on a criminal website that aggregates public records and is easily found by potential employers.
Removing a name or image from the internet is notoriously difficult, if not impossible, says Electronics, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization focused on privacy and civil liberties. said Ben Winters, senior advisor at the Privacy Information Center.
“It's a nightmare,” Winters said. “They have no incentive to reduce web traffic, so they never update the information when they get it.”
Violenes said the financial burden has pushed her into a deep depression and she feels there is no way out.
“I have to rely on people and my mother to send me money,” she said. “Every day I feel stuck. I've lost everything that made me independent.”
