State v. Cope

Painter, Judge.

The state appeals the trial court’s order sealing 1 the record of appellee Kim Cope’s 1973 drug conviction, for which Cope had received a pardon. This seems to be an issue of first impression, as neither party has cited, and we are unable to discover, any Ohio cases directly on point. We affirm. 2

The state raises two assignments of error, the first of which is that the doctrine of res judicata barred the 1995 action, because in 1983 Cope had applied for an expungement which was denied. In August 1995, however, Cope was • granted an unconditional pardon by Governor George…