My wrongful federal felony conviction story and how it’s currently affecting my life:

On June 11, 2004, I was convicted on count one (18 U.S.C. 1030 (a)(5)(A)(ii): Unauthorized Access of a Protected Computer) – Class C Felony. I was ordered to pay a restitution of $13,294.09. Nominal restitution payments were ordered since my economic circumstances did allow for immediate full payment which placed me on probation for a term of 5 years. On August 4, 2007 I paid the remaining balance off and completed my probation in December of 2010. During the five years I worked for an employer that was unaware of my felony. I used a computer on a regular basis and had access to internal passwords and programs. During the entire time of my employment, I did not have any problems. I made an immature mistake back in 2003 and learned my valuable lesson then and didn’t have to deal with the repercussion until now –  it has come back to haunt me. I am no longer working. I completed my bachelor’s degree in December of 2010 and have been looking for full time work ever since. My problem is that every employer requires a background check and obviously with a felony conviction I can’t get around it. Every employer says the same thing “having a conviction doesn’t necessarily bar you from employment” but we all know that the employer can still discriminate against you and get around it by saying that they hired someone more qualified for the position or not call you back at all. I have heard this now several times and don’t believe it. What I believe is that they are not hiring me because of my conviction. I am not a malicious person. I am educated, have a wealth of experience, strong work ethic, and very passionate about the effort I put into my work.  Since my conviction is a federal felony, I cannot have it expunged the only option is a presidential pardon. I have no other criminal offences; I am not a violent person and have been a contributing member of society since the age of 16. Crimes commonly considered to be felonies include, but are not limited to: aggravated assault and/or battery, arson, burglary, illegal drug use/sales, grand theft, robbery, murder, rape, and vandalism on federal property – NONE OF THESE is me! My crime was deleting email accounts. My trial was a joke and a HUGE waste of time and money. Half the jurors were sleeping. MOST people do not understand the complexity of computers. During trial my defense team showed exactly what happens when an email account is deleted – emails are bounced back to the sender. Also, my defense team was able to prove that the majority of the emails that were disrupted were SPAM! The only thing I caused was INCONVIENCE – which is far from most people who are convicted federal felons! I was wrongfully terminated by an employer and being immature at the time, I felt the need for revenge. I had the passwords to the email accounts since after I was no longer working there, the company’s IT consultant hired me to work for him so I had access. I knew at the time that what I was doing was wrong and I also knew the inconvenience I was causing and that’s what I wanted. I am not a violent person; I did not commit a violent crime. I made a bad mistake and I will forever live with that regret. Going through all of this has scared me and taught me a valuable lesson. However, I am trying to move forward with my life. This crime should have been in civil court, this crime is worthy of a misdemeanor not a FEDERAL FELONY. The Federal Felony charge was determined because the employer said that they provide services to government and private entities both inside and outside California. They relied upon their electronic mail to communicate with clients and given the fact that inter-state commerce is involved, this crime is considered federal. However, the damage over $5,000 was not damage but the time and salary of each employee who said they spent trying to fix their email. When in reality, the IT consultant should have figured out the problem and if he was experienced as he said he was, the damage I caused would have been well below $5,000. I can’t understand why the jury did not see this. Instead they focused on my written confession, which was not what the trial was based on and explained in the beginning – it wasn’t a matter of if I did it or not, but rather if it could be proved upon a reasonable doubt that I had truly cause over $5,000 worth of damage – which is also not the case, there was NO damage – just multiple employees spending their time (with no IT experience) trying to figure out why there email was not working. If you read through the case documents, it’s clear that the employees had over exaggerated their time. Any other situation, the IT consultant would have been called, figured out that email accounts were deleted, recreated them within minutes and email back up and working again in no time.  My attorney explained this to the jury ad nauseam but most were not paying attention (sleeping). It’s easy to conclude that I did not receive a fair trial. It’s easy to conclude that the crime I committed doesn’t warrant a federal felony conviction. I have no other options but to tell my story to the world in hopes that someone out there can shed some light of hope on me. I have done a lot of research to find options or avenues I can take to fix this but so far the only promising is the Second Chance Act that Senator Charles Rangel has been trying to pass. Federal law does not have any provisions for persons convicted of federal felonies in a federal United States district court to apply to have their record expunged. While the pending Second Chance Act which may change this, at present the only relief that an individual prosecuted in Federal Court may receive is a Presidential Pardon, which does not expunge the conviction, but rather grants relief from the civil disabilities that stem from it. My attorney filed a motion of appeal and my case went to the circuit court but motion was denied. Again I really think it’s because most people don’t understand the internal workings of computer programs and what exactly it was that I did, all they understand is that I did something I was not supposed to do. I deserve a penalty but a federal felony?? I believe justice was not served. I hope that my story can shed some light on the legal systems flaws and how there are many people out there that are normal, educated, civil citizens that are trying to make it in life and have something this heavy hanging over their head. I’m begging for advice, I’m begging for the right person to listen to my story to fully understand the dynamics of what happened and guide me. I am a classic example of someone currently dealing with disenfranchisement and employment discrimination – I deserved to be punished but not this way.

If you know something or someone that can help guide me with advice, please contact me at [email protected]