In 1996, I was charged with carrying a concealed weapon in the state of Florida while traveling through on my way back to Georgia. The young lady I was riding with had asked me to get out of her car and she pulled over to a convenience store where I proceeded to get out of the car and entered the store with the weapon in my coat pocket with a gun permit on me.

The clerk called the police and I was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon. The gun never came out of my pocket until I entered the restroom to change my shirt, I had no idea the clerk knew I had a weapon on me, the only way possible for the clerk to have known I had a weapon was the restroom had to have a hidden camera somewhere in the restroom.

In March, I went to court and entered a plea of guilty for carrying a concealed weapon. Adjudication was withheld - therefore not charging me with the crime. A withhold of adjudication is not a conviction therefore the defendant avoids the negative consequences that result from a criminal conviction (terms)

Sadly to say that the law of this great country we call home does not protect everyone. I have been fired from my job for this charge, denied employment because of this charge, have been denied schooling because of this charge, and denied housing because of this charge because it's considered a felony.

This one charge has taken many opportunities from me to advance in life, I have been denied the opportunity to complete my criminal justice degree, I have been terminated from jobs and denied the opportunity to live in communities where I desire to live because once the background comes back the people viewing the results are seeing a convicted felon not someone with an adjudication withheld.

This type of treatment is not fair for the individual dealing with the results of a decision that has been over 25 years and I am still suffering for just walking into a store to change my shirt and to make one phone call to my family to get a ride for me and my 7-year old daughter, I have been fighting to try to get this charge removed and I am again filing to have it expunged because this charge is causing more years of heartaches, denials, and opportunities for me.

The only crime I committed was going into a store with a weapon that had been put out of a car and seeking help to get me and my child back home to Georgia. I have paid my debt to society and I want to be free from it all.

It's not fair that anyone has to continue to pay the price for a crime that didn't hurt or have any intention of hurting anyone for the rest of their life. We need to change how things are entered into a person's background. We need laws to automatically remove none violent crimes from the individual record after 5 years .