Ohio judges seal many misdemeanor records of small-town college students, court records show

Are college students getting away with not having to face public scrutiny for misdemeanor crimes? Over the past five years and last year, 40 percent of misdemeanor cases in the county that is home to Miami University in Ohio were sealed by Judge Rob Lyons, left, reports Sheila McLaughlin of the Cincinnati Enquirer. (Enquirer photo by Tony Tribble)

McLaughlin reports that in 2012, nearly 32 percent of cases were sealed in the county that is home to Ohio University, 22 percent in the one that's home to Kent State University, almost 17 percent in the one where Bowling Green State University is located, but only 3.5 percent in the larger, more urban county that is home to the University of Dayton.

Christo Lassiter, a law professor at the University of Cincinnati, questions whether students in towns dominated by a college are getting preferential treatment. “To some extent, Miami students have a pipeline. You find out what works and you do it. They’ve figured it out. It could be just the pipeline, or it could be the fact that these people do have the money to go to a lawyer.”

Lyons, on the bench for 14 years, said in a sworn deposition that he routinely seals cases for Miami students: “You’ve got kids with indiscretions that want their records sealed before they start applying for graduate school or go to the job market.”