Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder
DeBerry pleaded guilty, in 2005, to theft of government property violating 18 USC §641. In addition to restitution, DeBerry was sentenced to one year’s probation. In addition to making full restitution and serving her probation term without incident, DeBerry obtained a General Educational Development degree, a Certified Nursing Assistant degree, and her Home Health Aide degree and is currently employed as a home health aide. Appearing without legal counsel, DeBerry moved to expunge her criminal record, arguing that the record made it difficult to pursue higher education and career possibilities. Discussing the Second Circuit’s 1977 decision in United States v. Schnitzer, the Supreme Court’s 1994 decision in Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Insurance of America, and decisions from other Courts of Appeals that have, since Kokkonen, ruled that federal courts lack authority to expunge criminal records, the court denied DeBerry’s expungement motion. While not unsympathetic, the court observed that the hardships DeBerry attributed to her conviction were not the kind of unusual and extraordinary hardships that could justify the exercise of equitable jurisdiction to expunge the judicial record of the conviction.