Gregory S. Kendall 5357 Highway 24 Newport, NC  28570 ###.###.####  mobile   30-Jan-2013
Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation & Correction Parole Board 770 West Broad Street Columbus, OH  43222

Members of the Parole Board:

My original application has aged over 3 years, and I have lost track of its status.  Much has happened during the intervening time.  My understanding has grown & the case has evolved.  The story reveals more and more merit.

When I originally requested a Pardon, it was an emergency request sent from China because the State of North Carolina was in the midst of prosecuting me on faulty criminal charges of "Failure to Register" where in fact, I never should have been labeled a Sex Offender at all.

Disaster was not averted.  I was forced to return from China to the USA, which cancelled formal wedding plans, and then fallback wedding plans.  I did not reach home as planned.  I was jailed upon reaching the port of entry to the United States at San Francisco California, and was held for 12 days awaiting extradition.  Then I was transported by a van, from coast to coast, wearing shackles and staying overnight at local jails along the way.  Upon arrival in North Carolina, I was jailed 3 consecutive times by Pender County, NC authorities.  First for the original "Failure to Register" charge, then a fresh "Failure to Register" together with a "Sex Offender Use of Social Network" charge, and the third time for a supposed "Failure To Appear" at a court appointment for which no notice was given.

During this time I communicated with ODRC Officer Tina Burrows via email and phone.  I provided updates about my case, including a complete DRC3068 emailed on 08-Jun-2010.  I've heard nothing from ODRC since her last communication dated 15-Jul-2010 saying "I'm sorry that at this moment I cannot give you a time that I will be able to get back with you."  My final communication to her on 30-Nov-2010 was not answered.

I was married 29-Jan-2011 with my fiancée.  She came from China to join me in North Carolina because my pending criminal charges would not allow me to leave the jurisdiction.

Subsequently, her immigrant Visa application was met with an "Intent to Deny"� response by the US Citizenship & Immigration Service [USCIS].  This denial was directly blamed on my sex offender status, which under the Adam Walsh Act automatically disqualifies anyone from sponsoring a family-based petition.  When the fallout began to wreck my wife's status here, I became really upset about the systemic injustices.

We retained counsel to fight the erroneous charges and the wrongful sex offender status.  The attorney hired in North Carolina teamed up with associate counsel from Ohio, and together they submitted 2 Motions to the Montgomery County, Ohio court where my case originated.  These motions were filed together on 15-Nov-2011.  Also that same day, I sent out a few hundred pages of files for USCIS review.  They had asked for my case history, and I complied.

Slowly these efforts began to earn more positive results.

The 1^st Motion was granted, 22-Mar-2012.  Judge Frances McGee reinforced my claims that I never belonged on the Registry, with her "DECISION, ORDER AND ENTRY SUSTAINING DEFENDANT'S MOTION DECLARING THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT VOID AB INITIO" (empty from the beginning).

In the wake of that Decision, a couple of major milestones were reached:  USCIS relented from their "Intent to Deny" position and granted the immigrant petition on behalf of my wife.  She now holds a Green Card, received this month just before our 2nd wedding anniversary.  And the State of California has removed me from their Sex Offender Registry.

Major steps still remain.  I am still published on North Carolina's Sex Offender Registry.  Before the granting of our 1^st Motion, NC had claimed sovereign authority to determine whether my out-of-state offense is "substantially similar" to a NC offense requiring Registration.  In other words, their Registration decision is independent and isolated from Ohio law regarding my case.  Could this recent Decision from Ohio shift their stance?  Hopefully the U.S. Constitution will motivate them to reconsider.  My understanding is that "Full Faith & Credit" grants more power to judgments than to laws, such that a Judge's decision regarding my particular case should override NC's statutory authority to Register me.  I can't be certain until it finally happens.

Also, we await the 2^nd Motion which is still pending in Montgomery County, Ohio.  Attached as Appendix 1, please examine our "BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO WITHDRAW GUILTY PLEA". This Brief highlights a number of errors in the handling of my case.  Together these may be sufficient "Manifest Injustice" to warrant the withdrawal of my plea agreement.  My case might then be reopened and reset for trial, or possibly dismissed altogether.

Unfortunately, this 2^nd Motion has been pending since 15-Nov-2011.  The brief was submitted 10-Jul-2012.  We had a hearing on 14-Aug-2012 at which Judge McGee said she intends to deny this motion.  Quote: "Defendant did not suffer Manifest Injustice in the manner that the plea was obtained".  My viewpoint differs of course.  During the 5 1/2 months elapsed since, Judge McGee has not produced any written decision.  I'm silently wishing that she may find it difficult to recite the legal basis for her earlier verbal opinion, then write her final judgment in my favor.  (This is a very remote possibility.)

Today my best hope is that your office could put all these issues to rest.  All the miscarriages of justice detailed in our Brief for the 2^nd Motion, frame a solid rationale for granting a Pardon.  If pardoned, there will be no need to retry my original case, or to have any tug-of-war about my Registration requirement in North Carolina.

I'm no criminal.  Yet Expungement is unavailable for cases of this kind.  An Appeal process would incur enormous legal expenses, and time penalties.  Recourse is effectively unattainable.  Please clear my exaggerated, erroneous criminal history, once and for all.

This request is not an attempt to shortcut the due process of law, but a call for appropriate relief which has been unattainable through any other channels across many years.  Today you can resolve more than a decade of needless suffering in one clean step.

Thank you,

Gregory S. Kendall