By Nikki Suzani
SACRAMENTO – Apparently, the Sacramento District Attorney’s Office is unforgiving—at least that’s the view of a man with a long “rap sheet” who is attempting to have his old record expunged so he can get a real estate license.
In a June 4 hearing in Department 60 of the Sacramento County Superior Court regarding James Vanscooter’s motion to expunge his past record under Penal Code section 1203.4, Deputy DA Anissa Galata argued that regardless of the time elapsed since his past crimes, he would always remain a danger to society.
“I don’t think there is ever a time that accepting this motion would be appropriate,” she said. “I have to evaluate the interests of the public and the safety of the public as well. I have to protect the community, and looking at the consecutive convictions in this case and the facts involved, it’s concerning. I have concerns regarding his conduct, victim’s safety, and the public in general.”
The defendant, James Vanscooter, had filed nine motions under the code, noting that his past convictions were allegedly preventing him from getting his real estate license. The convictions mentioned ranged from 1995 to 2005 and involved drug and alcohol abuse, DUIs, and assault. His last interaction with law enforcement was a 2008 case involving the illegal sale of opioids.
According to Vanscooter, he had turned his life around in 2009 when he was released from prison and he wants to expunge the records of his past cases, change his pleas to not guilty, and have the cases dismissed in order to “get redemption for his past crimes,” adding he wanted to “prove to society and to the world” that he had changed.
The declaration he submitted to the court, which Judge Scott Tedmon summarized, highlighted his attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings since his release. It mentioned that he had been sober since 2009, when he was released. It also talked about how he had taken anger management classes to help with the conditions that had led to his assault cases.
He attributed his sobriety as one of the major reasons why the motion should be granted. “I can look at every single one of my crimes and say that I know that alcohol and substance abuse was directly involved,” he said. “Since I’ve eliminated alcohol and substance abuse in my life I’ve been 
able to lead a new life.”
Beyond that, he talked about how since his release he has become the caretaker of his children and had, in 2019, been granted custody, along with his wife, of his wife’s orphaned teen half-siblings. He argued that his children had motivated him to turn his life around, causing him to enroll in 30+ units at American River College, including career development classes, and to pass the real estate exam in May of 2019.
The documentation provided along with his declaration was a certificate of completion of real estate classes in February 2019 and his transcript from American River College. Vanscooter added that although he had originally had certificates of his completion of other parts of his declaration, he had thrown away a lot of it, believing that, from what he’d read on the internet, that his convictions would no longer prohibit him from getting a license. When he found that to be untrue, he said he filed the motions.
DDA Galata focused on his 2008 probation report that showed he had pleaded guilty to Penal Code section 11351, illegally distributing narcotics, and it demonstrated that he had been a narcotics addict at the time. She went on to describe specific crimes, looking at a juvenile history in 1991 and an 03-245 felony conviction that landed him in 90 days of county jail with five years of probation. She also brought up that probation had also reviewed the motions and had, too, believed they should be denied.
“The defendant has nine petitions, suffered consecutive convictions, and had alcohol issues throughout life,” she said. “It’s not just an addiction issue, however, but also a violence issue.”
She also added that the petition doesn’t really fall under Penal Code section 1203.4, which often grants motions based on defendants fulfilling their probations. However, according to Galata, he didn’t complete any of his 1995 probation and continued to commit crimes while on probation,
Tedmon said he faced a major dilemma given that, although there was a substantial amount of time passed, the history was pretty significant, especially highlighting the alcohol abuse and assault cases.
“There are reasonable and appropriate arguments on both sides,” he said. “In my opinion, this is a close call. I am concerned about Vanscooter’s representations in his declaration without verification that those things are true.”
He then asked if Vanscooter could provide further evidence to supplement the claims made in his declaration, specifically in regard to the AA meetings with character statements from his sponsor as well as the anger management classes and proof of custody. He postponed the hearing in order to give Vanscooter time to do so.
When Vanscooter asked what evidence, the judge said that it is “not [his] job to make the case for (Vanscooter), but (Vanscooter) should focus on putting together a record to confirm the statements made in his declaration.”
All documents on behalf of Vanscooter need to be served by Thursday, July 9.
Galata has a week to respond if she chooses to and must send her response by July 16. The hearing on Vanscooter’s nine motions is July 23 at 1:35 p.m. in Department 60.
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