Brian J. Allen v. State of Indiana, 142 N.E.3d 488

In 2002 Allen (age 19) participated as a lookout in a burglary of Larry and Judith Pohlgeers; two co-defendants assaulted the Pohlgeers with a lead pipe and the victims suffered injuries.
Allen was initially charged with multiple violent felonies; pursuant to a plea agreement the State dismissed the violent counts and Allen pled guilty in 2003 to Class B felony conspiracy to commit burglary (breaking and entering a dwelling).
Allen served ~34 months, later was placed on probation, successfully completed probation and was discharged in 2015.
Allen filed for expungement in 2018 under Ind. Code § 35-38-9-4; the State did not oppose the petition but questioned whether the underlying injuries rendered him ineligible.
The trial court denied expungement based on the ‘‘bad’’ and violent facts of the underlying incident; Allen appealed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the subsection barring expungement for a person "convicted of a felony that resulted in serious bodily injury" disqualifies Allen based on the injuries sustained in the underlying incident, despite his conviction being for conspiracy to commit burglary that does not require injury	Allen: exclusion applies only when the felony of conviction itself resulted in serious bodily injury; he was not convicted of such a felony, so he's eligible	State: the serious bodily injury that occurred during the incident makes Allen ineligible	Reversed: exclusion applies only where the felony of conviction resulted in the serious bodily injury; Allen’s conviction did not, so he is eligible for consideration under § 35‑38‑9‑4
Standard and interpretive approach to expungement statutes	Allen: statutes are remedial and should be liberally construed in favor of relief	State: trial court may consider the ‘‘bad’’ facts when exercising discretion	Court applied de novo review to statutory interpretation, emphasized remedial purpose and liberal construction; trial court erred by relying on underlying facts when conviction did not include injury

Trout v. State, 28 N.E.3d 267 (Ind. Ct. App. 2015) (statutory exclusion applies only where the felony conviction itself resulted in bodily injury)
Cline v. State, 61 N.E.3d 360 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016) (abuse of discretion review and remedial expungement statutes construed liberally)
Burton v. State, 71 N.E.3d 24 (Ind. Ct. App. 2017) (reinforcing liberal construction of expungement statutes)
Taylor v. State, 7 N.E.3d 362 (Ind. Ct. App. 2014) (statutory interpretation reviewed de novo)