Over 10 years ago, Annette had a strange run-in with her local authorities. She was driving home, and police cars with their lights on were blocking the road. It was dark and hard to see, so when Annette thought she was being waved through the area by an officer with a flashlight, she slowly proceeded.

The officer reacted by jumping on Annette’s hood and yelling at her to stop! Annette was confused and frustrated, and the officer ultimately wrote her a ticket for noncompliance with an officer and not having her driver’s license with her.

At the hearing for the ticket, the officer did not show up, and the charges were dismissed. Annette didn’t think about it again after that.

But after she decided to go to nursing school, she was about to complete her final steps when the incident presented some trouble.

“Part of becoming a nurse means you have to be able to pass a background check to take the NCLEX-RN exam and get your license from the WV Registered Nurse Board. This comes up on my background check, saying I was non-compliant with an officer,” Annette explains. “I couldn’t believe this goofy event, where that cop didn’t even show up, was causing a problem. I’m trying to move on with my life, and bam! This again? Since it was dismissed in court, I never really thought about it coming up on my record.”

At the time, Annette was getting SNAP and WV WORKS benefits because she was a student, and one of the staff members at the West Virginia Department of Human Services told her about Legal Aid of WV (LAWV).

“That’s how I came to meet my attorney, Kira,” she says. “I thought, I have to get rid of this fast. Kira emailed me back right away. Everything she did was so fast. It was incredible. She knew the importance for me of getting that off of there so I could move forward with everything. I don’t even know how she did it. She was talking to judges in elevators. She got it off my record in 3 days—72 hours.”

“I wasn’t chasing down judges,” Kira explains. “But I did work quickly with law clerks to try to accomplish the expungement for Annette.”

If Annette had not been able to get the charge off her record quickly, she would have been forced to take—and pay for—another class before her exams.

But she passed her exam and was granted her nursing license.

“I’ve been a nurse for about two years, and I work at a hospital for WVU medicine as an RN on their med surge unit. Kira saved me time and money. Being able to finish and get my license advanced my career. I’m not on any benefits anymore. And since then, I’ve gotten married, bought a home, and I just bought a car.”

Not only was Kira diligent, but she says law clerks and the prosecutor’s office were both efficient and understanding.

“Annette didn’t even have a conviction, but two dismissed charges showed on her background check that could be prohibitive for her future as a nurse,” says Kira. “We need nurses in West Virginia, so it worked out.”

Annette says she also shares her experience with LAWV with nursing students who may run into similar issues.

“I also called Kira’s supervisor. I feel too many people just want to share negative experiences. I wanted to say something positive.”