Convicted Felon Granted Clearance Eligibility by DOHA

It is quite extraordinary to think someone who was charged with murder
can get a security clearance, but occasionally I run across an appeals
case involving just that. In this particular case, the applicant, who
is now 33 years old, was charged with murder and concealing the death
of another when she was 20 years old. Here is what happened:

The applicant was riding in a car with her boyfriend and another
girlfriend of hers. The boyfriend was driving and smoking a marijuana
cigarette and the girlfriend was playing with the boyfriend’s gun,
when all of a sudden, he dropped the butt and hit the brakes really
quickly, causing the car to jerk. As a result, the gun accidentally
discharged and killed the boyfriend. Both the applicant and her
girlfriend fled the scene on foot. The applicant eventually turned
herself in, was arrested and charged. The murder charge was dropped
before she went to court, and she pled guilty to the other felony.

The applicant was released from probation terms after five years and
the court sealed the criminal case record. When she filled out the
SF-86 she did not disclose this information on the advice of her
attorney since the case was sealed, even though the question
specifically reads “regardless of whether the record in your case has
been sealed”. The Defense Office of Hearing and Appeals judge applied
all of the mitigating conditions for criminal and personal conduct,
and using the whole-person concept, opined the security concerns were
mitigated and granted eligibility for access to classified
information. You can read the entire case summary here.