Ink

I will admit it. I have tattoos. It broke my grandmother’s heart when she first saw it. She eventually got over it, but if I ever wore a sleeveless shirt, she would say “You’ll never be buried in a Jewish cemetery.”

My first tattoo was inked into my skin in Blacksburg ,Virginia, while visiting Virginia Tech. I was a cadet at The Citadel at the time. In those days, we would affectionately refer to The Citadel as “el cid”.

For a 19-year old, I had put quite a bit of forethought into my tattoo for my grandfather who had fought at D-day and the European theater of the Second World War. The tattoo was simple, my grandfather’s name was Sid. So, on my left tricep, after returning from leave, the letters “SID” were now a part of my skin.

Back in those days, I was a bit of a party animal. So, when my fellow cadets saw “SID”, a rumor began that I had drunkenly misspelled the nickname for “CID” from “el cid”. It took a matter of hours before the entire campus was talking about my tattoo.

Although my friends knew the truth, the matter never really got corrected in the rest of the Corps of Cadets. At my 15 year reunion, I still had old classmates laughing about my permanent folly. At this point, I just let them enjoy the lore.

As a lawyer, it seems like I get a call every month about permanent ink. It is a call where someone had a criminal case which concluded long ago. This person didn’t really put too much stock in the permanent nature of the case. The person did not consider that once the court put their judgment and sentence into ink, the results would likely stay with them the rest of their lives.

At first blush, most people are happy to escape the system as quickly as possible. Indeed, the criminal justice system creates significant pressure on people to wrap cases up quickly. But, as with a tattoo, once it is done, it is not easy to fix.

It used to be that a conviction would only prevent people from getting the most elite jobs. But this is no longer the case. In today’s world, most jobs require some type of state licensure. Additionally, jobs like teaching, nursing, firefighting, contracting, have prohibitions on any type of convictions or even “non-convictions” like withholds of adjudication.

I have represented many in professional licensing board hearings and this has given me an appreciation for the effects of a quick decision in court.

So what is the point? Just as in the case of a tattoo, have patience and have the right professional on your side. But also in the case of a tattoo, there may be a way to remove the ink, but it is much more painful than doing it right the first time.

Cheers.