Boardman man completes treatment program, avoids conviction

Staff report

WARREN

Jason Burns walked out of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday without a criminal conviction on his record after successfully completing a drug-treatment program of about one year.

He thanked the judge for giving him the opportunity to get treatment instead of a conviction. He can now apply to have his record expunged so his guilty plea is wiped out. Judge W. Wyatt McKay will decide whether or not to approve that.

Burns, 35, of Boardman, pleaded guilty in 2014 to heroin possession, and Judge McKay allowed him to enter the treatment-in-lieu-of-conviction program, which places a person’s sentence in abeyance while the person receives treatment.

The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office opposed that option for Burns, arguing that he didn’t qualify for it because of his previous criminal history and the position of authority he had as a paralegal assistant to Warren Law Director Greg Hicks.

Burns was charged after a Warren police officer was called to the city law department on Mahoning Avenue in late 2013 because Burns was behaving strangely. His pants were wet, and he was mumbling, police said. Burns later handed an officer a sock containing several illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia, police said.

An item in Saturday’s Vindicator incorrectly stated that Wednesday’s hearing was related to a violation of the conditions of his substance-abuse treatment program. The error resulted from the purpose of the hearing being incorrectly listed on the court docket.