How to Get a Pardon for a Felony in Ohio: Two Paths and Aftermath

To get a pardon for a felony in Ohio, you apply through one of two channels — the traditional executive clemency process or the Expedited Pardon Project — and in both cases the Ohio Parole Board and Adult Parole Authority investigate your case and send a recommendation to the Governor, who has the sole power to grant or deny it. The traditional route is open to anyone with a felony conviction but usually takes one to two years. The expedited route finishes in months, but you have to meet stricter eligibility requirements first.¹

What a Pardon Actually Does

A pardon is the Governor’s official forgiveness for a criminal conviction. Once you receive an unconditional pardon, or you complete the conditions of a conditional pardon, you are relieved of all legal disabilities that arose from the conviction.² In practice that reopens things a felony conviction had closed: occupational bars in fields like healthcare and teaching, eligibility for elected office such as city council or school board, volunteer roles like coaching youth sports, and, under state law, the ability to purchase and possess firearms.

Here is where people get tripped up. A pardon does not erase the conviction from your record. Ohio courts have held that a pardon does not put you in the same position as if the crime had never happened, and sealing your record is a separate step. Since September 2021, the Governor has been able to include record sealing as a condition of the pardon itself, but if that condition is not included you will need to apply to the sentencing court on your own.²

Which Path Fits Your Situation

Traditional Clemency

The traditional process has no fixed waiting period after you finish your sentence. What the Parole Board wants to see is a substantial stretch of law-abiding behavior, and a few years of clean living after completing your sentence is a practical minimum. Anyone convicted of a felony can apply this way, including people whose offenses would disqualify them from the expedited route. The trade-off is time: submission to final decision typically runs one to two years.¹

The Expedited Pardon Project

The Expedited Pardon Project compresses the timeline to months. To qualify, you must meet all of the following:³

You finished all requirements of your sentence at least ten years ago.
No new felony or misdemeanor convictions in the past ten years. Minor traffic citations are generally overlooked.
At least five years of recent employment, or a compelling reason you were unable to work.
A track record of volunteering or community service that was not court-ordered.
Good-faith efforts to pay all court-ordered fines and restitution.¹
No disqualifying offenses on your record.

The disqualifying offenses fall into four broad groups: homicide offenses (including murder, voluntary manslaughter, and vehicular homicide), sex offenses (including rape, sexual battery, and human trafficking), offenses involving kidnapping, abduction, terrorism, or felony child endangering, and domestic violence or patient abuse.³ If you were charged with one of these offenses but the case was entirely dismissed, you remain eligible.

Applying Through the Traditional Process

The official Application for Executive Clemency form is available on the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s website at drc.ohio.gov.⁴ The form asks for personal details, complete criminal history, residential history, and employment record. You also need to gather:

Court documents for every felony conviction you are asking to have pardoned: the indictment or bill of information, and the judgment entry of conviction and sentence. These come from the clerk of courts in the county where you were sentenced, and there is usually a copying fee.⁴
Letters of recommendation from people who know you well and can speak to your character since the conviction. Employers, religious leaders, and longtime community members all work; the more personal knowledge the writer has of your life, the more weight the letter carries.
A personal statement. This is the core of the application. Explain the circumstances of the offense, express genuine remorse, and detail what you have done since. Concrete achievements help: diplomas, trade certifications, volunteer records, evidence of stable employment.

Submit one copy with original signatures to the Adult Parole Authority by mail. Incomplete applications cause delays, so check every section and attachment before sending.

Applying Through the Expedited Project

The Expedited Pardon Project uses a different intake process run through the University of Akron School of Law’s Legal Clinic. Download the intake packet from ohioexpeditedpardon.org, complete it, and mail it to the project team at the University of Akron.⁵ A BCI background check is no longer required as of September 2021.

The project team pre-screens for disqualifying convictions and then contacts you to go through your full conviction history (including out-of-state and federal convictions), work history, community service, and anything else bearing on eligibility. If you are accepted, a service provider helps you prepare the full pardon application: a letter to the Governor, letters of support, conviction records, and other supporting documents. Do not leave out any offenses in the intake packet. Investigators will find them, and deliberate omissions slow the process and hurt your credibility.⁵

What Happens After You File

Ohio law requires the Adult Parole Authority to conduct a thorough investigation once your application is filed. The APA verifies what you submitted, runs background checks, reviews your criminal and post-release history, and may contact your references, the original prosecutor, and the sentencing judge. It then prepares a written report with a recommendation for or against clemency and the grounds for that recommendation.⁶

Before the Parole Board can recommend a pardon, it must notify victims and comply with Ohio’s victim notification requirements. Victims and their representatives can submit statements, and the Board must consider them before making a recommendation.⁷ For expedited applications, the Parole Board hearing is typically scheduled within a few months of the completed application being accepted, which includes a mandatory 60-day notice period for the court and victims.¹

In the traditional process, the Parole Board first reviews the written application and decides whether it has enough merit to justify a hearing. Not every application gets one. If the Board sees no merit, it can send an unfavorable recommendation directly to the Governor without a hearing.⁸ If you do get a hearing, you can discuss your case, answer questions, and explain your rehabilitation in person. The Board then votes on whether to recommend clemency.

The recommendation is advisory. The Governor has complete discretion to grant the pardon, deny it, or take no action, and no deadline applies. From the applicant’s side, inaction functions as denial. Decisions are sent in writing. A granted pardon may be unconditional, or the Governor may attach conditions, including an order directing the court to seal the records.²

If your traditional application is denied, the Ohio Parole Board has indicated you generally must wait two years before reapplying, though the wait may be shortened if you can present significant new information that was not available originally. The Expedited Pardon Project’s website does not specify a separate reapplication policy, so contact the project team directly if you need to reapply that way.

Sealing Your Record After a Pardon

A pardon forgives the offense and removes legal disabilities. Sealing hides the record from most public background checks. Most applicants want both, and they are separate.

There are two ways to get your record sealed after a pardon. The first is when the Governor includes sealing as a condition of the pardon and issues a writ directing the court to seal the records. This has been possible since September 2021 and is the cleanest route because no separate court filing is needed.²

The second is filing your own application to seal the record with the sentencing court under Ohio Revised Code 2953.32. A person who has received a pardon is among those eligible to apply. The standard application fee is $50, plus a possible local court fee of up to $50, though some courts waive the fee for pardon-based applications.⁹ The court still has discretion, so a pardon makes you eligible to apply but does not guarantee the outcome. If your pardon did not include a sealing condition, this filing is the route.

Firearm Rights and the Federal Wrinkle

A felony conviction in Ohio creates a firearms disability under state law, making it illegal to acquire, carry, or use a firearm.¹⁰ A pardon can lift that disability; the Ohio Supreme Court’s guidance lists firearm possession among the rights a pardon restores.²

Federal law is separate. Even if Ohio restores your firearm rights, federal law independently prohibits felons from possessing firearms. Whether a state pardon removes the federal disability depends on details like whether the pardon expressly restores firearm rights and whether it was granted without restrictions. As of early 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice has published a proposed rule to allow some people to apply for federal firearm rights restoration, but the final rule and application process are not yet available.¹¹ If firearms are the reason you are pursuing a pardon, talk to an attorney who handles both state and federal firearms law before assuming the pardon alone is enough.

1
Ohio Governor. Ohio Governor’s Expedited Pardon Project
2
Supreme Court of Ohio. Adult Rights Restoration and Record Sealing
3
Ohio Governor’s Expedited Pardon Project. Can I Apply?
4
Ohio Parole Board. Application for Executive Clemency Instruction and Guidelines
5
Ohio Governor’s Expedited Pardon Project. How to Apply
6
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2967.07 – Application for Pardon, Commutation, or Reprieve
7
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2967.03 – Pardon, Commutation, or Reprieve
8
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Clemency
9
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2953.32 – Sealing or Expungement of Conviction Record
10
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 2923.13 – Having Weapons While Under Disability
11
Office of the Pardon Attorney. Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Under 18 U.S. Code 925(c)