Judge gives scholar a clean slate

Years after receiving a drug conviction, Jesse Kearse has moved on and hopes to go even further if his brush with the law does not hold him back.

Kearse, now 30 and a PhD student, was awarded a FulbrightEQC scholarship to study in California. But, so far, the geoscientist does not have permission to enter the United States because of its strict approach to drug crimes.

However, he may be a step closer after a judge at the High Court in Wellington on Wednesday granted him a discharge without conviction.

In 2012, Kearse, aged 21, was convicted of having 12 grams of cannabis and fined $200. On Wednesday, Justice Rebecca Ellis proceeded on the assumption the sentencing judge had not considered a discharge without conviction, so she was prepared to consider the case afresh.

She said the consequences of a conviction were out of proportion to the gravity of the offence. She discharged Kearse without conviction. It might not help, as she suspected United States authorities also looked at charges, not just convictions, but it was reasonable to assume his prospects would improve.

With a newly clean conviction history, Kearse would apply again for a waiver to enter the US.

He was awarded the FulbrightEQC scholarship to study satellite data at the Nasa jet propulsion laboratory in California. The data could help to better understand vertical land motion effects on sealevel rise around New Zealand.

Originally from Haumoana, Hawke’s Bay, Kearse has studied geology at Victoria University and is now working on his PhD.

After the hearing, Kearse said he never made a secret of his cannabis conviction but it had already cost him a chance to speak at a conference in San Francisco after he was declined an entry visa.

He hoped having the conviction overturned showed his life was different now.