CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cuyahoga County judge exceeded her authority when she required expungement-seekers to pass drug screens, an appellate court ruled Thursday.

The 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, wrote that Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Ashley Kilbane should not have required a 35-year-old man to get a drug test before expunging two non-drug-related misdemeanor offenses.

“There is nothing in (the law) that can be construed as conferring authority to a trial court to order applicants to submit to a drug test as a condition for expungement,” the opinion said.

Appellate judges Michelle Sheehan and Kathleen Keough decided the case with Judge Sean Gallagher dissenting.

The appeals court sent the case back to Kilbane to proceed with expungement proceedings.

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