By Allison Perrine
MIDDLETOWN – It’s not every day a municipality advocates for the clemency of one of its residents, but Middletown is doing just that.
The township committee recently approved a resolution urging Gov. Phil Murphy to grant clemency to Nikki Tierney, a Middletown resident who once struggled with addiction but is now 13 years sober and counting, hoping to become a state licensed clinical drug and alcohol counselor to support others.
But that can’t happen without the expungement of a felony charge she pled guilty to in 2008. And even after graduating from a vigorous court-appointed drug program and proving that she has rehabilitated her life, technicalities lie in the way of her expungement, something she has applied for and been denied a few times.
“People are realizing this isn’t just Nikki. There are thousands of people like this who had substance use disorder, had issues, but have worked so hard to change and are stuck forever. I’m stuck forever,” said Tierney. “I can’t be a class mom. I can’t volunteer. I live in my parents’ home. I can’t keep anything in my own name because ever ything is background checked.”
It all started after the age of 14 when Tierney perforated her stomach and needed life-saving surgery. She was sent home with strong narcotic pain medication that her parents were told to give to her every four hours.
Strong painkillers were again prescribed to her after she tore her meniscus playing sports and after a dog attack that required reconstructive surgery. As a young teen, she also started experimenting with alcohol. That’s how she developed a severe substance use disorder, she said.
While struggling with the disorder, Tierney pled guilty in 2008 to an endangering crime, a felony, because she was impaired around her children. By pleading guilty she avoided jail time and was sentenced to participate in the Monmouth County Drug Court program. But after graduating successfully, she was unable to obtain an expungement due to the technicality of her charge relating to minors. She continued to receive treatment for opioid use disorder and for mental health due to depression but after 10 years sober, her expungement request was again denied in 2018.
Devastated and shocked by the outcome, Tierney pursued different avenues to obtain the expungement but, to her dismay, complications and legalities arose along the way. That’s when she – a clean and sober individual for over a decade – created an online petition urging second chances and expungements for those nonviolent and nonsexual of fenders who have rehabilitated their lives. That petition now has nearly 10,000 signatures.
“I have been unable to escape the draconian consequences of my felony conviction. I am pleading for mercy and help. I am pleading for a second chance, so that after I complete graduate school… and obtain my master of science degree in clinical mental health counseling, I can become a state licensed clinical drug and alcohol counselor and licensed professional counselor, help others, and support my four children as a single parent,” she wrote in the petition.
In 2019 she decided to reach out to members of the township committee, along with several state assembly members and both Republican and Democratic senators, to share her story and to see if they could help her.
“It was one of the most compelling and hear tfelt stories I think I’ve ever heard in my life. You could see the emotion on her face; you could hear it in her words – the remorse that she felt but the optimism that she had moving forward,” said Mayor Tony Perry. “I don’t think that there’s a better candidate in the state of New Jersey for clemency and for forgiveness and for that second chance to be able to be finally provided to her than Nikki Tierney.”
About six to eight months after Tierney’s first meeting with the committee in 2019 she told Perry that she was filing an application for clemency. He wanted to do all that he could to help and support her and felt “honored” when she asked if he would write a letter of support for clemency to the governor.
“This world is about second chances. This world is about not being a perfect person but being the best person you can be, and I think Nikki perfectly describes what you do want to see in an individual,” said Perry. “Drug addiction can happen to anyone. Alcohol addiction can happen to anyone.”
Tierney currently works part-time with the township through its Crossroads at the Lincroft Annex program, a state-licensed facility that offers alcohol and drug abuse services to township residents. She also volunteers with the Middletown Municipal Alliance to Prevent Alcoholism and Drug Abuse to promote a stigma-free community while supporting others with their struggles. Despite these efforts and her demonstration of rehabilitation, she remains denied expungement and, with that, various opportunities in life including becoming a counselor.
“The denial of my expungement risks thwarting my endeavors to become a counselor, help other members of society, and support my four children financially,” she wrote in her petition. “I have made so many efforts to obtain a second chance, but I have largely been ignored. My voice alone is not enough.”
As of March 1, Perry said he had not heard back from the governor but that he has discussed the topic with Murphy and members of the governor’s office. He has faith as this is a bipartisan issue that both Republicans and Democrats can come together on.
“When Mayor Tony Perry stands up for something, I don’t want it to be because I’m a Republican – it’s because I’m a human being and I think what I’m doing is right,” said Perry. “I often say to young people that the job of a leader isn’t always to make the big news stories; it’s often times the small things that are the most fulfilling.”
This article was originally published in the March 4-14, 2021 edition of The Two River Times.
