In 2008, a Delaware nurse impersonated a physician to obtain Xanax, a prescription medication, for herself. She pled guilty to one count of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery or deception. The conviction became effective when she did not complete the terms of a diversion program tied to the plea.
In 2011 the Delaware Board of Nursing suspended her nursing licenses for five years, with a chance to convert the suspension to probation after two years, based on the conviction for a crime substantially related to nursing and violations of Board regulations. While her appeal was pending and the suspension remained in effect, she worked as a nurse for eight months. The Board then permanently revoked her licenses for failing to comply with the suspension order and practicing without a valid license. She did not appeal that revocation.
In 2015 the Governor pardoned the criminal conviction, and the following year she applied for licensure by reinstatement and by examination. The Board denied both applications, finding that the permanent revocation made her ineligible and that the pardon did not change the result because the revocation was based on unlicensed practice, not on the pardoned crime.
The Superior Court upheld the Board in September 2017, and the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed in February 2018. The court did not decide whether a pardon would compel the Board to consider an applicant whose revocation rested solely on the pardoned conduct, because here the revocation rested on separate conduct: defying the suspension order and practicing nursing without a license.