J. Eric Peters, a Disabled American Veteran and an honorably discharged U.S. Army Legal Specialist, received a bachelor’s degree with high honors in pre-law sociology with substantial coursework in paralegal technology and criminology. While a sociology Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota, Eric served as a teaching assistant for courses including Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure. Also, living in Columbus since 1993, Eric has worked as a civilian legal secretary and an Ohio state bureaucrat. Incidentally, Eric served as a staff writer at Outlook News in Columbus until it ceased publication in 2017. His Discharge Certificate (DD-214) dated 21 September 1987 has these two lines: “characterization of service: honorable” and “reason(s) for separation: engaged in homosexual act(s).”