I've been arrested just once. However, it was in Georgia in the 80s. I was 17, but they treated me as an adult. It was a felony. Anyway, my lawyer worked out a "first offender" program thing, where I'd plead guilty, but adjudication would be withheld. I got a fine and some probation. After completing the probation, the adjudication was officially entered as "not guilty" and my file was sealed. I have a document somewhere stating, among other things "no criminal intent in this case" from the state of Georgia, signed by the judge.

HOWEVER... most, if not all applications (not just for employment) these days asks "have you ever been convicted of, or PLEAD nolo contendre or guilty to a felony?"

I contacted an attorney in GA a year or so about this. He advised that I absolutely did not plead guilty to a felony, because what I did was before any trial. ?? He was quite adamant about it. However, I have to wonder. If I stood in front of a judge and said "guilty".....isn't pleading guilty? This attorney to whom I spoke kept saying "no you didn't, because it was before a trial". Not sure what to do.

I guess I'm just trying to determine the best way to answer the "have you ever plead guilty" question on an application. Don't want to lie... but if you answer the other way... you're out of the running immediately. Thanks much in advance!

Take your lawyer's advice. You may recall "pleading guilty", but what actually happened is that you agreed that a "guilty" plea could be entered if a conviction was subsequently entered (which was not).

if you are hired, and In the extremely unlikely event that your employer subsequently finds out about it, you could quite honestly say "In answering the question, I consulted with an attorney, who advised me to answer 'no'."