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starlitdreams · Mar 20, 2009, 12:21 PM

If you're in the first offenders program (specifically NC) and your offense will be expunged one community service and court fees are paid, until you complete the program are you technically convicted & do I need to answer 'yes' on job apps. It's a misdemeanor. I was told I wouldn't be convicted unless I failed to complete/was thrown out of the program.

The first time I asked I realized I wasn't clear enough. I would go back and delete the old question but I didn't see the option.

excon · Mar 21, 2009, 06:01 AM

Hello s:

If you want to tell the truth, you will tell them you've been convicted.

excon

Fr_Chuck · Mar 21, 2009, 07:24 AM

A first offender program is indeed a conviction, but the record is merely explunged from public view. It is still visible to police, national background searches and some other searches.

If you received a "suspended sentence" pending doing certain things, then the case would be dismissed, that is not a conviction.

So there is no "technically" about it, if you plead guilty or was found guilty and went into a program to have it explunged, you are convicted

excon · Mar 21, 2009, 07:35 AM

Originally Posted by starlitdreams

I was told I wouldn't be convicted unless I failed to complete/was thrown out of the program.

Hello again, s:

Maybe I didn't explain well enough, either.

I see what you've been told... But, it CAN'T be true on it's face. It's like saying you can be pregnant without having sex...

The court can't impose sanctions on you UNLESS you've been convicted... Otherwise, they could simply tell ANYBODY they had some community service to do...

Your CONVICTION was an EVENT. It was the time when you were found guilty by a jury, or you plead guilty in front of a judge. If you PLEAD, then the judge spent a few minutes with you explaining stuff. He asked you questions about your plea. He made certain that you understood exactly what you were doing before he would accept your plea.

So, you WE'RE convicted...

Now, sometime in the future, your conviction might get expunged. But it's STILL a conviction that you'd have to disclose on employment apps, because it's only HIDDEN. You might, as the Padre suggested, have an arrangement where the charge gets dismissed. Then you wouldn't have a record. Or, you might get pardoned. If that happens, you record would be removed and you could then say that you were never convicted.

There's all sorts of possibilities down the road. But, at THIS stage, you are a convicted criminal.

excon