Hi, some quick background: I’ve been out of school for a few years now, I completed about 60 credits at Kennesaw State University before dropping out, and am trying to return to school now at either GSU or Perimeter College.
While attending KSU, I was pulled over while DDing, and the campus police found marijuana in a bag belonging to a friend of mine. They took responsibility for the bag and Kennesaw dropped the conduct code violations I was charged with. On the legal side, I entered a pretrial diversion program and completed it successfully. According to everything I was told by the prosecutor and my public attorney, everything related to this event was expunged from my record: no record of arrest, no record of me entering a guilty plea, no record of me being charged with anything.
My question is simply, should I talk about this on my transfer application?
“Have you been found guilty of any violation of a federal, state, or municipal law, regulation or ordinance (other than for minor traffic violations, or convictions subsequently discharged, expunged, or otherwise ordered by the court to be removed from the applicant’s criminal record, including offenses for which any type of first offender status was offered but subsequently revoked for failure to successfully complete program requirements)?”
“Have you ever entered a plea of guilty, no contest, nolo contendere, an Alford plea, or otherwise accepted responsibility for the commission of a crime?”
These are the questions I’m having problems figuring out how to answer
How did you plead when given the opportunity for a pre-trial diversion program ?
As an aside, GSU & Kennesaw State University offer easy admissions.
I believe it was guilty. I thinking that maybe I could get away with not mentioning it, but typing that out I can see that that’s probably a bad idea. Thank you
Interesting. In some jurisdictions one must plead “not guilty” in order to be eligible for pre-trial diversion programs. (That is why they are labeled as “pre-trial” programs since a guilty plea just results in a sentencing hearing = there is no trial once a guilty plea is accepted by the court.)
Are you sure that you plead “guilty” ?
honestly, I’m not sure at all. It was several years ago, and I had a public attorney whom I doubt would know themselves if I were to try to ask them
A public defender should know whether or not eligibility for a pre-trial diversion program required a “not guilty” plea.
Was the plea entered in the state of Georgia ? If so, google the county (listing the state of course) and research eligibility requirements (necessary predicate plea) for the pre-trial diversion programs. Most likely eligibility required a plea of not guilty.
If you pled guilty, the judge would have questioned you about the requisite facts in order for the judge to be able to accept a plea of guilty.
P.S. You may not remember which plea you entered because your public defender attorney may have pled “not guilty” for you. My understanding is that one’s attorney may not enter a plea of “guilty” for a client–but this could vary by jurisdiction.
My information is not legal advice and my suggestions are not intended to be legal advice. For legal advice, you need to hire an attorney licensed in the relevant state.