Will a First Offender Felony Stay on a Criminal Record in Georgia?

My question relates to legal practice in the state of: Georgia.

Hello. I am a 28 year old male who has made some very bad choices regarding lifestyle when I was younger. Basically I was hanging around with the wrong crowd and became an addict. I was charged with posession of cocaine and the judge gave me First Offender's probation (Conditional Discharge 16-13-2). I have completed my probation but when I called the sheriff's office I was told that I was still listed as a convicted felon. The judge told me that he was giving me first offender's so that I would have a chance to better my life. My attorney has filed a motion for dismissal free of charge but other than that he won't really talk to me without re-hiring him so it's been really hard to find out what's going on.
I have now completely changed my life and am ironically in the process of earning a Bachelor's in criminal justice at one of the larger universities in Georgia with hopes of going on to law school. I understand that when I was sentenced, the first offender's act had just recently been changed and neither the judge nor my attorney knew much about it. So basically, can anybody tell me if this felony conviction will be removed due to my first offender's status so that I can one day take the bar exam? I plan on taking my education as far as possible either way but am very curious and don't have the money to hire another attorney while paying for school. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You may qualifiy for expungment. To find out, call the arresting agency and ask the records clerk. If so, request that they start the process.

What happens is the records clerk will do a background check on you and fill out the papers. From there, they are sent to the supervisor and request approval. Once approved, the supervisor will sign off on it and submit the papers to you. You read and sign it and t is sent to the DA. If the DA approves, he signs off on it and they are sent to GCIC for removal. GCIC sends copies to the FBI and they remove it.

There is no promise of anyone approving it and at anytime someone refuses to sign off on it, the process stops. There will be no expungment.

But, lets say everyone approves and it is done. An expungment does not remove the arrest record; it conceals it from employers and some schools of higher education. Anyone within the law enforcement community can see it, school boards can see it and employers that deal with large sums of money or finance, and some areas of health care. There are way too many variables to list whom all can and cannot see it.

You may also wish to contact the pardons and paroles board to request a pardon. They only pardon felonies, so misdo's are out. But, since you are a felon, if you meet the requirements, you may get it. If so, this would also increase your chance to get expungment, too.

NOTE: Some PD's have a strict "no expungment" policy. If that is the case in your area, there is no use to fighting for it {ie, suing} as there is no law saying there is entitlement. It is soley at their discrection. Also, some PD's demand a payment for the process. If they approve it and the DA refuses, there is NO refund.

Thank you. I will save up the money to attempt this with an attorney. I really appreciate your help.

Sorry, but another question. When the judge sentenced me, he and my lawyer both explained to me that if I take First Offender's, there will be both pros and cons. The pro's being that if I complete my probation, the felony will come off of my record, and the con being that if I violated, I could spend the maximum sentence (15 yrs) in prison. Ironically, one of the clerk's brought up that the law had recently been changed, but nobody knew much about it at the time and my attorney advised me to take it as long as I felt that I could change my life. Do you think that I should hire an attorney to try to fight for expungement due to this? My family know's a good attorney who will let me make payments as he knows and trusts us. (Yeh I know I was a bad boy when I was young)

Thanks again.

Before hiring an attorney, call the police station that arrested you and the clerk of the court where you were tried and just ask what is the procedure. It should be a simple one. If you are met with resistance, consult an attorney.

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Quoting zedex

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Before hiring an attorney, call the police station that arrested you and the clerk of the court where you were tried and just ask what is the procedure. It should be a simple one. If you are met with resistance, consult an attorney.

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Haha. Yeh man I tried calling the city pd and the county sheriff's office. The city pd was the arresting agency, but neither wanted to help me anyway. This was in the early part of this year so I can't remember what they told me but I remember it taking a whole lot of phone calls just to get them to tell me that all they know is that I am a convicted felon and they aren't showing anything about first offender's. Just a straight conviction, even though I have the paperwork right in front of me. It's kind of complicated. At one point they had me mixed up with another guy with the same name (different middle name) who wasn't paying his fines\fees for armed robbery and they were applying all of my payments to his account and none to mine. So I'm kind of wondering if the same thing is going on here. I'm going to try calling again tomorrow and ask what you told me to ask just to give it another try. Then I'll call my attorney.

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Quoting GaMMAfan

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Haha. Yeh man I tried calling the city pd and the county sheriff's office. The city pd was the arresting agency, but neither wanted to help me anyway. This was in the early part of this year so I can't remember what they told me but I remember it taking a whole lot of phone calls just to get them to tell me that all they know is that I am a convicted felon and they aren't showing anything about first offender's. Just a straight conviction, even though I have the paperwork right in front of me. It's kind of complicated. At one point they had me mixed up with another guy with the same name (different middle name) who wasn't paying his fines\fees for armed robbery and they were applying all of my payments to his account and none to mine. So I'm kind of wondering if the same thing is going on here. I'm going to try calling again tomorrow and ask what you told me to ask just to give it another try. Then I'll call my attorney.

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Maybe to go to the PD and show them the papers will help, particularly if there is a screw up in names.

Sorry to keep asking questions, but I just found docket information for my case on the clerk of superior court's website. I've noticed that under "pleadings" there is "petition for discharge" and "order discharge 1st" filed by "defendant" back in march which was obviously my attorney. Can you please tell me what exactly these mean. I'm pretty sure I get the general idea but would like to know more.

Cannot be certain, but it appears that the motion was made. Call and check what the outcome was. It may just be what you are looking for.

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Quoting zedex

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Cannot be certain, but it appears that the motion was made. Call and check what the outcome was. It may just be what you are looking for.

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Well after a whole lot of phone calls and not a lot of info, I decided to pay for my record today. I will pick it up tomorrow.