O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 42-8-63 (2019)

Effect of discharge under article on eligibility for employment or appointment to office

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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Except as provided in Code Section 42-8-63.1, a discharge under this article is not a conviction of a crime under the laws of this state and shall not be used to disqualify an individual in any application for employment or appointment to office in either the public or private sector.

History

Ga. L. 1978, p. 1621, § 2; Ga. L. 2016, p. 443, § 6A-1/SB 367. Administrative rules and regulations. Criminal Justice Information Exchange and Dissemination, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Georgia Crime Information

Center Council, Practice and Procedure, Rule 140-2-.04.

Annotations

Law reviews. For article, “Labor and Employment Law,” see 53 Mercer L. Rev. 349 (2001). For article on the 2016 amendment of this Code section, see 33 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 139 (2016).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Expungement upon completion of probation of the records of first offender treatment of criminal defendants runs contrary to the intent and the practical

operation of the First Offender Act, O.C.G.A. § 42-8-60 et seq. State v. C.S.B., 250 Ga. 261, 297 S.E.2d 260, 1982 Ga. LEXIS 1049 (1982).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Employer using first offender discharge to disqualify job applicant. - O.C.G.A. § 42-8-62 prohibits an employer from using a discharge under the first offender statute to disqualify a person in any application for employment or appointment in either the public or private sector; however, a discharge under the first offender treatment does not insulate

the employee from the appropriate personnel action for the underlying facts that supported the initial criminal action nor does it bar an employer from considering the employee’s guilty plea as an admission against interest in a subsequent personnel action. 1986 Op. Att’y Gen. No. U8625.

RESEARCH REFERENCES ALR. Judicial expunction of criminal record of convicted adult in absence of authorizing statute, 68 A.L.R.6th 1. Judicial expunction of criminal record of convicted adult under statute - general principles, and expunction of criminal records under statutes providing for such relief where criminal proceeding is terminated in favor of defendant, upon comple-

tion of probation, upon suspended sentence, and where expungement relief predicated upon type, and number, of offenses, 69 A.L.R.6th 1. Judicial expunction of criminal record of convicted adult under statute - expunction under statutes addressing “first offenders” and “innocent persons,” where conviction was for minor drug or other offense, where indictment has not been

presented against accused or accused has been released from custody, and where court considered impact of nolle prosequi,

partial dismissal, pardon, rehabilitation, and lesser-included offenses, 70 A.L.R.6th 1.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 6 cases, 1983–2018 · leading case: Mattox v. Yellow Freight Sys., Inc., 534 S.E.2d 561 (Ga. Ct. App. 2000).

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Mattox v. Yellow Freight Sys., Inc., 534 S.E.2d 561 (Ga. Ct. App. 2000). · cites it 10× “8 OCGA § 42-8-63, which governs the employment status of first offenders, provides that: Except as otherwise provided in this article, a discharge under this article is not a conviction of a crime under the laws of this state and may not be used to disqualify a person in any…”

Gunter v. State, 356 S.E.2d 276 (Ga. Ct. App. 1987). · cites it 4× “That section expressly provides: "The discharge shall completely exonerate the defendant of any criminal purpose and shall not affect any of his civil rights or liberties; and the defendant shall not be considered to have a criminal conviction.”

Brewer v. Rogers, 439 S.E.2d 77 (Ga. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 2× “The Court also noted the increased confidentiality of first offender records added by the legislature in 1978: access to records of discharge restricted to specified prosecutorial and probation officials upon certification of pending criminal charges (OCGA § 42-8-65); and…”

Boulis v. State Bd. of Chiropractic, 729 A.2d 645 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1999). · cites it 2× “" See Ga.Code Ann. § 42-8-63 (stating that a discharge under this article is not a conviction and may not be used to disqualify a person in any application for employment); cf.”

Phol Sa Lam v. State, 816 S.E.2d 168 (Ga. Ct. App. 2018). · cites it 2× “In accordance with the provisions of that Act, the trial court issued an order declaring Lam discharged under Georgia law without an adjudication of guilt or a criminal conviction, and exonerated him of any criminal purpose.”

Green v. State, 311 S.E.2d 505 (Ga. Ct. App. 1983). · cites it 2× “40295, upon an expedited hearing, the Supreme Court of Georgia, by order after the hearing, held that the confidentiality provisions of the First Offender Act, OCGA § 42-8-63 (Code Ann. § 27-2728.1), extended only to the records of discharge under that Act and dissolved the…”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.