Dillon Gilesv.The State
Dillon Giles pleaded guilty to statutory rape under Georgia’s First Offender Act and received a ten-year probationary sentence without an adjudication of guilt. After he violated probation by failing to register as a sex offender, the trial court revoked probation but never entered an adjudication of guilt on the underlying offense. When the probationary period ended, Giles sought discharge. The Court of Appeals of Georgia held that the statutory scheme required discharge because revocation alone did not automatically adjudicate him guilty. The statute permitted an adjudication of guilt after a violation, but the record contained no order making that adjudication. Giles’s sentence had ended without a conviction on the first-offender offense, so the statutory discharge provision applied. The appellate court reversed the denial of his motion.
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