Legal Question in Criminal Law in Tennessee

Tennessee gives full faith and credit to the judicial actions of other states.

The closest counterpart in Tennessee to "adjudication withheld" is typically one of three

dispositions under Tennessee law and procedure:

- Pretrial Diversion. The defendant neither pleads guilty or not guilty, rather, the defendant promises to go on probation for a fixed term, under negotiated conditions (pay costs? perform public service work? go to counseling?, etc.). At the end of the diversion period, if successfully completed, the charges are dismissed and the record may be expunged.

If pretrial diversion is unsuccessful, prosecution resumes where it left off, placing the defendant back into the position: "how do you plead .. guilty or not guilty?" and perhaps even proceeding to trial by a jury on a plea of not guilty.

- Post-trial aka Judicial Diversion. The defendant waives the right to a trial and offers to plead guilty to the charges. The judge "qualifies the plea" asking all the questions and establishing that the defendant is pleading guilty ... up to the point where the judge would normally say "Very well, I accept your plea of guilty, I find you guilty, and" [proceed to sentence]. BUT

the judge does NOT accept the plea. Instead, the defendant is placed on probation under

terms and conditions -- usually negotiated -- but without any finding of guilt. If post-trial/judicial diversion is successful, the verdict of guilty is never entered, the defendant remains innocent of the charges, and at the end of the diversion the charges are dismissed and the record may be expunged. But note the difference: if post-trial/judicial diversion is unsuccessful, the judge can simply "accept the plea of guilty" and proceed directly to sentencing. The right to trial on the issue of "guilty - not guilty" must be waived in advance.

3 - Formal or informal dispositions such as "retired from the active docket, to be dismissed on one year if the defendant maintains good behavior" or "this case is continued for six months, if by then the defendant has paid court costs and otherwise complied with the law, this case will be dismissed."

In none of the above Tennessee versions of "adjudication withheld" would Tennessee consider the defendant to have been "convicted" of a crime.

Important note: Federal law, and federal immigration law may be different. Those authorities may consider even an "adjudication withheld" but under a conditional guilty plea (such as Tennessee's post-trial judicial diversion statutes) to be a "conviction" for the purpose of, for example, deporting an alien from the United States. Also, even an "adjudication withheld" in which the defendant is subject to any form of court supervision, restrictions on liberty, or conditions of ultimate dismissal may nevertheless impede civil rights such as firearms ownership, state licensing, etc. until the case is ultimately dismissed.