Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

my son was 19 year old son was convicted of 5th degree possession of a controlled substance and granted a stay of adjudication and put on one year probation - is that considered a felon for filing federal and state of MN taxes ?


Asked on 1/29/12, 10:05 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Thomas C. Gallagher Gallagher Criminal Defense

A person who makes an agreement for, and recieves from a Minnesota court, a Stay of Adjudication, offers a guilty plea but the judge does not immediately accept the guilty plea (does not immediately adjudicate the defendant). The act or moment of "adjudication" by the judge is the act or moment of "conviction." As a result, the defendant who completes the period of the Stay without violating any condition, should see the charge then dismissed without conviction. A person with a pending Stay of Adjudication has not been "convicted." If the defendant violates any condition of the Stay, then the Judge may "accept the guilty plea" previously offered, thus adjudicating them and "convicting" them. I am a criminal lawyer, not a tax lawyer. A pending Stay of Adjudication is not a "conviction" of a crime, felony or otherwise.

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Answered on 1/29/12, 11:49 am


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