Ailara v. State

The defendant was entitled to automatic discharge under the First Offender Act upon fulfillment of his 11-year probationary period, even though he twice violated the terms and conditions of his probation, because the trial court never revoked his first offender status, entered an adjudication of guilt or resentenced him for the underlying offense.

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Rasheed Ailara pled guilty to the offense of child molestation and was sentenced under the First Offender Act, OCGA § 42-8-60 et seq., to serve eleven years on probation. Upon conclusion of Ailara’s probationary period, Ailara filed a petition for discharge without court adjudication of guilt. Finding that Ailara had twice violated the terms of his probation, the trial court denied Ailara’s petition. On appeal, Ailara contends that the trial court erred by refusing to discharge Ailara. As neither party disputes that Ailara was automatically discharged under the First Offender Act, we reverse the trial court’s order. Ailara was indicted on three counts of child molestation OCGA § 16-6-4 a1 based upon a sexual encounter that occurred in December 1997, when Ailara was 17 years old and the minor female victim was 10 years old. At a hearing on January 11, 2000, Ailara entered a guilty plea2 to one count of child molestation, which was based upon Ailara exposing his penis to a minor child. The trial court sentenced Ailara under the First Offender Act to eleven years to be served on probation. The conditions of Ailara’s probation included his participation in specialized sex offender probation, completion of probation boot camp, and no contact with the minor female victim.

On August 16, 2005, the State filed a petition for adjudication of guilt and imposition of sentence, asserting that Ailara had violated the terms and conditions of his probation by “failing to not possess or subscribe to any sexually oriented or sexual material to include computer internet access nor patronize any place where such material or entertainment is available.” At a hearing on the State’s petition, the trial court reinstated Ailara’s probation, but imposed the additional condition of probation that Ailara “stay away from any kind of chat room, any kind of website that may even have children under the age of 18 communicating on it.”

Ailara v. State

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