What the statute actually requires
§ 12-1.3-1(3) defines a first offender as a person convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor "who has not been previously convicted of or placed on probation for a felony or a misdemeanor and against whom there is no criminal proceeding pending in any court."
That phrase — or placed on probation for — is the one people miss. A prior case that ended in probation without what you would call a conviction can still take you out of first-offender status. If you have any prior disposition at all, it is worth having someone read your BCI record rather than assuming.
The waiting periods, and when the clock starts
A misdemeanor conviction becomes filable five years "from the date of the completion of his or her sentence" under § 12-1.3-2(d). A felony takes ten years under § 12-1.3-2(e).
The clock does not start at conviction. It starts when the whole sentence is finished — jail served, probation closed, parole done, every condition satisfied. A one-year sentence with five years of probation behind it does not start counting until that probation closes.
The clean period is separate from the wait
Serving the waiting period is not enough. § 12-1.3-3(b)(1)(i) requires that in the five years before you file (misdemeanor) or ten years (felony), you have "not been convicted nor arrested for any felony or misdemeanor."
Note what that does not include: a civil traffic violation, a Traffic Tribunal adjudication, or a municipal ordinance violation is neither a felony nor a misdemeanor, and does not break your clean period.
What stops it
- A conviction for a crime of violence, as Chapter 12-1.3 defines it — an absolute bar, regardless of time.
- Any pending criminal proceeding, anywhere.
- Outstanding court-imposed fines, fees, costs, assessments or restitution — unless reduced or waived by order of the court.
- A prior conviction or probation, which moves you off this path and onto the multiple-misdemeanor path, if you qualify for it.
