first offender

Defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson told the court his client was a first offender.

They were also allowed to plead guilty under Georgia’s first offender law, meaning that if they complete their probation without violating the terms or committing another crime, their records will be wiped clean.

All three lawyers pleaded guilty under Georgia’s “first offender” law, which allows them to wipe the offenses from their permanent record if they comply with the terms of their sentences.

Philomena spent two years there - which, at the time, was the standard period for the so-called "moral rehabilitation" of unmarried mothers who were labelled as "first offenders".

The felony carries up to four years in prison but "no one gets jail time for that as a first offender," a New York law enforcement official told Yahoo News.