Alford plea meets definition of “conviction” for purposes of sanctioning teacher’s certification  

Topic: Educators, Decided by: Judge Kennedy 
Docket Number: 2211939 , Decision Date: June 24, 2022 
Attachment: Click here to download the decision. 

In affirming the Professional Standard Commission’s decision to sanction an educator’s certification, the Court concluded that the teacher’s 2018 misdemeanor guilty plea under North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25 (1970) (which permits a defendant to plead guilty while claiming to be innocent) still meets the definition of “conviction” applicable in the Code of Ethics for Educators.

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