Felony Arrest, No Conviction

Hello all, and let me start out by saying I know what a stupid mistake I made.
Now, right at a year ago I made a very stupid mistake which I regreted right after doing it, but I could not turn back the clock. I got a lawyer and at first the prosicutor was talking about a Misdamenor (criminal mischief) charge, but because of legal problems the DA's office was having with one of their own, he bumped it up to a Class 3 Felony (it was not drug, alcohol or violence related). My laywer pointed out to him that I had never been in trouble with the law before and because of that he offered Deferred Adjudication, with 2 years probation, 250 hrs of community service and $750 in fines. I accepted this and I am more than willing to pay for my mistake. Both my lawyer and probation officer have told me that once I am done with the probation that the only thing that will show on my record is the arrest but there will be no conviction. They also tell me that when filling out a employment app. that I can answer "NO" to have you ever been convicted of a felony, because I was not convicted. I had been looking into becoming a truck driver for about 6 months when I made my mistake, which put everything on hold for me until my court date. It took the prosicutor 9 months to finally take this to court, where I accepted his offer. Now it has been 4 months since court and I have finished up 1/2 of my community service and I am trying to look at getting into truck driving again. Here is the hurdle that I have run into. The truck driving companies that I had been looking at have a NO Felony hiring policy, but like I said, my probation officer has told me that I do not have a felony on my record, only an arrest. But when I get the employment app. from the company it ask:
Have you ever been convicted of a felony, received a deferred prosecution or have any felony charges currently pending?
So what am I to do? The answer to that question is yes, because I did receive a deferred prosecution (I assume that is the same as deferred adjudication). Is there a company out there that looks at each case individually or do they just group them all together. No one is perfect, and sometimes good people do stupid things. I know that none of you know me and it is hard to understand someone until you have walked a mile in his shoes, but I am a hard worker and a loving husband and father, and just want a chance to provide for my family in a career that I would like to have. I will need training and would like to be with a decent company and not one that treats you like crap (I have read a lot of horror stories on here). Does anyone have any recommendations?
Thanks & God Bless

 

I would like to be honest and up front with a future employer so that it doesnt come back to bite me in the #####. I really want to find a good company and spend several years with them so that this will indeed becomes water under the bridge. If I am not honest with them up front and then they find out, then I am sure that they would fire me no matter how good of an employee I had been for them. Plus, I am not sure whether or not they could put any kind of mark or note on my professional driving record. Thanks

 

That is true, but in my case I wasnt found not guilty or guilty, I took a deferred adjudication offer. Which means that it will not be on my record as long as I adhear to the requirements of my probation and dont get into trouble again while I am on probation (WHICH I WILL NOT!!). I just want to be able to do the right thing and get a good driving job. Is that too much to ask?

 

Thanks for your response, I have been looking into the difference between the two, and yes they are different, but I am still left with the question, should I answer yes or no to the question? If I answer yes, will they look at it and see that it really isnt deferred prosecution and that I have been up front with them, or answer no, and when they find out about the arrest, tell them that I didnt think that the answer was yes, because I wasnt convicted. I just want to move on with my life and start driving a truck for a living.
Does anyone have a recommendation on which company will look at each occurence individually and make their decission based on the facts?
Thanks for everyones help.