QUESTION
What is the difference between expungement and dismissed and what is better?
Asked on Apr 24th, 2014 on Criminal Law - Colorado
6 ANSWERS
Michael J. Breczinski
A dismissal means that there never was a conviction. An expungment erases a conviction.
Answered on Apr 25th, 2014 at 7:41 PM
Having a case dismissed means there is no conviction. Having a conviction expunged is what may happen after someone is convicted. Only a few types of convictions are eligible for expungement in Missouri, and only after 10 years (for misdemeanors) or 20 years (for felonies) have passed with no other misdemeanors or felonies. So, having a case dismissed before it reaches the point of being a conviction is 100% better than getting convicted and then trying to get the conviction expunged, which may be impossible to do unless it is one of the few types that qualify for expungement.
Answered on Apr 24th, 2014 at 11:36 AM
Criminal Defense Attorney serving Visalia, CA
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The Law Office of Gregory Hagopian
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That is a complicated question. When a person gets an expungement under California Penal Code 1203.4 it is said that the case is retroactively dismissed against them. Thus is not exactly the case. What an expungement does for you is to send the California Department of Justice a notice saying that if any private entity asks they are not to tell them about the conviction. This means that if a private emoter asks you if you have a criminal conviction and you say no, you are telling the truth, and if the company runs a background check they won't find anything. It is not dismissed though, did other purposes. If you were convicted of a felony you still could. It own a gun, or run fir public office, or sir on a jury. Had the case been dismissed prior to conviction those consequences would not exist. This is a pretty lengthy topic.
Answered on Apr 24th, 2014 at 11:16 AM
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Dismissed means the case is over, expungement means a dismissed case has been destroyed from the files expungement is better, but you need a dismissal to get it.
Answered on Apr 24th, 2014 at 11:05 AM
Adoptions Attorney serving Lansing, MI
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Austin Legal Services, PLC
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A dismissal is when a judge ends or throws out of court a pending charge. An expungement is having a conviction that is already on your record removed after a certain period of time. Dismissal is always better because it never enters on your public record as a conviction.
Answered on Apr 24th, 2014 at 8:49 AM
A dismissal is a completely different thing than an expungement. Once charges are pending against you- meaning you have a court case, it remains as an active case until something happens, either the case is closed because you successfully completed probation or the case is dismissed because you win your jury trial or the government says that it cannot prove its case against you. A dismissed case typically does not count as a conviction. Be careful that you are not confusing a closed case with a dismissed case. An expungment is a process by which you take the arrest and case off of your criminal record, so that no one case see it anymore. If you are eligible for an expungement depends on what happened in the case and how it was resolved against you or for you. Before you make any decision on taking a plea deal or what the status of your case is, you should consult with a local criminal defense attorney - if you do not understand any part of the proceedings, don't do it, this is to important and you will not be able to later try an re-do the case because you did not understand what you were doing.
Answered on Apr 24th, 2014 at 8:12 AM