What does a dismissed case actually mean?
Question Details: Is it off of my record completely or does it still show just that it was dismissed? I was pulled over and charged with having a fake insurance card. I was not arrested but I did recieve a ticket and have my car towed. I was given a year of unsupervised probation, an 8 hour making better choices class, and my bills had to be paid by a certain date. After going to my review the judge said all charges were dismissed. I just want to know for sure what that actually means in terms of being on my record and how fast it will be off of my record if at all.
This may vary by State, but typically if a case is dismissed, then that means that you were charged with a particular crime or offense, but that the case was dismissed without you having criminal conviction. Because you were given probation, it appears that at some point you plead guilty to the offense, but after a successful completion of the probation, the entire case was dismissed. Check with the court or state law enforcement, but generally if someone were to pull your criminal record, it would show 1) the offense you were charged with; 2) the date and offense you plead guilty to; and 3) the disposition of the case being dismissed. Sometimes, if the plea was taken under advisement, nothing may show up in your criminal record which is even better.
