Dain Smoland, Attorney at Law PLLC
Criminal Defense in Utah
Dain Smoland, Attorney at Law PLLC
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← Keep Calm and Argue the Facts
All Minors Are “Alcohol Restricted Drivers” in Utah →

Dismissed Charges ARE Part of Your Utah Criminal Record

September 18, 2013 | Filed under: Expungement Law and tagged with: Expungements, Record Sealing, Utah State Law

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I’ve been contacted by several people lately who were confused about the difference between “dismissed” charges and “expunged” charges.  What they don’t understand is that the record of your criminal case–whether you were convicted, found not-guilty, or the case was dismissed–is always part of the public record unless it is expunged.

I think what often happens is the prosecutor offers a “plea-in-abeyance” deal, where the charges are dismissed at the end of the abeyance period. They often explain (or defense counsel often explains) that a plea-in-abeyance deal keeps the conviction “off your record.” That’s true: it does keep the conviction off your record, but it doesn’t seal the record from public view.  So anyone doing an official records search in Utah can still see the record of the case, see what you plead guilty to, and see what happened with your plea-in-abeyance. While this is certainly better than having a conviction, it can still be problematic.

Simply put, the only way to keep the entire record of your case from appearing in official background checks is to go through the expungement process.  The good news is that dismissed cases are eligible for expungement just 30 days after dismissal (much better than the several-year wait required for even minor convictions).  I’ve helped many people through this process before, and I’d be glad to help. Check out my expungement page for more info.

 

 

 

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← Keep Calm and Argue the Facts
All Minors Are “Alcohol Restricted Drivers” in Utah →

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Some Posts from My Blog

  • Utah Legislature Temporarily Suspends Expungement Filing Fees!
  • Parolees Become Eligible for 402 Reductions in Utah
  • Utah’s “Clean Slate” Law, and Automatic Expungements
  • Utah Legalizes Medical Marijuana! Kinda! Sort Of!
  • Utah Eases Expungement Eligibility, Especially for Prior Drug Convictions!

Courts Where I Take Cases

I am licensed to practice criminal law anywhere in Utah, but my office is in Salt Lake City so I focus my defense practice on Salt Lake County and the surrounding counties: Weber, Davis, Utah, Summit, Wasatch, Tooele.

That includes any of the state, city, or federal courts located in Salt Lake City, West Jordan, South Jordan, West Valley, Heber, Park City, Provo, Ogden, Farmington, Bountiful, Holladay, Cottonwood Heights, Murray, Millcreek, South Salt Lake, Grantsville, Tooele, Orem, American Fork, Sandy, Draper, Centerville, Layton, Kaysville, and anywhere else within an hour's drive of Salt Lake. I'll also go down to Carbon County (Price and Helper), because I like that drive!

For locations in Utah outside that area, just contact me and we'll talk about it.

Categories of my blog posts

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