What Happens When a Failure to Appear Is Dismissed?

Effect on Criminal Record

When a judge dismisses criminal charges against a defendant for failure to appear, the defendant may mistakenly believe that the incident will no longer appear on his permanent criminal record. This is not the case. Whenever an arrest occurs for any violation of the law, regardless of whether the matter is adjudicated or not or the charge is a felony or misdemeanor, a record of the arrest will remain on the defendant's record, unless he is under age at the time of the arrest. In that instance, those records are to remain sealed in accordance with most state juvenile laws.

Once a judge dismisses a charge for failure to appear, a written record of the court's order is signed by the judge and is filed along with the other court records relevant to the case. Once the judge signs the order, a written copy of the court order is typically provided to the defendant. Laws vary by state, however, and in some states it may be necessary for the defendant to request a copy of the order from the clerk of court or court administrator.

When charges for failure to appear are issued in conjunction with other criminal charges, it is possible for the judge to dismiss the charges for failure to appear without dismissing the other charges relating to the case. In this scenario, dismissing the charges for failure to appear does not relieve the defendant from facing the other charges pending against her. Instead, it simply means that the defendant will not face additional charges for failure to appear on top of the charges that she is already facing for the additional criminal violations.

In cases where failure to appear is the only charge issued against a defendant and that charge is dropped, it is possible to have the record relating to this charge removed after a period of time but only through the issuance of a court order called an order of expungement. Expungement removes the arrest from a defendant's permanent record but is typically only done in relation to misdemeanor charges. While state laws vary, most states require the party seeking expungement to have maintained a clean criminal record since the time of the original arrest for a set number of years as determined by state law.