*** Please note that significant changes have been made to Utah laws governing expungement of cases dismissed under an abeyance agreement since this post was originally published. Contact us directly for information about current expungement laws and requirements. ***
A plea in abeyance (PIA) can provide an avenue for achieving a full dismissal of all charges in an Ogden felony or misdemeanor case. But a PIA can still affect your criminal history in ways that you should understand before entering into any abeyance agreement. If you have already had your charges dismissed under a PIA, there are steps you can take to more fully clear your criminal record. If you are facing new criminal charges or trying to clear your record with an expungement, contact us today to see how we can help.
Plea in Abeyance on a Criminal Background Check in Utah
Does a plea in abeyance show up on a criminal background check?
Despite the ultimate dismissal of criminal charges where a plea has been held in abeyance, the case can still show up on a criminal background check. To more fully clear your criminal history, an expungement is needed. An expungement order from the court will require BCI to remove all mention of an arrest, charge, or conviction from normal criminal history reports.
What will appear on a pre-employment background check?
The information that will appear on a pre-employment criminal background check can depend both on the status of your case and what specific information is being sought by a prospective employer. Many employers will conduct a criminal background check that only looks only for convictions. If a plea was held in abeyance, it should not show up as a conviction on a criminal history report – even before the case is dismissed.
When a plea is held in abeyance, the court accepts the plea of a guilty or no contest but does not take the next step of entering the plea as a conviction. Instead the plea is held “in abeyance” based on the terms entered in the agreement between the prosecution and defense. Although the case will still be a matter of public record, it should not show up on a criminal background check that is only looking for convictions.
Some employers are interested in learning as much as they can about a prospective employee. In these instances, employers might conduct a criminal background check that looks for arrests, open or closed court cases, active arrest warrants, or dismissals. Even after the case has been dismissed, a plea that was held in abeyance can appear on this kind of background check.
After a plea in abeyance is dismissed, how do I begin clearing my record?
Upon dismissal following a successful plea in abeyance, the most direct route to clearing you record is an expungement. Whereas a conviction can require years of waiting before it will be eligible for expungement, a dismissed plea in abeyance requires only a 30-day waiting period for eligibility.
The first step in the expungement process involves application to the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI) for a certificate of eligibility for expungement. BCI conducts an initial investigation to determine basic statutory eligibility.
Following issuance of the certificate of eligibility, a formal Petition for Expungement must be filed with the court. The petition must establish by clear and convincing evidence that expungement is not contrary to the public interest. Accompanying documents, including a proposed order, receipt, consent and waiver, and other necessary documents must be delivered to the prosecutor’s office as well. Compliance with each step in the process is required in order to complete the expungement and obtain a clear criminal history report.
