arrest

What is the name of your state? NY

My friend was arrested recently and the police charged him for not paying the subway ticket (165.15 theft of transportation). I believe it is unfair for him. He was brought to misdemeaner court and the judge's sentence was "stay out of trouble for 6 months, case dismissed".

Can somebody explain the meaning of the sentence? Is he found guilty or not? Will there be a crime record? arrest record? Can he do an expungement?

Also, How should he answer the following questions on various occassions like employment?
1) Have you ever been arrested or convicted of a criminal offense?
2) Have you ever been arrested or indicted for any felony or misdemeaner?
3) Have you ever been convicted of a crime?
What about after expungement?

My friend is really worried about his arrest since he had a very clean record. Any help would be aprreciated.

I'm not an attorney or legal professional but since it seems that no one is going to answer your question I'll give it a stab from a left coast (CA) point of view.

You're friend has not been sentenced as the case was dismissed. He has not be found either guilty or not guilty. His Criminal History Report will record this as an arrest with a disposition of "dismissed."

When completing an employment application should they ask if he was ever arrested he should answer yes. Convicted? No.

In California you cannot expunge an arrest. You can request to have it sealed and destroyed but you must prove that you are factually innocent. This is very hard to do even if you're indeed innocent because the courts rely on the police report and of course the police report will justify the arrest. You will need to find out how expungments/seal & destroy procedures are done in NY

People should not dispense advice that is incorrect. You have every right to expunge your record in California. One simple search on a web browser will give you that answer. Becareful of who you take advice from.[URL=http://www.elaw-online.com/page4.html]http://www.elaw-online.com/page4.html[/URL]

[stephenk]

observing is correct. You cannot expunge an ARREST. you can attempt to expunge a CONVICTION.