35 yr old charges no records available

[cplmckenzie]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania

A little background.

In 1977 I was charged with a felony crime.

It was dismissed at arraingment. aka hearing.

In getting a FBI Fingerprint background 12-2010, this showed up.

I went to the County Clerk Of Courts in the county of the charges and was told that since the charges were dismissed at the hearing it was never kicked up to County Level. So there was never any case for them to track. No Records Exists. I need to go to the magistrate district that held the hearing for the case.

I did and was told that as of 1991 no hardcopies exist. If their office did not bound a case over for trial they got rid of all paperwork because there was nothing to keep track of.

In Pennsylvania there is a -State Police Central Repository - that keep track of all cases for the state.

My question would be.

If these show up, can I petition the court to have this incorrect info removed.
If so, how is that accomplished due to the fact that there never was a case so no records exist to expunge.

I apologize if this is posted to the wrong forum. I am a new user and this is my first post

Gary

 

[justalayman]

If these show up, can I petition the court to have this incorrect info removed.

what incorrect info? Is the FBI record showing something that did not take place?

 

[cplmckenzie]

Correction

You are correct. The question would then apply to

Incomplete Info because they have no disposition record of the charges.

They were dismissed at a hearing as the post states.

 

[justalayman]

I understand your situation. I do not know what you can do to either remove the records or have the proper disposition of the case recorded along with the current records.


hang on for some others to see this. Maybe there is somebody here that can give you some more direction.

just for clarity sake, so far, this record has shown up via the FBI records but you don't know if the PA state records have it on file, correct?

I don't know if he can offer any direction with the PA stuff but CDWJava may have some input with the FBI records. He's a west coaster so generally doesn't post until later in the day.

 

[cplmckenzie]

Your Analysis is correct

Yes, as far as the State Police Central Repository is concerned I have submitted for a Criminal Background Check to be forwarded to the FBI Fingerprint office for satisfactory documentation of said disposition.

Waiting for the results.

Thank you for your help.

Gary

 

[CdwJava]

If I understand this correctly, the FBI record reflects the arrest but has no disposition, correct?

If so, that is not uncommon and the record is not inaccurate. Many cases that are dismissed are not reflected with a dismissal record in a state or federal CORI record as not all courts are efficient enough to send dispositions for cases that are dropped or dismissed.

As long as the record is ACCURATE, then the arrest should remain. If it does not reflect a conviction, then it would not appear to be in error, would it?

 

[cplmckenzie]

Incomplete Records

Yes, that would be true. It will always be a record of arrest.

What the Fingerprint background agency wants to know is the final disposition of the charge.

Downgraded, dismissed or withdrawn., etc.

As there is no record of a case in the County Clerks Office because it was not sent to trial and there was no longer any reason for the district magistrate to keep the record of the arrest because there was no reason to send the case to County trial.

How can I satisfy the request to document disposition of the charges for the FBI fingerprint check.

As, since the case was dismissed at the local magistrate level in 1979, they only have records after 1991 when all case document were computerized.

You see there is no longer any record, at any judicial level of the case. Just the entry in the background database.

Thank you for any help you can offer.

Gary

 

[xylene]

You should hire a lawyer to contact the court and properly motivate them to correct this important record.

 

[CdwJava]

Yes, that would be true. It will always be a record of arrest.

What the Fingerprint background agency wants to know is the final disposition of the charge.

Downgraded, dismissed or withdrawn., etc.

As there is no record of a case in the County Clerks Office because it was not sent to trial and there was no longer any reason for the district magistrate to keep the record of the arrest because there was no reason to send the case to County trial.

How can I satisfy the request to document disposition of the charges for the FBI fingerprint check.

As, since the case was dismissed at the local magistrate level in 1979, they only have records after 1991 when all case document were computerized.

You see there is no longer any record, at any judicial level of the case. Just the entry in the background database.

Thank you for any help you can offer.

Gary

When we run into this sort of thing, we draft a letter on agency letterhead that states that no record for the incident exists. Further, we check a little to see if we can reasonably add a small addendum that includes a statement that we have no reason to believe that any conviction resulted from the original allegations.

You say this record came up in an FBI check? Is the record from PA? Perhaps you should check the PA criminal history and see if there is a similar record at the state level?

Try here: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=4451&PageID=458621&mode=2

You should hire a lawyer to contact the court and properly motivate them to correct this important record.

Chances are PA state law does not require them to maintain local records for so long so there would be no legal sword to wield. And the criminal history IS accurate - it reflects the arrest.

 

[xylene]

Chances are PA state law does not require them to maintain local records for so long so there would be no legal sword to wield. And the criminal history IS accurate - it reflects the arrest.

I find it extremely unlikely that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not maintain a record of the dismissal of felony charges.

This is the word of an overworked clerk to a lay civilian.

A local, skilled lawyer would command respect, and know how to properly demand an archival search.

Whenever a civil servant has told me something reasonable is impossible, no matter how plausible their reason, I have found that at the heart of the matter is a desire to avoid work.

 

[cplmckenzie]

Okay

Thanks for your assistance. I will submit the request for the State background check and hope that someone there is willing to reverse engineer the charge to conviction process.

Thanks

Gary

 

[CdwJava]

I find it extremely unlikely that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania does not maintain a record of the dismissal of felony charges.

After 33 years, they may not. IF they have it, it is likely on microfiche in a basement ... good luck finding it. Likewise, there is likely no LEGAL requirement that they hold onto such a record.

We would not have that old of a record here unless the person was convicted. Unless PA has a packrat requirement, I suspect the record of the dismissal - IF it still exists - is buried in some file or microfiche in the archives. Chances are they are not going to go through effort and expense of searching for it.

And, apparently, this is a small muni court which only increases the likelihood that the record is in the wind.

A local, skilled lawyer would command respect, and know how to properly demand an archival search.

He can DEMAND all he wants. But, there is likely no legal requirement that the court do so. In my state, he would be SOL. I can only assume that PA has similar laws, but maybe they do require the retention of records into eternity, and requires them to retrieve the record on request. If the OP wants to pay an attorney a few hundred dollars to draft a demand letter, that is certainly up to him.

Whenever a civil servant has told me something reasonable is impossible, no matter how plausible their reason, I have found that at the heart of the matter is a desire to avoid work.

The other possibility is that the record does not exist.

Do you have the slightest idea how hard it would be to even determine if the record exists? Much less find it? The 70s might as well be the dark ages for many records. Finding a case that was dismissed upon the first hearing would be a needle in a haystack as it likely would have consisted of a single document - if that!

Out here the dismissal is supposed to go to the DOJ and to the agency that requested the charges. If it is the same there, MAYBE the agency that handled the case might have a record of the dismissal. Unfortunately, some courts (more than half in CA) do not remit dismissals to the state so any record of the dismissal remains only at the local level and not on the state criminal history. As such, it is not uncommon to find arrests that do not lead to convictions or a record of dismissal. It is also why in a background exam employers and the like are generally permitted to only consider CONVICTIONS.

 

[CdwJava]

Thanks for your assistance. I will submit the request for the State background check and hope that someone there is willing to reverse engineer the charge to conviction process.

Thanks

Gary

You might also consider contacting the agency where the charges originated from. They might have a more efficient archive system and MAY have a copy of the dismissal or some record of what transpired even if the court does not.

 

[cplmckenzie]

I did

I did contact the magistrates office that handled the original hearing.

They were the ones that told me that if there was no reason to bound a case to trial, to the county level, as this was dismissed at their hearing that there is no longer any record of this in existence.

I did, as the original post, contact the Clerk of Courts (County) they informed me that they have no record of the charge as it did not reach the level of trial case.

So at no level is there any record of disposition of the charges.

Gary

 

[CdwJava]

I did contact the magistrates office that handled the original hearing.

They were the ones that told me that if there was no reason to bound a case to trial, to the county level, as this was dismissed at their hearing that there is no longer any record of this in existence.

I did, as the original post, contact the Clerk of Courts (County) they informed me that they have no record of the charge as it did not reach the level of trial case.

Ask them for a letter to that effect so that you can have it to show anyone who might express concern.