Failure to appear screw up

[Guppysquad4]

What is the name of your state? California

Does anyone know if there is a time limit in trying to have a failure to appear removed. My husband had a ticket and appeared the day before the "day to appear" date. The clerk looked up the citation # and said it had not been filed. They attached a paper to his citation showing he had appeared. The paper has a phone number on it and they told him to call that number the next day. We did that and they said it still had not been filed. We continued this for a couple of months and finally someone looked up his drivers license to check it that way and found that he had a failure to appear because they filed it under his license instead of the citation number and the courts could not even find it that way for months! He went to the courthouse with his citation and the proof of his appearing( the paper they had stapled to the citation) and saw a judge. The judge asked if he was guilty or not guilty. My husband thought he was pleading for the original citation and said guilty. He was then charged with a guilty to the failure to appear instead of the citation. They never let you speak in court and he couldn't explain anything. Now this thing is following us around forever affect ourinsurance and all!
How do we clear this up?. My husband did not want to try to clear it up then because everytime he went to court it seemed to get more screwed up. But I want it gone because it is costly. This was a little over a year ago. Is there anything we can do?

Thanks for any advice!