A criminal case in the United States can end in one of five basic ways: the charges are dismissed, the defendant completes a diversion or deferred adjudication program, the parties reach a plea deal, a judge or jury returns a verdict at trial, or the trial collapses into a mistrial. Each of these criminal case outcomes carries different legal weight, different effects on your record, and different rules about whether the government can try again. The vast majority never reach a courtroom. Roughly 90 to 98 percent resolve through guilty pleas, depending on whether you’re looking at state or federal courts.
Dismissal Ends the Case Before Trial
A dismissal shuts the case down before a verdict. The prosecution may voluntarily drop the charges (a nolle prosequi), or a judge may rule the case cannot go forward. Suppressed evidence from an illegal search, witnesses who won’t cooperate, and a reassessment of whether the proof is strong enough to convict are among the common reasons.
The distinction that matters most is whether the dismissal is “with prejudice” or “without prejudice.” With prejudice is permanent. The prosecution can never bring those same charges again. Without prejudice closes the case for now, but the prosecutor can refile as long as the statute of limitations hasn’t expired. If your case was dismissed without prejudice, the matter can come back.
Speedy Trial Dismissals
Federal law imposes hard deadlines. Under the Speedy Trial Act, the government has 30 days from arrest to indict, and trial must begin within 70 days after the indictment is filed or the defendant first appears in court, whichever is later.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3161 – Time Limits and Exclusions Missing those deadlines is grounds for the defense to move for dismissal, and the court decides whether it will be with or without prejudice by weighing the seriousness of the offense, the reasons for the delay, and the effect of allowing a new prosecution.2GovInfo. 18 U.S. Code 3162 – Sanctions Many kinds of delay don’t count against the clock, including time spent on pretrial motions and continuances granted for good cause, so the calendar time between arrest and trial is often much longer than 70 days. A defendant who doesn’t raise a speedy trial violation before pleading or going to trial waives the right.
Diversion and Deferred Adjudication
Both routes let you resolve a case without a conviction, but they work differently and leave different traces.
Pretrial Diversion
In diversion, the prosecution pauses the case while you complete conditions — community service, counseling, drug testing, or some combination. Finish everything on time and the charges get dropped. No plea, no conviction, dismissal at the end. Eligibility is usually limited to first-time or low-level offenders and is far from guaranteed. Federal diversion, for example, automatically excludes anyone accused of offenses involving child exploitation, sexual abuse, serious bodily injury or death, firearms, national security, public corruption, or leadership in a criminal organization or violent gang.3U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Manual 9-22.000 – Pretrial Diversion Program State programs use their own exclusion lists.
Deferred Adjudication
Deferred adjudication looks similar from a distance but starts with a plea. You plead guilty or no contest, the judge holds off on entering a conviction, and you serve a period of supervision with conditions. Finish successfully and the case is dismissed with no conviction on the record.
It’s less clean than defendants often assume. Because a plea was entered, a public record of the arrest, charges, and proceedings still exists. That record doesn’t seal itself. You typically have to petition separately for expungement or sealing, with rules and waiting periods that vary by jurisdiction. Fail to meet the supervision conditions and the judge can revoke the deferral, enter a conviction based on the original plea, and potentially impose jail time on top of it.
Plea Bargains Resolve Most Cases
Most criminal cases end with a deal, not a trial. In federal courts, an estimated 98 percent of cases resolve through plea agreements, and state courts aren’t far behind. The system depends on it. Courts simply don’t have the resources to try every case.
Deals come in two main forms. In a charge bargain, the prosecution drops more serious charges in exchange for a plea to a lesser offense. In a sentence bargain, both sides agree on a recommended punishment. Sometimes the deal involves both. Either way, the defendant pleads guilty or no contest and ends up with a conviction that carries the same legal weight as losing at trial.
A plea isn’t final until a judge accepts it in open court. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11 requires the judge to address the defendant personally and confirm they understand what they’re giving up: the right to a jury trial, the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses, the right against self-incrimination, and the right to present evidence and compel witnesses. The judge also has to spell out any mandatory minimum sentence, the maximum penalty, immigration consequences for non-citizens, and the court’s obligation to calculate the sentencing guideline range. Finally, the judge must confirm the plea is voluntary and that the facts support the charges.4Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 11 – Pleas Most states follow similar procedures.
No Contest and Alford Pleas
A no-contest plea (nolo contendere) produces the same criminal consequences as a guilty plea, but you neither admit nor deny the conduct. The practical advantage is that a no-contest plea generally cannot be used against you as an admission of fault in a later civil lawsuit. If you’re facing both criminal charges and potential civil liability from the same incident, that matters.
An Alford plea goes further. You plead guilty while explicitly maintaining innocence, acknowledging only that the prosecution’s evidence would probably be enough to convict. The Supreme Court approved this arrangement in 1970, holding that a defendant can intelligently choose to plead guilty while protesting innocence when the evidence is strong and the plea reflects a rational calculation of the options.5Legal Information Institute. North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25 Federal prosecutors are barred from consenting to Alford pleas except in highly unusual circumstances, and doing so requires approval from senior Department of Justice leadership.6U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Manual 9-16.000 – Pleas – Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11 State courts are generally more permissive. Whichever type is used, a plea resulting in conviction has the same effect on your record.
Trial Verdicts
When a case goes to trial, it’s decided by either a judge alone (a bench trial) or a jury. Criminal convictions require proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the highest standard in the legal system. Under the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Ramos v. Louisiana, jury verdicts in all serious criminal cases must be unanimous, in both federal and state courts.7Supreme Court of the United States. Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 U.S. 83
A not-guilty verdict means the prosecution failed to meet its burden. It does not necessarily mean the defendant is innocent. Only that the evidence wasn’t strong enough to eliminate reasonable doubt. The legal consequence is absolute: an acquittal triggers the Fifth Amendment’s double jeopardy protection, and the government cannot retry the defendant on those charges. No appeal of an acquittal is constitutionally possible.8Legal Information Institute. U.S. Constitution Annotated – Reprosecution After Acquittal
A guilty verdict is a conviction and sends the case to sentencing, but it doesn’t always stick. Within 14 days, the defense can ask the judge to set aside the verdict and enter an acquittal on the ground that the evidence was insufficient.9Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 29 – Motion for a Judgment of Acquittal It’s a high bar, since the judge is essentially overruling the jury, but it happens when no rational fact-finder could have reached a guilty verdict on the evidence. The defense can also move for a new trial within 14 days on general grounds, or within three years if new evidence surfaces.10Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 33 – New Trial If neither motion succeeds, the remaining option is a direct appeal.
Mistrials Produce No Verdict
A mistrial ends the trial without a verdict. The two most common causes are a deadlocked jury (a “hung jury”) and serious procedural errors that make a fair outcome impossible, such as juror misconduct, inadmissible evidence reaching the jury, or discovery that a juror was disqualified.
Because there’s no verdict, a mistrial isn’t a final resolution. Charges remain pending and the government can usually schedule a new trial, which must begin within 70 days of the mistrial becoming final.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3161 – Time Limits and Exclusions
Double jeopardy limits when a retrial is allowed. If the judge declared the mistrial over the defendant’s objection, the government can retry only if there was “manifest necessity” for ending the trial. A hung jury clears that standard, and so do situations where a juror’s impartiality is compromised or external circumstances prevent the trial from continuing.11Legal Information Institute. U.S. Constitution Annotated – Reprosecution After Mistrial When the defense is the one that asked for the mistrial, retrial is generally allowed, because the request is treated as a voluntary decision to give up the verdict from that jury. The exception: if prosecutors deliberately provoked the mistrial through bad-faith conduct designed to force a defense request, double jeopardy blocks a second trial.12Constitution Annotated. Amdt5.3.4 Re-Prosecution After Mistrial
What Happens After a Conviction
A conviction, whether by plea or verdict, doesn’t come with an immediate sentence. Sentencing is a separate proceeding, and in federal cases it typically happens weeks or months later. A probation officer prepares a presentence investigation report calculating the offense level and criminal history category under the federal sentencing guidelines, laying out the resulting range, and describing the defendant’s personal background and any victim impact, including losses that could support restitution.13Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 32 – Sentencing and Judgment
At the hearing the judge resolves factual disputes, hears from both attorneys, and gives the defendant a personal right to speak (allocution). Victims also have the right to be heard, orally or through a written impact statement describing the financial, emotional, and physical toll of the crime.14U.S. Department of Justice. Victim Impact Statements The judge then imposes some combination of imprisonment, fines, supervised release, restitution, and community service. Federal judges must calculate the applicable guideline range but are not strictly bound by it and can depart upward or downward.
Collateral Consequences
The sentence is only part of what a conviction costs. Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment from possessing firearms or ammunition, and the same bar applies to anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts The trigger is the maximum possible sentence for the offense, not the sentence actually imposed, so probation for a crime that carried a potential two-year sentence still ends gun rights. This prohibition is federal and applies regardless of state law.
Employment is the other big pressure point. Employers routinely run background checks, and a conviction can shut you out of entire industries. Federal agencies and federal contractors generally cannot ask about criminal history until after a conditional offer, under the Fair Chance to Compete for Jobs Act. The EEOC has taken the position that blanket rejection of all applicants with any conviction likely amounts to illegal discrimination, and that employers should weigh the nature of the offense, how long ago it occurred, and its relevance to the job.16U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Arrest and Conviction Records – Resources for Job Seekers, Workers Many states and cities have their own “ban the box” laws with similar protections.
Voting rights are a state-by-state matter with no federal standard. A few states never revoke voting rights, even during incarceration. A majority restore them automatically once a person is released from prison. About ten states impose additional waiting periods, require a governor’s pardon, or strip voting rights indefinitely for certain offenses. Even where restoration is automatic, that refers to legal eligibility; you still have to re-register.
Clearing the Record
Whether the case can be erased later depends heavily on where you are and how it ended.
Federal convictions cannot be expunged. The only federal relief is a presidential pardon, which requires a minimum five-year waiting period after release from confinement (or five years from the date of conviction if no imprisonment was imposed). More serious offenses — including drug crimes, perjury, violent crimes, tax fraud, and public corruption — require a seven-year wait.17United States District Court, Southern District of Mississippi. How Do I Have My Conviction Expunged? A pardon forgives the offense but does not seal the record; the conviction stays visible.
State expungement and sealing are far more available, though the rules are a patchwork. Most states let you clear at least some records, with eligibility keyed to the type of offense, the time that has passed, and how the case ended. Cases that ended in dismissal or completed diversion are generally easiest to clear. Deferred adjudication sits in the middle: the charges were dismissed, but because a plea was entered, some jurisdictions treat those cases differently and impose longer waits. Felony convictions are hardest to clear and may be permanently ineligible in some states. Filing fees range from nothing to several hundred dollars.
Sealed or expunged records don’t appear on most standard background checks, but some government agencies, law enforcement, and licensing bodies can still see them depending on state law. And in most jurisdictions, none of this is automatic. Even a dismissed case or completed diversion program stays on the record until you file a petition and get a court order.