One of the BIGGEST lies told to defendants in criminal court in Florida is that they will not have a criminal record once their case is resolved. County Court (misdemeanor) judges do this all too often when trying to convince defendants to accept no contest pleas, or accept a Pretrial Diversion-type program.
Truth is, whether your arrest (doesn't matter if physical arrest or issuance of a Promise To Appear) turns out to be a case that is never filed (no action, no file, or no info), whether your charge is filed but later dismissed (nolle prosequi) or whether you plead no contest and receive a withhold of adjudication, you will have a record of the arrest.
You must take the extra step of having your record expunged, if the charge was dismissed, or sealed, if the charge resulted in a withhold of adjudication.
There is no such thing as the automatic sealing or expungement of an adult criminal record in Florida.
If you live in Florida and are interested in sealing or expunging your arrest record, contact me.