Fixing a Criminal Record That Wrongly Shows a Pending Case

Attorney Answer

What you are seeing is far more likely a records problem than a new prosecution — and New York gives you a specific, formal way to check that and to force a correction.

The official state criminal history record, the one most background checks are built from, is kept by the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). Under 9 NYCRR Part 6050, you — or an attorney you authorize in writing — may obtain a copy of your own criminal history record after fingerprint identification and payment of the fee. If that record is incomplete or inaccurate, you may challenge it by filing a Statement of Challenge with DCJS on its own forms, specifying the omission or error and attaching supporting documentation. A certified certificate of disposition from the court is the standard proof. DCJS must act on the challenge and give you written notice of the result.

Two different systems can produce the message you are seeing, and they are fixed differently. If the DCJS record itself still shows a case as pending, Part 6050 is your remedy. If DCJS is accurate but a commercial background-check site or app still shows "pending prosecution," the error belongs to that private vendor — it copied an old court entry and never updated it, and correcting DCJS will not automatically correct them.

There is a third possibility to rule out before assuming any of this is an error: that something really is open. That is one phone call, and it should come first.

What you can do

1. Call the clerk of the court that handled your DWI and ask whether anything in your name is currently open or scheduled, and whether any warrant exists. 2. Request a certified certificate of disposition from that clerk for the DWI and for any other case in your name. 3. Request your own DCJS criminal history record — the fingerprint-based record review, with the fee — so you can see what the state actually reports about you. 4. Compare the DCJS record line by line against your certificates of disposition. 5. If DCJS shows as pending a case that is closed, file the Statement of Challenge under 9 NYCRR Part 6050, attach the certified certificate, and keep a copy of everything you send and the date you sent it. 6. If DCJS is correct but a background-check website still shows a pending case, send that vendor a written dispute with a copy of the certificate. 7. If step 1 turns up something genuinely open, do not ignore it — a missed court date turns a paperwork problem into a warrant.