Legal Question in Criminal Law in Missouri

Re: probation

Typically, after a finding of guilt or a plea of guilty in a criminal case, the defendant is sentenced to do time or pay a fine or both. If the Judge "suspends imposition of sentence", that means that the Judge does not actually sentence the defendant to anything. In some cases the Judge will do this and place the defendant on probation in order to give the defendant a chance to avoid a criminal conviction from going on the defendant's record. If the defendant sucessfully completes probation, the defendant can truthfully say that he or she was not convicted.