Legal Question in Criminal Law in Maryland

Stet is neither a dismissal nor is it a conviction. It is an indefinite postponement. Anytime within the first year either the state or the defendant may ask for a trial and the court will schedule it. After a year either party may make the request, but the moving party must persuade the court that there is good cause to schedule a trial. After three years from the entry of stet, the defendant may petition for expungement of the record, which would shield even the entry of stet from public inspection. However law enforcement may always see it. The only right that the defendant waives for the entry of stet is the right to a speedy trial.

Generally, stet is a good thing.