There are plenty of plea deals where you do not have a conviction and
you do not appear in court. (probation before judgement)
It is common with minor offenses or cases where they may not have a
very strong case but they know the person will deal to avoid a record.
I would be curious about Ramos because the 4 star cop on TV made it
sound like the harassment was no big deal.
There must be a reason for the question on the permit application form
and the police website goes out of it's way to instruct applicants on
how to answer that question.
These are legislators writing "just one more law". That doesn't mean
they are helpful. It is like that cartridge case fingerprinting
Maryland did a while ago or the ammo logs. It seemed like a good idea
to someone at the time.