i know that its illegal to impersonate someone online if you're either slandering them, threatening another, for acts of defraud, or anything bad against that person... but what if you impersonate someone and youre caught, but havent done anything of the sort? there was no harassment, gain of any sort, defamation. is it still illegal and can you still go to jail?

No sure which state you live or the state at issue, but some states such as TX, have promulgated laws that makes it a crime to impersonate someone else online. The goal is to stop cyberbullying.

Under the “online harassment” law, people who post fake profiles on social networking sites, such as Facebook or MySpace, with the intent to “harm, defraud, intimidate or threaten” other people would be charged with a felony. Commercial social networking sites were defined broadly under the statue in order to encompass many possibilities, such as sites that let users register to converse with others or construct Web profiles or pages. E-mail programs and message boards were not included in the definition.

So, based on the law, you dont need to actually defame or harass another, rather, defrauding and intimidating is enough actus raes.

I tried looking up the "online harassment" law and couldnt find it. Do you have a cite? Is it federal or state law? If state law, then which state?

Impersonate someone,
in the broadest sense, a fraud is a deception made for personal gain. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and is also a civil law violation. Many hoaxes are fraudulent, although those not made for personal gain are not technically frauds. Defrauding people of money is presumably the most common type of fraud, but there have also been many fraudulent "discoveries" in art, archaeology, and science.

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My question is so if someone impersonates someone else for personal (not monetary) gain, what evidence holds up in court?

There are people all over the place half-lying about appearance, age, profession, income, etc for personal gain.. could they be found guilty for online impersonation?

I had a client having his fake profile on social networking site and criminal was sharing pornography under his name making fraud of his name he was caught by police i came into the scene and brought up sudden investigation and criminal was caught by tracking his ip address and location.
so not to worry about do a prior complaint of it and you will not face any issue