I've been indicted on multiple charges!

[korn469]

Then why not take the chance if you know you are innocent... It doesn't sound like they can make ANY of the other charges stick... Again.. a plea means you ADMIT you are guilty... for the rest of your life.

i don't have any saving left to fight this, and my family doesn't have the resources to help me out unless they just absolutely have to...

as far as being guilty the rest of my life. my lawyer said the charge would automatically drop from my record in seven years, and i could petition to have it purged in three if i wanted (but it'd cost money to do that)

[korn469]

GePap

my lawyer said go with the plea if the prosecution would take it

[Ming]

Not all court appointed lawyers are bad...

Get one appointed, and ask his opinion. Your lawyer doesn't sound like he is looking after your best interest.

He's not the one that has to plead guilty.

AGAIN... you say that the "real" worst case scenario is that you get nailed for the miss... which would be no worse than your plea. Even if the free lawyer sucks (which is just a bad assumption) the worst case is that you are no better off. And YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN, and it will cost you nothing.

[GePap]

Originally posted by korn469
GePap

my lawyer said go with the plea if the prosecution would take it

If all you have said is true, and you might be unable to bear the finantial cost of a trial at this point, plus you have this out of your record in 7 years max (but be really sure, really sure that is correct), then I can see why your lawyer thinks this would be a good idea.

Still, it is your decision. You could also asks your family, or others you trust deeply.

[korn469]

Ming

I asked one of my relatives who I both respect and trust is in the know about the court appointed attornies in the area and he said avoid them if i could, because in his dealings with them, they have been completely ineffective. My lawyer said the same thing (of course he'd say that but it backs up what I'd already been told).

The thing is if i win, all I win is not being on unsupervised probation for a year and then having the mis on my record for seven. Yet if I lose, even on just the mis, the prosecution could then offer their own punishment recommendation for the mis, (up to 6 months in jail) which they can't under the terms of the plea. Worse on the small chance I lose on even one of the felonies that could be multiple years in prison. I'd like to fight it, but I'm not a gambler like that. The rewards seem less than the potential for disaster.

[Ming]

Well... only you know the facts of the situation. From what you have presented here, the felonies are no more than a threat by the prosecution to get you to accept a plea, and that there is no way they can prove them.

And I've had friends who have had good court appointed lawyers. And have used them to beat cases like yours.

But again... only you know the real facts... But I wouldn't just roll over if I were you, especially based on what you have posted.

[SlowwHand]

Is Imran booked up ?

[Dinner]

I was once arrested and charged with a fairly bogus charge. Like in your case the prosicutor tried to play it up to a much worse charge and then at the arranment hearing he tried to get me to plea to the original lesser charge.

My advice is to do what I did and plead not guilty and take the Free lawyer. Believe it or not many of them are quite good and mine convinced the DA to drop the charges rather then waste the tax payer's money going after an innocent guy like me.

[korn469]

Ming

my current lawyer costs about a year's worth of my wages, and he's been pretty good so far. The prosecution arranged a suprise court hearing, and when I didn't show (they mailed the notice two days before the court hearing and I got it the day after the hearing) they issued an arrest warrant when I didn't show then my lawyer had it quashed. I thought that was pretty cool. Though I'm not sure if I want to put the money to fight it, and be broke for another year. My relative recommended another lawyer. Apparently this lawyer is the top criminal defense lawyer in the area, but he'd cost 1 1/2-2 years worth of wages for me. My relative says this one lawyer would almost certainly win on all charges. I don't have a father, and my mother's small business recently went bankrupt because of a big slowdown in business last year. I have a set of grandparents, but they live off of social security and a meager union pension, so there is no way they could help. I don't really want to bum that much money off of my friends, and if the public attornies are as bad as my relative says, then if we went to trial I could come out convicted of the felonies as well, which would basically derail my life.

The thing that angered me about the entire situation, as that a few months back, all charges against me were supposedly dropped, and I thought it was finished. Yet, they got a new prosecutor who decided to make my case a priority, and he took it before the grand jury, then out of nowhere I was indicted. I didn't even have the indictment until I was setting before the judge. I plead not guilty to all charges, even though I hadn't even read what they'd charged me with. One particularly frustrating thing was they misspelled my name on the indictment! I checked some info on grand juries and they sound truly undemocratic. Also, no I can't get off on a technacality for them misspelling my name. I already asked, lol.

[Dinner]

Most prosicutors want to be DAs and most DAs want to be politicians. How do they move up? By telling the public they're hard on crime and throwing the book at every Tom, ****, and Harry that passes his way.

My suggestion is to hurt his ambition by fighting the case. He wants to win lots of cases so he can brag to his bose about how effective he is. Personally, I think he's hoping most people will take pleas because he certainly won't have the man power or resources to take every case to trial. There for if more people fight the charges then he'll learn to drop the less important cases and dedicate his resources to the most important cases like his predicessor apparently did when he dropped the charges against you the first time.

[Dinner]

The cool thing is if you win then you get to sue the city for damages. Or at least I think that's the case. :hmm:

[Ming]

Again... court appointed lawyers can be good... and they cost nothing. Don't use money as an excuse to give up... if you do, they win.

It sounds like a jerk is going after you... and his guns aren't very loaded. So he is trying to browbeat you and threaten you with all the extra charges. If you give in, you are doing exactly what he want's you to do.

Again... a free court appointed lawyer is the answer.
Don't plead guilty just because a few of your relatives don't like court appointed lawyers.

[Spiffor]

Korn :
I don't know enough about you or your case to give an adapted opinion, so here's something I'd advise in general :
- if your situation is otherwise stable (job, family, free time...), and this case is the only significant concern on your mind, go for it and follow Ming's advice.
- if your situation is generally unstable, and this case is one more big problem, with many others already here, don't go for it. Plea, and be done with it. No need to risk a depression (and the hypothetical prison) to fight the hardon of a prosecutor

[chequita guevara]

Ming, For most job applications, you only have to report felony convictions, not misdemeanors. In fact, I don't think I've ever only had to report my misdemeanor conviction once (making a public nuicence in a Federal Park).

Oerdin, you can only sue the city if there's evidence of malicious prosecution.

Korn, at the very least, I'd talk to this other lawyer your family recommends and see what he thinks given your circumstances.

[Alexander's Horse]

In the US if you win the case does the loser pay your costs?