I've been indicted on multiple charges!

[MichaeltheGreat]

Indictment by grand jury is no big deal as an indicator of if/how well you'll do at trial. A grand jury only considers what the prosecution brings, so it's a one sided, minimal view to see if there's enough to even charge you.

Indicting you on a lot of counts is also generally (unless you really got caught with your hands in a lot of cookie jars) a tactic to lead into plea bargain. "We've got maybe one low end charge we can stick him with, and maybe, just maybe, we'll sell the jury on one or two more, if we're lucky. Let's see if we can find a way to charge him with half a dozen things, and plea him down to two. That's better than we know we could get at trial."

What you have to consider is what kind of jury pool are you likely to draw in your county, and how do you think you'd be seen by them? How is the prosecutor usually perceived by them? The problem with all trials, civil or criminal, is that unless the case is open and shut, one way or another, you're gambling on human psychology, so you have to have a good idea about the humans you're gambling your life on.

[Bosh]

korn469: Know something of how you feel. Got arrested once at a labor protest and I had to stand around handcuffed for most of the evening before they processed us. We were told ahead of time that we'd all get the equivalent of a traffic ticket but they slapped up all with misdemeanors. Luckily for us charges got dropped and it all seemed to be a tactic to scare us and prevent us from doing anything else. Worked damn well too, having a court date hanging over your head is damn unnerving. As much as I hate to admitt it, you're probably right, lying and pleading guilty is probably your best bet since probation shouldn't hurt you unless they pull any **** on you again and a misdeamenor shouldn't hurt with employment...

[korn469]

Pekka

the first jurisdiction i was in didn't question me at all, because they were simply waiting to extradict me, though when i went into the only open court to sign the extradiction waiver it was juvenile court, and one of my coworkers was there with her kids. so here i come in an orange jump suit with ankle chains on, she was like "how are you" and all i could think of saying was "i'm good all things considered" then just kinda smiled...i heard pink's song just like a pill a number of times in jail so every time i hear it now i think of being locked up, though considering that i hadn't watched tv in like a month when they had locked me up in some was it wasn't that bad, lay on a little tiny mat in a crowded floor on a concrete floor and watch tv in like a 90 degree room, then eat three times a day. the second cell i was in was alot like the cell you were in. one guy had carved in big letters across the top of the door "me against the world" i sat in there by myself for like 2 hours, just waiting on the bailbond to arrive. one absurd thing was they had to handcuff me in front of my body instead of behind as they escorted me to be released on bail...i had a talk with the guard about how stupid a person would have to be to try to escape when they going to be released, he agreed, he thought they should either have to handcuff a person correctly or not handcuff them at all

MtG

the county i'm charged with a crime in is one of the poorest counties in all of the US, and it is a rural coalmining based county in the bible belt part of the rural appalachians, and i'm an outsider. which couldn't help my case. you're right about them tossing out as many charges as possible. one of them is the most ludacris charges i've ever heard of in my entire life. if it wouldn't send me to prison i'd just laugh about it. i did an online search of everything, and i couldn't even find it in the code book unlike the rest of the charges. i know they couldn't have made it up, but it almost seems like they did.

as far as perceptions about either me or the prosecutor i'm not sure. i don't really know what kind of jury pool we'd draw, and my lawyer really hasn't talked about jury selection with me yet. we signed the original plea bargin back in october, and they said they either accept it or drop the case, and now all of these months later, here we are.

[Pekka]

korn, yep.. It was nerving, I didn't see anyone there, I only heard them. Everytime they walked to the questioning room, they made sure no one was there, and that I didn't see what time it was. This was before the mix up got cleared, after that it wasn't bad at all and everyone was pretty cool. But before that, it's bad, I didn't know how long I have to be there, they were convincing that I was going to be there for 3 days and then held for the hold investigation which in their own words was going to take more than 4 months. In that small cell with nothing to do. 1 hour per day exercise and that's it, back to my own little white cell. I would have climbed the walls.. the cop even called to the one who was leading the investigation, I was really nervous because they were asking that I could be held there longer, as long as it takes. Fortunately the leader said No and that was the point where the mix up cleared when they were like who do we have here, no we're not after this guy. I had to pee in the midst of 6 hours straight questionings, and the cop followed me to the bahtroom and stood right next to me, as if I was going to do something. It was humiliating, I was only down to my boxers, like I had a gun in my butt that I was trying to hide there and throw it to toilet.. It was saturday also and the cop came and said 'well I'm off to my weekend, see you next week, also it's a bit hard to find a lawyer this time, maybe you'll get one day over tomorrow'.. Yeah! Moral booster! But I'm glad everything cleared out soon after that...

[Jaguar]

Good luck. I'll leave the advice to the lawyers, though.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by 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.

Actually, in California there is a means test to determine how much, if any, you should pay the public defender. It sounds like he would fly right through the means test though.

At the arranment hearing plead not guilty then you can always change your plea latter. Most of the time the prosicutors just offer a canned plea deal and you can get better terms if you just tough it out and make them spend more of their budget on your case. Like I said before he really doesn't want to take most cases to trial and he is hoping to brow beat you into a plea agreement because it will make him look good. (For prosicutors having a high conviction rate, which plea deals will give him, is the key to becoming a DA)

[Cruddy]

All I can say is, if it was me, I would contest it, even beyond the point where I got locked up. No way am I going to plead guilty to something I didn't do.

You can be better than your reputation. But you can never be better than your principles.

[Tuberski]

You are going to take the plea bargain anyway, so what is the point in asking us?

You sound like you have already decided, we don't know what you are charged with, or the facts surrounding the charges. Your lawyer does, and he said plea, so I'd trust his judgement.

If you did these things, you win. If you didn't, you have already spent a lot of time and effort proving yourself wrong.

Take the plea and get on with your life.

ACK!

[Imran Siddiqui]

Sorry I've been away from Poly for a while...

I'd say, ask as many lawyers as you can what to do. If you get a bunch more saying you should plea bargin, then go ahead and do it.

Having the misdemenor go away is good, but be careful. If it deals with drugs in any way (I'm not saying that it does, but you haven't given us any information about the charge) then it can impact future job status until it is expunged (while you don't have to declare a misdimenor, as long as it is on your record they can find it by doing a background check).

[Lawrence of Arabia]

Take the court appointed lawyer. If he sucks balls, ask for another one. Keep on asking for new ones and clog up the entire system. Then you should also slap the state with an injunction (dont quite know what they means, but do it anyways,) countersue, claim the state prosecutor is racist, and file a complaint against illegal practice.

I'd make a good lawyer.

[Elden]

Fight it to the end

If you fail then three little words for you:

FLEE THE COUNTRY !!!

[Rogan Josh]

My advice would be to never admit to anything you didn't do. Only plea bargin if you are actually guilty - if you aren't guilty, fight it out to the bitter end. I mean this as a point of principle. It is wrong to say you did something you didn't do, so don't let them make you say it.

I know it is easy for us to sit here and ague principles - we are not the ones facing the charges, but I hope that is what I would do in the circumstances. I feel rather strongly about this sort of thing, so I would stand and fight.

Don't let the system make you something you are not.

[korn469]

Oerdin

i've already had an arraignment hearing and plead not guilty at it, my next court date is less than two weeks away, and it is the last day before the trial (if there is one) starts. they'd hammer out any unresolved issues, and decide on the rules for jury selection, and possibly select a jury on that day, though i'm unsure. the plea bargin came from the original prosecutor, we signed the plea deal with him, and the verbal agreement was for either the prosecution to accept the plea or drop charges. Since they were supposed to accept the plea in january, when january came and went i assumed as per the agreement they'd decided to drop charges. Then at the very end of feburary, i'm indicted on a number of new charges (originally it was only one felony charge, and that was all) when we went to court in march my lawyer was still confident that they'd still accept the original plea he'd worked out with the old prosecutor. Now it's May and they still haven't accepted the plea, nor dropped charges, or even offered some kind of new plea so it looks like they want to take it to court, but i'll know for sure in a few days.

Imran

It doesn't involve drugs, though i was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

One of my biggest problem is that this is in a different jurisdiction than the one i live in. I called many of the local lawyers but they weren't able to give me any advice but one did give me a recommendation for my current lawyer (and a few others that we contacted but just didn't like), in fact my current lawyer has an office that is like an hour and a half from my new house, and the actual courthouse is three hour drive (each way) from my house, so each time I have to appear in court it eats up my entire day

Imran i do have a question that maybe you can answer, how long does an average noncapital criminal trial last? neither side has that much evidence

Elden

lol i've always wanted to visit europe, maybe spiffor could take me in
but nah, no matter what happens i'm not going to flee, plus i'm still optimistic on my chances

Cruddy & Rogan Josh

i guess my thing is that i could care less about my reputation being tarnished than time, money, and freedom...one of my good friends (a super straightlaced kid from the wealthy suburbs of alexandria virginia) who actually works for a subcontractor of the FBI now had a misdemeanor on his record (assault with a missile) because he threw a penny out of his car window and it struck an unmarked police car behind him, so having this wouldn't completely soil my reputation, it's not like i'm pleading guilty to being a murder (it's like criminal criminal mischief or something)...i don't really care that much if i do get a misdemeanor if no jailtime comeswith it. However, if i was actually facing a loss of freedom i'd fight to the bitter end and if the prosecution doesn't cooperate i'll have to fight for my freedom regardless (though with summer school, work and everything, that'd be a major headache). It's alot easier to just move on and accept what's convienent than it is to always stand for principles, or at least that's what i've found in all of this.

[Cruddy]

Well, good luck with it. It's your call and it's not my money being spent on lawyers. I've always taken the path of greatest resistance - not because I enjoyed it, but because it seemed the right, the only thing to do.

If I had a lot to lose that might change my attitude. I would like to think not though... I've lost out on a lot of material gain in my life due to my principles, but I wouldn't change a thing.

[korn469]

Cruddy

thanks! while money is a big concern in this, if it comes down to spending money to maintain my freedom i will...i'd rather be broke for 2 years than be in jail for any lengthy amount of time at all, freedom is worth it trust me it is. My main concern though, is there is the possibility i could lose on at least one of the misdemeanor charges (like i said they do have some circumstantial evidence, and while it's not that strong, i don't want to risk it) if it goes to trial. Without the terms of the plea bargin i could face jail time, i'm not sure if since i'd be a first time offender if i'd get any, but i could, whereas with the plea i know i don't. That was what made me decided to go along with this (along with it being cheaper, and saving me from having to spend a large amount of time on it which i don't have), but the new prosecutor may have other ideas, he could be looking to prove himself, and i could be the first person in his sights. If so, we'll see how well the system works. I am thankful though that in America we do have the Constitution to protect people's rights, it really becomes special when it's your rights that it's protecting.