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Not Getting Sued Over a "My Side of the Story" Video After Case Finish

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gunnergrant

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arizona

I had nothing on my record at all except 2 speeding tickets from when I was 17 (7 years ago), and did not commit any crime in this instance either.

Dec 4, 2015, 4am;
I was woken up by police at my door. My girlfriend at the time had left the house while I was sleeping, and with the help of a sorority sister of hers, bruised up her neck (very lightly) and had gone to a neighbor's house to call the police. I was taken into custody and charged with 3 felonies and 5 misdemeanors. Her story included me choking her, hitting her in the head, tearing her sweater and stopping her from using her cell phone and from leaving the house. No altercation whatsoever had occurred, not even an argument.

I was released on $5,000 that evening and hired a local lawyer which I ended up spending $60,000 on. I was offered a few pleas all of which included permanent felonies and prison time. I declined all of them and was planning on going to trial. 2 days before trial my lawyer negotiated for a final plea. The plea was a class 6 undesignated felony, 30 days in county jail, 3 years probation and 120 community service hours. Looking at the case, I had a very high chance of the Jury finding me not guilty, however the judge I had was notorious for cases like this getting not guilty verdicts from the Jury and still convicting the defendant with the misdemeanor charges. In my case I would have done a lot of jail time for just the misdemeanors. So long story short I accepted the plea, like an "Alfred Plea" basically.

I am by far the most well known person around the aerospace college I went to because I was the lead of the racing team, worked a lot of on campus jobs and also had a good amount of parties at my house. I was well known and well liked. Because of that, word and rumors spread faster than a wildfire, and because of that I really want to set everyone straight on the truth by making a 45 minute video explaining the situation and why I was technically convicted and posting it on my Facebook.

So my question; can I do this while avoiding the possibility of being sued by the girl who framed me for this?

I will be more greatfull than I can put into words for any and all input/advice on this. Thank you
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Just a word - you're going to find quite a few of the same responders here that have already responded "down the street".
 

quincy

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arizona

I had nothing on my record at all except 2 speeding tickets from when I was 17 (7 years ago), and did not commit any crime in this instance either.

... I was woken up by police at my door ... I was taken into custody and charged with 3 felonies and 5 misdemeanors.

I was released on $5,000 that evening and hired a local lawyer which I ended up spending $60,000 on. I was offered a few pleas all of which included permanent felonies and prison time. I declined all of them and was planning on going to trial. 2 days before trial my lawyer negotiated for a final plea. The plea was a class 6 undesignated felony, 30 days in county jail, 3 years probation and 120 community service hours. Looking at the case, I had a very high chance of the Jury finding me not guilty, however the judge I had was notorious for cases like this getting not guilty verdicts from the Jury and still convicting the defendant with the misdemeanor charges. In my case I would have done a lot of jail time for just the misdemeanors. So long story short I accepted the plea, like an "Alfred Plea" basically.

... I really want to set everyone straight on the truth by making a 45 minute video explaining the situation and why I was technically convicted and posting it on my Facebook.

So my question; can I do this while avoiding the possibility of being sued by the girl who framed me for this?

I will be more greatfull than I can put into words for any and all input/advice on this. Thank you
I only post to FreeAdvice so any responses I provide probably will be different from those you receive elsewhere (although any legal conclusions drawn from what you have posted will hopefully be about the same).

Could you please tell me if you actually offered an Alford plea ... or just something "basically like" an Alford plea? An Alford plea is called an Alford plea after Henry Alford, from his case heard by the US Supreme Court in 1970. Here is a link to the US Supreme Court Opinion in North Carolina v. Alford, 400 US 25 (1970): https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/400/25/case.html

When you offer an Alford plea, you are not admitting you are guilty of the crime but you are saying that you believe the State has enough evidence to lead to your conviction on the criminal charges. Before the plea will be accepted by the Court, the State must show it has substantial evidence that you committed the crime. Any defendant's decision to plead guilty must be a voluntary, knowing and intelligent decision based on the State's evidence, this despite the defendant's stated belief he is innocent of the charges. An Alford plea is generally made by a defendant in exchange for lesser charges, after carefully weighing the pros and cons of taking the case to trial.

Here is a case from Arizona's Supreme Court that discusses the Alford plea that you may wish to review as well (State v. Draper): http://law.justia.com/cases/arizona/supreme-court/1989/cr-88-0307-pr-2.html

As to your question about creating a video to post on Facebook that explains the how's and why's of your guilty plea, the first thing you should know is that you can be sued over the content of the video, this whether any lawsuit filed against you has claims that can be supported. Anyone can file a lawsuit, even lawsuits that have no merit.

You make yourself more vulnerable to a lawsuit, however, when what you publish online or elsewhere is not provably true. If you ONLY publish what can be proved true, you have a solid legal defense to any claims of defamation.

Here is a link to Arizona's laws on defamation, from the Digital Media Law Project: http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/arizona-defamation-law

If you create a video about your case, you can use in your video court records to support what you say. What is said in your video must not be taken from court records out of context, however, which can slant the truth of what was said in court. What you say happened in court must be a fair and accurate reporting of what happened in court (which means you should report even those statements that do not portray you in a positive light, if to do otherwise alters the truth).

Anything you use from the court hearings and court documents (public records) should be taken verbatim or paraphrased accurately. If you express opinions on what was said in court, this can be legally risky if your opinions embellish or exaggerate facts or if you include false statements of fact. You need to avoid stating or implying anything false about an individual that can harm that individual.

In your video, you can speak to guilty pleas in general and why some defendants will plead guilty to crimes they have not committed. You can talk about the Alford plea. But again, you should stick to facts and base all that you say on reliable sources.

I think you would be very smart to avoid entirely making any specific statements about your girlfriend. When you make statements about your girlfriend (the victim in the crime of which you were convicted), you not only make yourself look bad, you also open yourself up even wider to a defamation lawsuit.

One problem with your proposed video (and I see more than a few problems), and what you have to remember, is that to the courts (and to the public), you are guilty of the crime. You pled guilty to the crime. You admitted with your guilty plea that the State had evidence enough to support the charges against you.

Although you are free to give reasons publicly why you admitted to committing a crime you did not commit, if you plan to publish anything about your case, it is strongly recommended that you have the video personally reviewed by an attorney in your area prior to publication.
 
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