Tough Decision
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arkansas
I messed up a plea deal on a relatively minor bar fight, and now I am facing a much tougher plea deal and, if I don’t take it, a felony.
My lawyer says it’s of course my decision but he’d swallow hard and take the new deal, and a second lawyer my GF made me check with says I am lucky it isn’t worse.
Just wondering if anybody here can see anything they missed.
—
So I got in a bar scuffle this fall that wasn’t all that bad. Some bruises and scrapes and one guy had a fat lip, but nothing else. But it was caught on the bar’s video camera, and one of those punched was the manager, who under his owner’s direction, wants to press charges.
My lawyer worked out a deal with the prosecuter to reduce it from Class A misdemeanor battery to Class C disorderly conduct with a recommended $165 fine. plus 10 days in jail I could do in the first-offender pod. Could even serve the jail on weekends, though a couple buddies who have done time there said just take some vacation days and take it all in one whack, it’s easier. They said the first-offender pod is pretty uncrowded and mellow during the week. I was still deciding.
But then came the rub. Back 10 years ago when I was 19, in another state, I had a 30-day sentence for misdemeanor marijuana possession. Yeah, back then, some states actually put you in jail for that. Ended up serving 22 days in the county convict camp, paid the $400 fine and the rest was wrote off.
When I was arrested for this bar fight, I thought they had done a background check and didn’t find that on my record, so I didn’t mention it to the lawyer. In fact, when we filled out the preliminary application after the plea bargain, I signed under penalty of perjry that I had never had any criminal conviction other than a traffic infractin in this “or any other jurisdiction.”
Well, they did a more extensive background check, and guess what they found? The crap hit the fan, the prosecuter immediately canceled the tentative plea deal for disorderly conduct on the bar fight, told the lawyer he would go whole hog on the battery offense, with up to a year in jail. He also said he would send the false lie I signed to his bosses for a felony perjury and possible state prison.
My lawyer was pissed that I hadn’t told him, and that I had signed that, but still is trying to help me. He thinks he can get the prosecuter to ignore the false statement, and thinks he’s “probbly” gotten a nod to do that if I plead guilty to battery in the bar fight and agree up front to at least $500 and 120 days – four months! – in jail. It gets even worse: I would no longer be qualified for the first-offender pod and would have to serve it as “misdemeanor robust offender treatment,” which my buddy says is a pretty nasty part of the jail and mainly guys who have plea-bargained down from felonies. Crap!
According to the new deal, I would also be on tough probation for the rest of the first year after I was sentence, with an electronic ankle bracelet keeping me in the county, and out of any place that served alcohol, plus having to do 250 hours community service sent as a laborer to the parks or road departments. Ugh.
I asked my lawyer what happened if we take the bar fight to trial and maybe witnesses not show up. He told me he was sure the manager would, reminded me it is on tape, and also checked about the two cops who responded that night.!Both have good records of showing up in court. And he also said taking it to trial might still get me a felony rap for perjury.
So I messed up pretty good. The girlfriend is pissed too. I had told her about the pot possession 10 years ago, but she didn’t know I had to do time back then. Anyway, she insisted I check with another lawyer. He said he had never heard of perjry being written off so easily, so take it if I could get it. He did say that if I ended up with a felony, because of Department of Corrections crowding I might (or might not) end up serving it in the county jail rather than prison. But even so it would be a lot more time, still no fun, and that way I would still be stuck with a felony rap for life unless I somehow got governors pardon some day. So yeah, he said go for the bargain.
I have seen sometimes these forums jump on guys for messing up, so I will say right now I admit I screwed up bad. You don’t have to rub it in. But from those 22 days in the convict camp back 10 years ago I found me and jail, and me and cons, don’t get along too good. Looking at the ass-end of four months this time, plus an ankle monitor and another 250 hours labor service after that, has me freaking out.
Anybody see anything these two lawyers missed?
I messed up a plea deal on a relatively minor bar fight, and now I am facing a much tougher plea deal and, if I don’t take it, a felony.
My lawyer says it’s of course my decision but he’d swallow hard and take the new deal, and a second lawyer my GF made me check with says I am lucky it isn’t worse.
Just wondering if anybody here can see anything they missed.
—
So I got in a bar scuffle this fall that wasn’t all that bad. Some bruises and scrapes and one guy had a fat lip, but nothing else. But it was caught on the bar’s video camera, and one of those punched was the manager, who under his owner’s direction, wants to press charges.
My lawyer worked out a deal with the prosecuter to reduce it from Class A misdemeanor battery to Class C disorderly conduct with a recommended $165 fine. plus 10 days in jail I could do in the first-offender pod. Could even serve the jail on weekends, though a couple buddies who have done time there said just take some vacation days and take it all in one whack, it’s easier. They said the first-offender pod is pretty uncrowded and mellow during the week. I was still deciding.
But then came the rub. Back 10 years ago when I was 19, in another state, I had a 30-day sentence for misdemeanor marijuana possession. Yeah, back then, some states actually put you in jail for that. Ended up serving 22 days in the county convict camp, paid the $400 fine and the rest was wrote off.
When I was arrested for this bar fight, I thought they had done a background check and didn’t find that on my record, so I didn’t mention it to the lawyer. In fact, when we filled out the preliminary application after the plea bargain, I signed under penalty of perjry that I had never had any criminal conviction other than a traffic infractin in this “or any other jurisdiction.”
Well, they did a more extensive background check, and guess what they found? The crap hit the fan, the prosecuter immediately canceled the tentative plea deal for disorderly conduct on the bar fight, told the lawyer he would go whole hog on the battery offense, with up to a year in jail. He also said he would send the false lie I signed to his bosses for a felony perjury and possible state prison.
My lawyer was pissed that I hadn’t told him, and that I had signed that, but still is trying to help me. He thinks he can get the prosecuter to ignore the false statement, and thinks he’s “probbly” gotten a nod to do that if I plead guilty to battery in the bar fight and agree up front to at least $500 and 120 days – four months! – in jail. It gets even worse: I would no longer be qualified for the first-offender pod and would have to serve it as “misdemeanor robust offender treatment,” which my buddy says is a pretty nasty part of the jail and mainly guys who have plea-bargained down from felonies. Crap!
According to the new deal, I would also be on tough probation for the rest of the first year after I was sentence, with an electronic ankle bracelet keeping me in the county, and out of any place that served alcohol, plus having to do 250 hours community service sent as a laborer to the parks or road departments. Ugh.
I asked my lawyer what happened if we take the bar fight to trial and maybe witnesses not show up. He told me he was sure the manager would, reminded me it is on tape, and also checked about the two cops who responded that night.!Both have good records of showing up in court. And he also said taking it to trial might still get me a felony rap for perjury.
So I messed up pretty good. The girlfriend is pissed too. I had told her about the pot possession 10 years ago, but she didn’t know I had to do time back then. Anyway, she insisted I check with another lawyer. He said he had never heard of perjry being written off so easily, so take it if I could get it. He did say that if I ended up with a felony, because of Department of Corrections crowding I might (or might not) end up serving it in the county jail rather than prison. But even so it would be a lot more time, still no fun, and that way I would still be stuck with a felony rap for life unless I somehow got governors pardon some day. So yeah, he said go for the bargain.
I have seen sometimes these forums jump on guys for messing up, so I will say right now I admit I screwed up bad. You don’t have to rub it in. But from those 22 days in the convict camp back 10 years ago I found me and jail, and me and cons, don’t get along too good. Looking at the ass-end of four months this time, plus an ankle monitor and another 250 hours labor service after that, has me freaking out.
Anybody see anything these two lawyers missed?
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