What is the name of your state? California
Hi everyone. I have a really strange situation. My husband is a Lt in the USAF. On July 2 of this year, he lit a bottle rocket in our back yard. The Fire Marshal happened to be driving by at the exact moment the rocket went off. Bottle rockets are illiegal in CA, in case you're wondering. Our backyard was immediately raided by a fire marshal and 6 police officers who looked like they were armed for a drug bust.
I felt it was a bit much for the situation, but the fire marshal was quite eager to write up a felony for the confiscated fire works. After pleading with them, and revealing that he was in the millitary, the marshal, a former colonel, sympathized and wrote up some type of misdemeanor citation for him to appear in court on September 9th. The Fire Marshal also said he felt confident that this could be plea bargained down to an infraction, and therefore, have no impact on my husband's career.
My husband's lawyer just contacted us two days ago, and revealed that California is making examples of people for illegal firworks posession this year. The best he managed to do was get a 1600 dollar fine, a one year internal probation, and a misdemeanor that will be strickened from the record in one year. Now, I'm originally from Alabama, so this all seems quite asinine to me... that a state court could be so cruel. My husband is literally freaking out. He's the twitchy nervous type. Our lawyer told us that this midemanor was a minor thing and would be completely erased in one year. Not only that, but he also said it should be contained within the county. It seems logical to me that the Air Force should be able to deduce the BS of this charge and overlook it, but my husband seems to be convinced that his career is destroyed, that he will never exceed the rank of Lt, and that he will never get a top secret clearance.
Are things really this bad? Has my husband's life just been destroyed because of a lousy, stupid bottle rocket, or is he overeacting. I hope the latter is the case. If we are indeed in trouble, is there anything he can do?
Thank You
Hi everyone. I have a really strange situation. My husband is a Lt in the USAF. On July 2 of this year, he lit a bottle rocket in our back yard. The Fire Marshal happened to be driving by at the exact moment the rocket went off. Bottle rockets are illiegal in CA, in case you're wondering. Our backyard was immediately raided by a fire marshal and 6 police officers who looked like they were armed for a drug bust.
I felt it was a bit much for the situation, but the fire marshal was quite eager to write up a felony for the confiscated fire works. After pleading with them, and revealing that he was in the millitary, the marshal, a former colonel, sympathized and wrote up some type of misdemeanor citation for him to appear in court on September 9th. The Fire Marshal also said he felt confident that this could be plea bargained down to an infraction, and therefore, have no impact on my husband's career.
My husband's lawyer just contacted us two days ago, and revealed that California is making examples of people for illegal firworks posession this year. The best he managed to do was get a 1600 dollar fine, a one year internal probation, and a misdemeanor that will be strickened from the record in one year. Now, I'm originally from Alabama, so this all seems quite asinine to me... that a state court could be so cruel. My husband is literally freaking out. He's the twitchy nervous type. Our lawyer told us that this midemanor was a minor thing and would be completely erased in one year. Not only that, but he also said it should be contained within the county. It seems logical to me that the Air Force should be able to deduce the BS of this charge and overlook it, but my husband seems to be convinced that his career is destroyed, that he will never exceed the rank of Lt, and that he will never get a top secret clearance.
Are things really this bad? Has my husband's life just been destroyed because of a lousy, stupid bottle rocket, or is he overeacting. I hope the latter is the case. If we are indeed in trouble, is there anything he can do?
Thank You