Understanding Options For Negotiating Misdemeanor Charges

Ithaca, NY is a collegetown located almost four hours from New York City. Sometimes student behavior results in criminal charges. Some might call it hijinks (merrymaking), or shenanigans (according to Wikipeida: Shenanigans are trickery, mischief, or underhanded actions), or as I call it "what were they thinking?" What often seems like a good idea at 3:00AM makes no sense in the light of morning.

Yeah Ithaca College and Cornell University students sometimes unwind from the stress of studies in interesting ways. In my youth, I was a fraternity member. So when things happen, as they often do, at the wee hours of morning, when brain cells are not fully engaged students wake up with various criminal charges.

These students are usually facing misdemeanor charges. A criminal conviction would stay on their permanent record forever. New York State unfortunately does not have an expungement statute. Many of these first time offenders just made a bad decision and/or judgement call. Depending upon the facts and circumstances of the incident, for first timers (to the Court system) these types of charges can usually be negotiated to a non-criminal disposition or a dismissal.

There are a few different options for negotiating and thus mitigating the misdemeanor to something less harmful. Barring prior client criminal history or other extenuating circumstances of the crime charged the Court and the Prosecutor will usually seek an amicable resolution option.

One such option is an ACD. An ACD is a diversionary disposition. It is a Court Adjournment of the matter (for 6 months) in Contemplation of Dismissal. In other words, if the offender does not get into any further trouble with the law over that six month time period the charges will be dismissed by the Court. An ACD is almost as good as an outright dismissal of the charges, your only condition being avoidance police involvement in your life over the specified time period.

If the facts and circumstances of the offense charge involve more serious allegations then the Prosecution and the Court will not usually agree to an ACD. The charges may still be at the misdemeanor level of crime, but they may involve violence, or a pattern of drug abuse, or harm to people or property. These cases are naturally dealt with more harshly by the prosecutors and the Court. Their concern for the general public is understandable.

In these situations a second possible option is a negotiated plea to Disorderly Conduct. Commonly called a "Discon" in criminal Court parlance. Disorderly conduct is not a crime, it is considered under the Penal Law to be a Violation.

Disorderly conduct covers a wide range of unlawful conduct, behavior, and activities.

Disorderly Conduct, Under Penal Law 240.20, has many subdivisions. According to the Penal Law, a person is guilty of this violation when, "with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof," a person does one of the following:

(1) Engages in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening behavior;
(2) Makes unreasonable noise;
(3) Uses obscene or abusive language or obscene gestures in a public place;
(4) Disturbs a lawful assembly or meeting of persons without any lawful authority;
(5) Obstructs vehicular or pedestrian traffic;
(6) Congregates with others in a public place and refuses to comply with police requests;
(7) Creates a hazardous condition or physically offensive condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose.

What are the advantages to a plea to Disorderly Conduct (a violation) versus a plea to a Criminal Misdemeanor?

1. A Violation is not considered a criminal disposition or conviction. It is a non-criminal disposition.

2. A person who is convicted, by plea or trial, of a violation is entitled to have the record sealed.

3. A person who is convicted, by plea or trial, of a violation is entitled to have their fingerprints and any photographs (mug shots) returned.

4. Disorderly conduct is a "non-printable" charge for which fingerprints are not required.

5. A person who is convicted of a violation is entitled to have that statewide record kept confidential. In other words, no statewide search by the Office of Court Administration of electronic records can be disseminated to the public of a Violation once it is sealed.

Note however that the actual paper records kept in a City or Town's Criminal Court are not sealed, and the public does have access to the physical record in the clerk's office. Someone could physically go to that particular City, Town, or Village Court and find your records.

A Disorderly Conduct plea can be a practical resolution and compromise to having a trial. Trials always involve a degree of risk. The risk of losing at trial (and being found guilty of a misdemeanor) usually far outweigh the benefits of pleaing to a violation.

For the all following reasons, when prosecutors and defense lawyers negotiate pleas to violations it helps clients avoid the lifetime consequences of a conviction for a crime that they were alleged to have committed.

Larry Newman, Ithaca DWI Lawyer
http://www.ithacadwi.com
http://ithacadwi.blogspot.com
607-229-5184

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Lawrence Newman - EzineArticles Expert Author

How to Beat a Speeding Ticket - Jurisdiction and Venue

I must admit, I am a Seattle traffic attorney, so for a living I work to fight for people to beat their Seattle traffic tickets. And I've got a bunch of tricks up my sleeve in the way of information and skill I've learned over the years in how to deal with traffic tickets. Although I must admit I don't get every traffic ticket reduced or dismissed that I see, I do take care of a lot of them.

But today I'm here for a different reason. I'm here to help you fight your own traffic ticket by letting you in on one of the aces up my sleeve, if you will. These "aces" are called jurisdiction and venue. Before I get into how they can help you with your traffic citation, let me explain what they are. Jurisdiction is the power of a court to make a decision in your case. Without jurisdiction a court would not be able to make a ruling or decide your case. Venue is like jurisdiction in some ways, but is even less complicated than that. Venue is simply the place where your case must be heard. If the jurisdiction and venue are improper, the case must be dismissed, as it can't be resolved in the court you are in. Let me caution, before you read this, that you should consult an attorney before you fight your own case. There are exceptions to every rule and you don't want to go in guns a blazing relying on this information and lose because you didn't know something (also a good reason to hire a traffic attorney to help you).

An example would probably help you give you an idea when this defense might come in handy. And it most often works in metropolitan areas, though it may work in rural areas under the right circumstances. Let's say you are driving around in Seattle, Washington. You think you are minding the traffic laws, but are surprised when a state trooper pulls you over and cites you for speeding. If you don't know, Seattle is a big city surrounded by a bunch of smaller cities. Cities with names like Bellevue, Kirkland, Edmonds, Federal Way, and on and on. Let's say, for this example, that you were on your way to Bellevue when you were pulled over, and you were almost there. In fact, you think when the trooper saw you speeding you were actually in Seattle but when he pulled you over and ticketed you you were in Bellevue. And what's more, because he's a state trooper he cited you with a state traffic violation instead of a city one, and he sent you to Bellevue city court for the citation.

In this case, you may have two valid defenses: one for improper venue and one for improper jurisdiction. The venue defense is based on the fact that the violation occurred in Seattle but is being resolved in Bellevue - the wrong venue. The jurisdiction defense is based on the rule that city judges, usually can't hear state citations (it is important to check with an attorney on this because there are exceptions). And voila, you may have just beaten your Seattle traffic ticket through improper venue and improper jurisdiction. But again, before you try this, consult a traffic ticket attorney. They'll usually take the time to tell you if you are right or not, saving you some time, and possibly, embarrassment.

If you are in the area and need a Seattle traffic attorney or Bellevue traffic attorney, please call CMS Law Firm LLC today. We can help you fight your Seattle area traffic citations.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christopher_Small

Federal Criminal Defense Lawyers: How We Doin’?

Today I saw “Edwin” in court. Edwin is a longtime criminal defense lawyer, a former assistant federal PD, and one of my criminal trial advocacy professors at University of Houston law school.

Edwin represented a codefendant in my first jury trial 12 years ago, and his client’s testimony sent my client to prison for 9 years on a federal bank robbery beef. I was reminiscing with Edwin about how his client sold mine up the river when he shook his head and said, “bank robbery cases can’t be won.”

We talked some more, and I told him how the Government had, after my client refused to plead guilty to misprision, dismissed a ten-kilos-and-two-guns case on the eve of trial a couple of months ago. Again Edwin shook his head and said, “that never happens. They never dismiss.”

Now, Edwin is not some assclown who thinks federal court is a good place to turn a quick buck by running every defendant down to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He’s a smart, talented guy with a lot of federal criminal defense experience. But he was telling me, in effect, “everyone gets convicted.”

I told Edwin about the case manager for one of our local magistrate judges trying to recruit me, as a Spanish-speaking lawyer, to handle cases on the judge’s special illegal-reentry docket. I had bowed out when it was explained to me that, at the first court appearance, “you waive the conflict of interest because the judge is married to the acting U.S. Attorney.” It had occurred to me that there are probably lawyers willing to sign on to a gig that included waiving their clients’ rights in every case as a matter of course.

We seguéd into a discussion of the federal criminal defense bar. I told Edwin that I know there are lawyers who plead their clients out to federal charges without seriously evaluating the evidence or the defenses. He denied that that happens. I told him that I know there are such lawyers because their clients keep coming to me to try to pull their fat out of the fire after they’ve run down to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. I gave Edwin the names of a couple of Houston lawyers who I know to be habitual offenders, and he didn’t know them.

Edwin thinks the cases that need to be pled are being pled, and the cases that need to be tried are being tried. Edwin thinks criminal defense lawyers in federal court do a good job of protecting their clients’ rights and fighting everything that should be fought.

I don’t. I think that too many lawyers have the “everybody gets convicted anyway”, and that as a result they don’t look closely enough at the evidence and the possible defenses in every case. I think more cases need to be set for trial, more sentencing memoranda need to be filed and, generally, the Government needs to be forced to fight harder to put human beings in boxes.

What do you think? Which of us is right? As a group, how are we—lawyers representing the accused in federal court—doing?
article source : http://bennettandbennett.com/blog/2009/06/federal-criminal-defense-lawyers.html

Criminal Defense is Not Cut and Dry

The television is full of stories about the criminal investigations into the lives of the victims of crimes. The investigators that build cases for the prosecution in these crime dramas are concerned about finding the right person that committed the crime and passing on the evidence to the prosecuting attorneys for the case. Many the stories on network television are taken from the headlines and dramatized for the viewing audience. Unlike most criminal investigations the stories on television are conveniently wrapped up in matter of 45 to 50 minutes, while in the real world the police officers and detectives that work to put criminals behind bars sometimes miss crucial evidence that would prove their alleged assailants innocence.

Unlike television the police and prosecution sometimes make mistakes and attempt to put the wrong people in prison. Thankfully the American justice system provides for those that are charged with a crime by allowing them to retain a defense attorney that works to discredit the evidence against the defendant and free them from the allegations that are made against them. Whether they are guilty of the crimes for which they are detained or not the defendant is guaranteed the constitutional right to a fair trail and be represented by a defense attorney that will work to have the charges against them dropped or their sentence made more lenient should they be found guilty by a court of law.

Unlike television the real world of criminal defense can be a treacherous place to navigate for those that are wrongfully accused of crimes that they did not commit and it is up to them to retain defense council to prove their innocence in a court of law.

Legal Internet Solutions Incorporated, Marc Neff (http://www.nefflawoffices.com) limits its practice to federal and state criminal defense and related matters, including grand jury investigations, parole matters, and forfeiture cases. Mr. Neff defends individuals and corporations in state and federal courts, at the trial and appellate levels. He has handled a wide variety of criminal cases including white collar crimes, drug distribution, money laundering, RICO, bank fraud, mail fraud, insurance fraud, criminal tax offenses, environmental crimes and serious crimes of violence such as murder and aggravated assault. Experience also includes asset forfeiture, sentencing guideline and post conviction matters. Billings Farnsworth is a freelance writer.

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Top Criminal Defense Attorneys

Criminal defense attorneys are specialists in managing criminal cases of various scopes. These are lawyers whose vocation is established on supplying vital services to the individuals who are accused as criminal by the court of law. The fundamental intention of acquiring the service of a criminal defense attorney is that, this lawyer will dispute the positions with respect to numerous laws and sections produced to serve the people in opposition to the criminal cases. Criminal lawyers are classified under diverse classifications and sections.

Individuals, when they are arrested for some criminal act such as rape, murder, sex crimes, theft, kidnapping, domestic violence, hit and run and numerous other criminal cases, they will be progressed under the court of law. With such case, the criminal defense attorney will argue for the criminal and supply them assistance. Criminal attorneys supply more vital services to the citizens around the globe. These lawyers are thought to be more essential and important and also draw more demand among the populace.

These days, top criminal defense attorneys are necessary in extra numbers, since crimes have increased in great amount. The cost concern paid for every attorney will differ as per the fame, popularity and successfulness created for the individual. These lawyers offer their help to the public for a affordable price to allow them to not be affronted by the court exclusive of any illegal behavior. There are cases were individuals might be arrested for non-performing of illegal act.

In these cases, the criminal defense attorney will supply assistance to the people by attending the case for them in court and make the case and facilitate the people to emerge from the case. These days, defense attorneys are necessary for each and every crime done by people. A criminal lawyer is different than other professionals. These lawyers specialize in inspecting , analyzing, and examining the criminal cases they undertake. These lawyers can argue for either the defendant or for the plaintiff.

As indicated by the lawyer notice and demand of the people, a criminal lawyer goes before his functionality in the court. The attributes of each criminal lawyer vary from person to person according to their state and county. Criminal lawyers have a big responsibility. The participation of criminal defense lawyer might offer negative or positive result for the case. These lawyers afford their assistance as individuals, or in a team or group. The argument of each criminal lawyer could vary according to their laws and statutes of the state court.

For more information about top criminal defense attorneys, try visiting http://criminaldefenselawyersite.com - a criminal defense website where you can also find information about criminal defense dui, the best criminal defense attorneys, criminal law, and more.

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