How to Avoid the Misdemeanor Trap, Part One
like a Chinese finger trap but more mentally painful
“You can beat the case, but you can’t beat the ride.”
Legal cases can take YEARS to play out. It’s one of the reasons appointing a special counsel is devious. “Well, we need to be thorough, so who KNOWS how long this investigation can take.” You don’t want to elect someone under investigation, do you comrade?”
There’s an insidious way prosecutors get you stuck in the system outside of having the last name Trump or Biden -
The Misdemeanor Trap
Prosecutors also call this “getting them on paper”. Once you are in the system, it can be tough to escape.
How the Misdemeanor Trap Works
Example: you agree to supervision on a battery charge. You were drunk and watching the new Slap show. Jimmy the bartender refused to serve you, so you slapped him. Happens to the best of us.
(By Andrius Petrucenia - https://www.flickr.com/photos/andriux_uk_events/18781808535/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86228610)
You get offered 12 months’ supervision. “WOW, that’s NOTHING. A YEAR?!? I can avoid trouble for a year.”
There are conditions as part of the supervision, one of them is not drinking or doing illegal drugs.
“That’s easy, I wanted to stop drinking anyhow!”
Fast forward - July 4, 2023
Police come to a party you are at due to a noise complaint. Prior to them arriving you decided MERICA, I’m having a cold one…or seven!
When the police come, they start talking to people, including you. They take your information and mention in their report you smelled of alcohol.
Another part of your supervision was reporting any police contact, so you let probation know ‘hey, I’m on supervision, but wanted to know police came to a party I was at on the 4th of July. Nothing happened, I wasn’t arrested, just FYI.’
Probation says ‘ok, thank you for being honest.’ They take a look at the report. Huh, says police smelled alcohol on your breath. Let’s look at the conditions of your supervision…
The next thing you know, you receive a piece of paper in the mail.
It is a petition to revoke your supervision with a court date.
WHAT?!?
That’s right…you are now facing RE-SENTENCING based on violating a condition of your supervision.
Reasons this sucks:
You are back in the court system INDEFINITELY! That’s right, your supervision for twelve months is now tolled until the petition is resolved (state dependent but pretty sure this is close to standard).
You need a lawyer again! Just another $3k-$4k to resolve your petition, friend.
You are now on double secret probation:
You have a pending case that can INCREASE your former sentence. Better not get any more charges while pending on pending charges!
Congrats, you are now OFFICIALLY in the Misdemeanor trap.
You can’t even get a SPEEDING ticket without a dickhead prosecutor using that in aggravation.
“Bro picked up a battery, drank when he was not supposed to, NOW cannot even follow BASIC traffic laws!??”
Wow Kong, that sounds awful. Wat do?
A few tips to avoid ever being in this situation:
FIRST: Figure out if there is a case against you. Normally there’s a no contact put in place, but sometimes it’ll be a ‘no unlawful contact’. What does no unlawful contact mean? No one knows, just don’t get police called on you.
No unlawful contact should be a large GO sign for buttering up the victim, assuming you know them. Don’t talk about your case, but eventually…find a way to see through friends or family if they would testify. Odds are they will not.
Most prosecutors will not force someone to testify - it is bad policy, makes the state look mean and BIG GUBMINTY. If a victim does not want to move forward, they should have that right.
SECOND: If in the trap, KNOW YOUR CONDITIONS! I cannot tell you how many no contact violations I have used to revoke someone’s supervision or probation. GET CREATIVE or LEAVE THE PERSON ALONE.
THIRD: Tell your lawyer your deal breakers. If there’s one condition you hate (say no drinking), have them ask the prosecutor to make it not being drunk or just no illicit drugs. There’s a good chance the prosecutor will agree.
TL:DL try to avoid getting arrested. If you do, know that the fight continues WELL PAST sentencing.
Coming at some point: Part two - the most common misdemeanors that lead to the trap.
Thank you for reading! Let me know if you have questions or comments.
If you enjoyed, please share this post!
Namaste,
Kong
Interesting. Thx. My lawyer says if I get pulled over to never do the drunk test and always agree to blow into the tube. Is this correct?