I am an 18yo college freshman, about 2 months ago me and my friends did some dumb shit. We went to a parking lot at around midnight and were driving golf balls into the woods, I shanked one and broke a massive window. Basically, we found out they had our license plate numbers - our other friend heard on his police scanner. So, the next day we went to the building and asked if we could pay for it and have no charges, they said they were cool with that but it would be in the DA's hands now.
Is this the type of thing that will fuck me up when I'm looking for a job? I'm 75% sure I will have a criminal history because of this.
BTW, None of us have lawyers; it is only a HEARING, not a formal trial. I am going to talk to a friend of my dads who is a defense attorney in my district.
i'm NO* lawyer but pretty sure that sounds like nothing... can probably plead it down to a fine or something **NOT LEGAL ADVICE*****
Haha, I hope not a fine this thing is already costing me 2 grand...
I'm really not too worried about what's going to happen at the hearing, I'm just scared potential employers will think I'm a hoodrat and ding me for this.
I suppose you guys won't be able to offer input once I find out what it's going to be.
The ironic thing is that I played high school GOLF with the DA's son... gonna shoot him a text message
Is that even illegal? It's like me kicking a football through my neighbors window as a kid and then my parents paying for it.
you think an investment bank is gong to ding you for a golf accident? hahahaha that's fratty as hell. they'll probably hire you for it.
-trespassing -damage over $250 the one we have to avoid is malicious intent to damage private property, i don't think they will say it was malicious
I guess I also made this sound a little soft. They had video of us and we were aimed almost straight at the building.
To avoid "malicious intent to damage private property" just tell the judge your handicap.
If your a 10 or better I'm sure he'll assume you purposely hit the window.
your best three options are, in order:
deferred prosecution pretrial diversion adjudication withheld
you should talk about all of these options with the d.a.
Don't worry champ. I did something really similar first year. I hoped a fence at a football game, busted whole nine yards. My recored is sealed so I don't have to tell anyone. Before it was sealed I told my bosses the story before they ran the background check & they all thought it was funny. Talk to your attorney friend & everything should be good.
NOT LEGAL ADVICE
See if something like a civil compromise is an option for you in your state. It's essentially an affidavit that says "He compensated me for the crime, and I think it's adequate, I'm not going to press charges now". While it doesn't stop the DA from pressing charges (and with no complaining witness they probably won't make the case, but whatever) but the judge takes that stuff into account at sentencing, if there's a plea.
Do NOT talk to the prosecutor without your lawyer present. EVER. Retain counsel ASAP and if the DA comes to you for anything, tell him/her "I'm represented by counsel, all questions go through him/her".
Did you contact the owner of the window before the DA/Law Enforcement informed/contacted you?
If so I don't think it will be a big deal since you can obviously claim it was harmless and when you realized you damaged someones property you showed up the next day to pay for it and take responsibility. So really, your only offense is trespassing. I can't imagine a judge not dismissing this once you've paid for the window and with a statement from the "victim" that you contacted them ASAP to take responsibility even before and law enforcement contacted you.
Unless you're leaving something out/changing the story, which I think you may be.
the only other stuff i left out was that the security called the cops before the window was broken. right as the glass shattered we piled in the kids car and left, we saw a cop driving in the other side of the lot (somehow he didn't pursue us)
i don't think i am leaving anything out that is imperative to this case.. maybe after the smoke clears i can tell the full story in a humorous light, but trust me there is nothing that the DA knows that you guys don't at this point
Tell them to get a life, seriously. You broke a window playing golf and they're coming after you ?
DA's have gone after people for much less.
listening to people give legal advice on an internet forum is painful.
What college are you going to Harvard?
See if you can do some sort of pre-trial intervention
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