Beat: went to jail yesterday (with trip report)

[kasey2004]

So there I was a few weeks ago getting really wasted with some buddies that live across the street from a brand new 5 level parking ramp that is being built and we get the great idea to be the first people to piss off the top.

We break in the fence and get up take in the view etc. A couple of the guys steal a wheelbarrow and some caution tape and [censored]. Apparently someone reported us. We were walking back outside of the parking ramp and a cop drives by. The other 3 people being 20 years old sprint away while i was looking the other direction. I just stay back and walk calmly towards the house we were drinking at and the cop flips a u-turn and picks me up. I'm 21 and didn't think much of it. Since they never saw us in the ramp, I figure I'm just fine. The cop makes sure i am 21 and after a few minutes and questions about the ramp which i say nothing about, he lets me go and I think its all good.

Apparently, the next day the cops see the wheelbarrow that was missing in the back yard of the house I was at and they question the guy and he gives up all the names and the entire story. Since I was nice and stayed to talk to the cop and was 21, I figure I am just fine with the whole deal.

So, 3 weeks later (yesterday morning) I wake up and eat some breakfast, throw in a movie and get ready for a poker session. I get a knock on the door and its a [censored] state trooper saying there is a warrant out for my arrest. SWEET. So, I ask what for and where do I go from there ? Do I get a court date ? No, says the cop, you get to go to jail with me. So, I call a friend and he says he will come bail me out since I only have like $50 cash and the rest of my money on poker sites at the moment.

I get to the jail and fill out some forms and [censored] they set my bail at $300 for "criminal trespassing" and the penalty in North Dakota is maximum $300 and/or up to 30 days in jail. I get my orange jumpsuit and really gay looking orange rubber sandals, then give my fingerprints and get a mug shot, which looks like i am on crack since i had hat hair, had not showered yet, was hungover, and wearing the shirt i slept in. Sweet. So, I am about to get booked and my buddy finally gets there, so i don't actually spend any time in a cell.

I now have a court date on July 27th at 9 am.

gg me

Anyone have any thoughts? I do not really know anything about the law. Is it even worth getting a lawyer, since it seems as though other people said my name already for the case? I was thinking I would just go and pay the fine.

[oddjob]

are you guilty? then pay the fine.

[tisthefire]

your friend is way stupid

[NozeCandy]

[ QUOTE ]
are you guilty? then pay the fine.

[/ QUOTE ]
You should be a lawyer!

[kasey2004]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
are you guilty? then pay the fine.

[/ QUOTE ]
You should be a lawyer!

[/ QUOTE ]

haha... Ya I am technically guilty even though there was no witnesses at the scene, but since one of the guys I was with said my name I guess I'm [censored]. 2 of the guys I was with I had actually just met that night and they were not really "friends" and the one that I was good friends with definitely would not have said [censored] to the cops. I am not sure exactly what criminal trespassing is as far as a misdemeanor or felony or whatever or how bad it would look on my record. I did get a DUI when i was 17, but that is the only trouble I have had with the law and that was almost 5 years ago.

[Dire]

Get a lawyer. Request your case be processed through the court's docket as rapidly as possibly. Plead not guilty, ask to speak to a prosecutor. They will drop the case with no noncircumstantial evidence besides "some guy's" story over such a petty charge, if it looks like you're going to fight it. The lawyer should have no problem getting this tossed, and then charging you $500 for it. -EV?

Not a lawyer, just had a similar situation.

[roaaahhh]

why the [censored] is north dakota still apart of the union?

[mbillie1]

[ QUOTE ]
are you guilty? then pay the fine.

[/ QUOTE ]

lol ok.

talk to the ADA, obviously they're not paying jury stipends of $40+/day for 12 people to get a $300 fine out of you. plead it down.

[ianisakson]

depending on the amount of the fine I would probably just talk to the ADA and see if they will knock it down and just pay it. No sense in hiring a lawyer over a couple hundred bucks when the best a lawyer will do for you is get the fine thrown out and you pay them instead.

[AntonHeat]

You don't want this [censored] on a record, I say you fight it for sure.