I recently turned 21 and I must register as a sex offender for a crime I did not commit. I am heavily suffering for this. I am innocent and I had a choice. 18 years in prison, or 6 years of probation basically. I took the plea bargain because my family begged me too. In fact, I was going to take this to trial with the slight hope that the jury may find me innocent. However, even I knew the risk I would have taken and in my honest opinion, if I were the jury and the "victim" insisted I engaged in innapropriate activity with her, I just might agree on guilty. But I did not do this crime. And so I am desperately asking for help. I have lost my career in the national guard. My true pride and honor was serving in the national guard. I was a honor roll student and I am a loving and caring person to all. I do not hate the girl who accused me of this crime. I pray her conscious does not haunt her. Please, I need the advise.

Hi, ali18ninja!

What is the crime that you were accused of doing and for which you were subsequently convicted, please?

Thanks!

Presumption of innocence ends at a conviction... and a plea bargain is essentually a conviction, You picked what was behind door "A" rather than take a chance at what was behind door "B".

You plead guilty... you are not innocent in anyone's eyes at this point except your own.

Guilt is thus assumed. Its upon you to prove you were actually innocent... which will be next to impossible since you plead guilty to doing it. You can't have it both ways.

You can appeal a trial conviction... you generally can't appeal a guilty plea, and a plea bargain which is what you did.

We are supposed to be innocent until PROVEN guilty. When you cop a plea, you plead guilty, thus the conviction. IF you were truly innocent you should have gone to trial to prove your innocence.

You do not appear to speak/write English well - but you are in the National Guard (which is in the US)?

This "story" is not ringing true to me.

My spidey senses are tingling for whatever reason.

I was accused of criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the 3rd degree. My neighbor would let me babysit her daughter every once in a while and I saw her as a sister. Well she was 13 and I noticed she was already changing. She was developing feelings of attraction I guess you could say. Well I cut the whole thing off and it angered them. One day I noticed her friend walking home alone from school and I offered a ride. Of course this was stupid on my part but I had no intention of doing anything stupid with this girl. I was later arrested for those charges of which I knew nothing about. This "little" girl apparently had 5 boyfriends at the time and a lady witnessed her making out in the back seat of a car. The reason they accused me of this crime was because my car was red and I fit the description. I knew the risk of going to trial. I've done research on trial cases like this. For those ignorant people who believe our justice system is really just, our justice system is corrupt. Prosecutors don't care about the truth as long as they can get a conviction. I learned that the hard way. I too believed all people who are convicted truly must have been guilty. But thousands of people take pleas or are wrongfully convicted of a crime they did not commit. Even my lawyer told me the risk was too high and in his opinion, the plea would be a better option.

If you have a legal question, it's been answered - you entered a guilty plea and I'm sure the Judge explained what that meant.

If you have a "how do I live with this" question it belongs on the mental health or some other board.

If you did do it you shouldn't have confessed to doing it. Which is precisely what you did when you plead guilty and took a plea bargain.

Sorry but that's the LAST crime I would ever cop a plea to if I didn't do it.

A plea deal is simply a case of, We know you did it, and have proof of it, you know you did it... if you save us the trouble and cost of a trial we will go easy on you, if you want to make a big deal then the penalty will be higher. If the proof wasn't there they wouldn't have a case, there wouldn't have been an indictment... and you certainly would not have been offered a plea deal... and your lawyer would not have recommended the plea if there was no evidence.

Its NOT anything like copping a plea about bumping a car in the parking lot.

You had a supposed choice of 6 months probation or 18 years in prison? Sorry, I'm not buying this farm one iota. Something's definitely wrong with this picture.

You've made your choice and now you must live with your consequences that you chose.

As I said in #5 - spidey senses tingling!

I know enough about the law now than I ever did and I know for a fact that sex crimes don't need physical evidence. Simple allegations are all that is needed. And the plea bargain was six months of probation. The actual charges I was facing could have left me with 18 years max in prison. Of course I was afraid and took the plea bargain. You speak as if it were easy to take this to trial. Im not prepared to go to prison for something I didn't do. Im young and inexperienced. And if I took this to trial, I might very well end up in prison and 20 years down the road, maybe just maybe, I would be reimbursed for the time I served but for what? I already spent my life behind bars what could I want with all that money? We will all answer to a judge much more greater than the one who sentenced me. I know what I didn't do. So does he.

From the legal side, if they were that willing to offer probation, then most likely they did not have much of a case, since on sex offenders they can often do 1 or 2 years in prison as the plea.

Plus often about 1/2 though the trial is where the better plea bargains happen if they appear not to have much of a case.

But personally you live with it a lot better knowing you did not do it than living knowing you did it and can not undo it. So you can go to sleep at night with a clear conscience.

That was the answer I was looking for. Thank you Fr_Chuck. It's difficult to look at it that way when you have to live with it. I know I did not do this. As long as I know this at least I don't have to punish myself. I have heard of two innocent men who have made headlines nationwide one of which served 18 and a half years in prison for multiple crimes he did not do. Luckily, I am not in that situation and I can at least move on with my life. Some day I will enjoy my life and my freedom.

I personally do not have any confidence in the justice system, they are so quick to convict people. I am going through the same thing with my boyfriend in which I love very much, he is really a great guy that I trust completely, yes his lawyer said it would be best for him to take a plea than chance going to trial, convinced him that he may have an all female jury, and most likely they would come in with their minds made up, this has been the hardest thing to go through, but 5 years probation compared to 15 years in prison sounds so much better. So he took the 5 years probation, I can't really say which was better because he is now able to be at home instead of behind bars but yet his job is on the line and he had to register as a sex offender. That will be with him for the rest of his life, yes, I believe the fear of your life being in complete strangers hands can take a toll on a person and their judgement, I've seen it first hand. I pray that this girl when she see's the impact that has been made on my boyfriends life, that she will come clean and stop worrying about her mother going to jail for false statements or accusations.

What ended up happening in your case?