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-   -   New Charges? (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=418301)

  • Nov 22, 2009, 09:40 AM
    googlebomb32
    New Charges?
    Say you reach a plea agreement from a felony to a misdomenor and you enter a guilty plea to the misdomenor, get probation and are awaiting sentencing. Can they file additional charges stemming from the original arrest? Or is the case closed? How do you know if it is really over?
  • Nov 22, 2009, 10:28 AM
    excon

    Hello g:

    Was there a written plea agreement?? If you have relief, that's where you'd find it... Most times, no. But, your attorney should have prepared one.

    It IS unusual, however. What does your lawyer say about it. He certainly could (and SHOULD) argue that the disposition you just did was final.

    excon
  • Nov 22, 2009, 10:50 AM
    googlebomb32
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by excon View Post
    Hello g:

    Was there a written plea agreement??? If you have relief, that's where you'd find it... Most times, no. But, your attorney should have prepared one.

    It IS unusual, however. What does your lawyer say about it. He certainly could (and SHOULD) argue that the disposition you just did was final.

    excon

    Thanks for taking the time excon.

    Yes, there was a written agreement and singed by both parties and I pled guilty to the reduced charge at my first formal hearing, the arrignment. They came to an agreement rather quickly. The agreement had the terms of the sentenece (3 years straight probation) and a few other things. There wasn't anything in there that said that the DA would pursue to file additional charges or would not. Kind of a grey area. I'm thinking it's final.

    So you say it's unusual for them to continue investigating? It doesn't seem to make sense to me, wouldn't they just lump all the charges and THEN come up with a plea bargin if they felt they wanted to? I'm thinking if they wanted to press more charges they wouldn't have let me resolve it at the arraignment and they would have told my lawyer charges still pending, so in that case I would have pled not guilty or whatever. Very confused.
  • Nov 22, 2009, 11:00 AM
    excon
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by googlebomb32 View Post
    Very confused.

    Hello again, g:

    I agree... Your lawyer should have the answer... Let me know what he says.

    excon
  • Nov 22, 2009, 11:10 AM
    Fr_Chuck

    It is almost never heard of, now lets say you were pleading guilty to assult and then the man dies, of course they would.

    Or lets say you plead guity to theft and they originally thought all that was taken was 3000 dollars but it turned out after they checked it was 300,000 I am sure they may change or add charges. But again, once a formal plea is agreed to, for the DA to go back on their work, is almost unheard of, it takes the trust out of making a deal.a

    If you will tell us the original charges, what the actual crime was, what charge the plea for for and what the additional charges are, it may make some sense.

    Also of course the judge is not required at sentencing to follow what they plea agreement was, again almost never happens, but the judge can throw the plea out and do his own sentence
  • Nov 22, 2009, 11:33 AM
    googlebomb32
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck View Post
    It is almost never heard of, now lets say you were pleading guilty to assult and then the man dies, of course they would.

    Or lets say you plead guity to theft and they orginally thought all that was taken was 3000 dollars but it turned out after they checked it was 300,000 I am sure they may change or add charges. But again, once a formal plea is agreed to, for the DA to go back on thier work, is almost unheard of, it takes the trust out of making a deal.a

    If you will tell us the orginal charges, what the actual crime was, what charge the plea for for and what the additional charges are, it may make some sense.

    Also of course the judge is not required at sentencing to follow what they plea agreement was, again almost never happens, but the judge can throw the plea out and do his own sentence

    I'd rather not get into the charge since this is a public forum. Just wanted to know what can or could happen in the event of, just a general question. No offense, I know it makes it harder for you to answer my questions. So without giving you that info, the basic question is that they can break the agreement and file more charges but it is pretty rare?
  • Nov 22, 2009, 12:22 PM
    Fr_Chuck

    Yep that is it, they would have to had found some more very serious info, or some DA or public pressure would have had to be very bad.

    For example if you had done the crime and had a plea but the family were on TV and all of the public wanted to hang you
  • Nov 22, 2009, 02:30 PM
    excon
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by googlebomb32 View Post
    So without giving you that info, the basic question is that they can break the agreement and file more charges but it is pretty rare?

    Hello again, g:

    They can NOT break the agreement if the agreement said that no other charges stemming from the event will be filed.

    The agreement SHOULD say that.

    excon
  • Nov 22, 2009, 02:58 PM
    googlebomb32
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by excon View Post
    Hello again, g:

    They can NOT break the agreement if the agreement said that no other charges stemming from the event will be filed.

    The agreement SHOULD say that.

    excon

    The agreement didn't say anything about it. I guess that means they would have to break the agreement if they wanted to file more charges. Like I said, there was nothing about charges and my lawyer didn't say that there were charges pending.

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