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kailanPI · Apr 16, 2010, 02:25 PM

When my husband was 18 he was at a family bbq when his Uncle and some of the Uncle's friends decided to do a beer run. On their way out they threatened to kill the empolyees if they called the cops. The employee did call the cops and a witness followed them to the Uncles house which was just a few blocks from the store. Anyway, the cops showed up and everyone invloved took off. Hopped the fence in the back. Everyone accept my husband. Of course he thought since he didn't do it he would just stay back at the house. Well, he should have ran like he was GUILTY!! My husband, his Uncle around the same height 6'3ish same build. Needless to say, my husband was arrested, put in a line up and picked out by a witness. He went to court and continued to claim his innocence. After about a year of this the public defender advised him that pleading guilty would be the best and easiest thing to do. He said that because a witness pointed him out it would be hard to convince a jury, he also said that because the guys that actually did it threatened to kill that if it went to court my husband would be charged with a felony and if he plead guilty they would do him a favor and drop it to a misdemeanor. So that was what he did, rember he was just out of high school and trusted the public offender had his best interest in mind. My husbands Uncle is such a jerk and even though everyone in the family pleaded with him to turn himself in he wouldn't do it. Well, this uncle is now in prison for a long list of things. Is there anything we could do to reverse this. Oh and there is also a video tape. Anyone who saw would know it was not my husband! We have been denied living in certain areas because my husband has theft on his record. My husband is a political science major at the U of U and I'm just afraid when he gets into a career this thing he did not do will be there to haunt us. Can someone please help with advice? We don't know what to do?

JudyKayTee · Apr 16, 2010, 02:27 PM

Your husband entered a guilty plea. I see no means of changing that.

You can always consult with an Attorney to have this removed from his record but that process depends on the State and, again, when a person pleads guilty the person says... "I did it."

I realize why (from your explanation) but it would have been better if he had been found guilty (if that had to be).

kailanPI · Apr 16, 2010, 02:36 PM

Thanks for the info. I guess I was hoping to hear we could hire a lawyer and reverse this:(

JudyKayTee · Apr 16, 2010, 02:43 PM

You might be able to - but with a guilty plea it's difficult and expensive.

Didn't anyone explain the results of a guilty plea?

twinkiedooter · Apr 16, 2010, 03:05 PM

If your state allows expungement talk to an attorney about this.

Once you plead guilty - you're guilty even if you are innocent of the crime and just caved in to speed things along.

Fr_Chuck · Apr 16, 2010, 05:10 PM

His attorney gave him normal standard advice, obviously he did not want to turn his Uncle in, that would have been the real thing to do at the time, give uncle name and have a lot of other family testify it was uncle.

But it is very hard to over turn, merely being innocent is not a reason to get it over turned

JudyKayTee · Apr 16, 2010, 05:30 PM

And with a guilty plea, at least in NY, you are told over and over that this is it - no thinking it over and changing your mind.

rainacidbeer · Apr 19, 2010, 05:12 PM

You can never know for sure,it sucks but the legal aide could have been right that winning at trail would have been hard,a misdemeanor is better then a felony. There probably was a better way to handle it,it's hard but it's can't hurt to speak to a lawyer. It probably be a waste of money thou.

JudyKayTee · Apr 19, 2010, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by rainacidbeer

You can never know for sure,it sucks but the legal aide could of been right that winning at trail would of been hard,a misdemeanor is better then a felony. There probably was a better way to handle it,it's hard but it's can't hurt to speak to a lawyer. It probably be a waste of money thou.

What do you think would have been a better way to handle this?

rainacidbeer · Apr 20, 2010, 04:51 AM

The pd probably gave reasonable advice,the chance of losing at trail was high. You never know,even if it's a slim chance maybe a good private lawyer could worked something out.

JudyKayTee · Apr 20, 2010, 07:01 AM

Originally Posted by rainacidbeer

The pd probably gave reasonable advice,the chance of losing at trail was high. You never know,even if it's a slim chance maybe a good private lawyer could worked something out.

This is a legal thread - we take great pride in our answers which are based on education, experience, work in the "field." "Maybe's" and "never knows" really have no place here.

I've seen some assigned counsel that is better than paid counsel. I don't know how "reasonable" the PD's advice was; I'm sure the PD gave solid legal advice, though.

It's trial, not trail.