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Petty theft 484(A) PC - Did my lawyer do something WRONG? This was supposed to be reduced to trespassing? Today: Nov 2010
Anonymous3 views3 answers
I was given a ticket for 484a PC right before high school graduation, under 50$.Already going to university out of country, so my lawyer & mom were handling everything. Out of country 2007-2010 in school, so lawyer made all court appearances.My parents moved recently & lost the paperwork.I called the attorney & got copies, as I just moved back & don't even know what happened.The case dragged on 6-07 to 1-08 & the court doc shows my lawyer present in sub for me at every court date except the final date where it says that --> I am present in court¬ represented & that I personally withdraw my plea of not guilty. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? I was in school & my lawyer was taking care of everything?no prior,high school valedictorian,in pharmacy school, & I needed this reduced. What happened?
I do not know how anyone on the internet will know what happened in your case as this appears to be very fact specific. The only person that may have an idea is your former attorney.
Robert Driessen
www.driessen-litigation.com
Your first step is to contact your former attorney to see what they think happened and what the final outcome of your case was.
This could be something as simple as a clerical error that can be corrected by a nunc pro tunc order.
Or... it could be much worse and your attorney entered a plea without your knowledge and authorization. That would be highly unusual though.
In any plea, you must submit a written plea form. An attorney can submit that on your behalf, but you must still sign it, indicating that you're pleading guilty to whatever the charge was and whatever the terms were.
As part of your file, does it show that you were convicted of petty theft as a misdemeanor? If that truly was not your understanding of what the deal was supposed to be, or if there were plea forms submitted on your behalf that you did not sign or were aware of, you've got big problems to unravel.
Obviously, you're way beyond the time frame to try and withdraw any plea, but there can still be writs and motions to try and unravel this mess. I've filed those in L.A. County before to undo a domestic violence plea situation. You'll need to gather whatever paperwork you have, including any correspondence (letters, emails, etc) between you, your parents, the attorney... anyone involved. You're going to need to sit down face to face with a criminal defense attorney to discuss what happened and what your next steps are to try and fix this. If part of your argument is that your attorney did something incorrectly or without your authorization, you'll need a new attorney.
Brian Russell MichaelsCriminal Defense AttorneyLos Angeles, CA ·
Your best bet is to hire a new lawyer to review your file in full. There is no way, absent a full review of the file and docket that anyone here would be doing anything other than speculating.
