"D.A. has your citation, they'll decide what to do." Now what?

Hello all,

If anyone reading this has had an experience similar to the following, or knows someone who has, I'd really appreciate any information.

Quick summary: written a ticket for paraphernalia (a measly grinder, hardly a speck in it, no intent to distribute), 19 year old, live in Las Vegas, first time offender. This was a little more than a month ago.

Today was supposed to be my court date (so claimed the date at the bottom of my ticket), but once I got there, I was told I wouldn't be making any court appearance that day. In fact, they didn't even have my ticket on file in their database. Long story short, the way they tell it to me, the district attorney's offices now have my citation, and supposedly, they will eventually decide whether to charge me and all that, or whether to drop the whole thing. I'll have to continue playing the waiting game now, they'll send me a letter in the mail once they make up their minds. I'm pretty pissed off, as you can imagine, because I was hoping everything could finally come to an end today.

I have a number of questions on the matter. First, how long do you guys think I'll have to wait before the D.A. lets me know anything? I'm not concerned about this just because I'm impatient or anything, but because I am planning to leave the country in mid-June - and return here in the States in late August (so it's not as if I'm absconding, I just have shit to do overseas for the summer). I wouldn't want to be in Italy smack in the middle of July, and that's when I get a call, "Hey asshole, we're going ahead with your case, show up in court next week.":mad:

Secondly, any hope of the D.A. deciding NOT to pursue the case? Especially since a) the offense is so tiny, b) I am a first time offender, and c) Nevada is somewhat liberal about these things, or so I am told?

Once again, anyone with any insight, I beg you to share. Thank you.

i had the sme thing. I got a DUI in september and they just decided to press charges 9 months later. Lame as fuck. Sorry, its just in LV, they have too much going on to do them all right away.

Thanks for the feedback, Dusto.:thumbsup: So in your experience, they take a long-ass time to make up their minds? Bureaucratic red tape, all that good stuff? Hope they will take their time in my case. It will put me a lot more at ease knowing that I can travel this summer without having to worry about them forcing me into a sudden and abrupt return to the U.S.

If you're willing to share, may I ask just out of curiosity, how did your DUI turn out? Did they kick your ass or go easy on you? Or have you yet to be tried?

no worries dude. I have my court date on 6/11 so i'll let you know then. OK. I'm sure ima get 1750 fines and a bunch of classes and shit. sooo we'll see

You might put in a call to the DA's office and explain your situation--that you're looking at traveling for the summer and would like to ascertain whether that'd be a problem if they press charges or decide to set a new court date. A call to the DA's office isn't going to cause them to be any more likely to charge you. In some ways, if it's anything like the urban DA's offices here in Texas, it may even prompt them to drop it entirely. They have lots bigger fish to fry than a little paraphernalia misdemeanor.

You didnt say if you had an attorney or not. But, if you do, they could get a postponment for you in the event you are going to be out of town. Having an attorney get a postponment is very easy. The court and the lawyers are all buddy's, it not a big deal. But, as an individual, it may not be even possible for you to do in the event they decide to prosecute the case. The Court respects a lawyer, understands scheduling conflicts, yada yada, yada. They could care less what your excuse is in the event they want yer butt in Court unless you are on life support in I.C.U.

I know to you it may seem a minor charge, but since you are so young 1000 bucks or so to an attorney may be to your benefit. You do not want to apply for your dream job 6 years from now and have some bullshit issue such as this popping up on you. Some V.P. doing your interview may be the antichrist when it comes to drugs, and you are dead in the water, for example.

Any decent lawyer could drop by the D.A.'s office and most likely get this resolved. Maybe a small fine or something if the laws are as relaxed as you state. I cant imagine them tieing up the courts in Vegas with a simple charge such as this. Going to trial costs money, lots of it. My guess is the only way they would even decide to prosecute this is in the event that everyone in Vegas is on their absolute best behavior for the next six months, which is highly unlikely.

Remember, D.A.'s are lawyers, most time they are all in bed together. Even though they battle each other in the court room, they are normally all friends. They hob-knob with each other regularly playing golf, cocktail parties, Bar Association events, etc. All belong to same Country Club, whatever. You get the jist of what I am saying.

Take NO advice you get from here. The damn laws are so goofy anymore, and are constantly changing that the only people who know them are lawyers, attorney's, and Judges.

Think about it, keep it convuluded, and the "average joe" is so overwhelmed that you MUST get an attorney. The ones making all these changes are your elected officals who most of the time are ex-lawyers.....LOL Its job protection for the fraternity, so to speak.

Just because so and so got such and such is ABSOLUTELY ZERO gaurantee that you would get the same. Even IF it did go to trial, your lawyer could tell you exactly what the D.A. has offered prior to ever stepping foot in the courtroom. There is NO WAY IN HELL the D.A. would do that for you......And the D.A. will cut a sweeter deal with an attorney than they would ever think of doing for you.

Remember, cops and courts fuck up. But, as a citizen you would never know that. They cover each others ass very well. They have a hard time doing such in the event an attorney is in the picture. He knows what needed to be filed, when, in what time frame, etc, etc, etc. You dont!

Yes, I think lawyer fees are mind numbing. But, my dentist aint cheap either. And I damn sure need both of them.......LOL


Again, best of luck
b0nger:thumbsup:

Sorry I took so long to return to this thread.

Thanks again to all of you for your feedback. Yes, Dusto, do let us know how things turn out for you. I'll be sure to remember to check up once the eleventh comes around.

Bonger, thanks for that exhaustive and very informative post. No, I do not have a lawyer yet, but I have contacted one. Two, actually. Not so much to try to employ their services, but to ask them whether they think I should. Naturally, I was expecting some sort of "Oh, yeah, you really should have us take care of it unless you want your life ruined, now fork over the cash, bitch!" kind of response no matter how tiny the offense was, but I took a shot anyway.

I was surprised when both offices I contacted, instead of painting this as the ultimate apocalypse for me, told me it most likely won't amount to anything more than a fine, with no criminal record. Keep in mind, I wasn't even arrested, just ticketed, and if NORML is to be trusted, "decriminalization" (of the kind it ascribes to Nevada) typically means no criminal record for first offense... and that's for actual substance possession!

If I wanted to have them [the attorneys] take care of it for me anyway, they both told me I'd have to shell out at least a thousand.

What would you do in my shoes, Bonger?

I know, no charge is to be taken lightly, and never should a lawyer's enlistment be ruled out completely, no matter what the circumstances. That being said, if I can find out for certain that I will get a slap on the wrist without having to waste a grand for it, I'd much prefer that.

I'm thinking of assessing the seriousness of the situation as time goes by and I'm let known more things by the court. If I see that I'm much better off with an attorney by my side, I'll obviously get one. But until then, I'm going to see how far I can go by trusting NORML, which goes on to claim that in my state, something like this would get treated like a "minor traffic violation." Do you show up with an attorney for those?

But see, my fear is not so much the outcome of the case itself, but of the possibility that the law's snooze-less buzzer might wake me up while I'm out of the country this summer. At that point, I'm hiring a lawyer no matter what to represent me while I'm away. I'd have to spend money on a flight back home otherwise anyway.

Either way, I'm boarding that plane in two weeks and that's that. I know I've done the crime, do the time, all that shit, but I'm not going to put my life on hold just because the D.A. can't make up its mind.

Gigliozzi, check for a PM from me through your user control panel.

You are entitled to a speedy trial. Unless you agreed to waive time, which you may have done because you went to court without an attorney, then the DA has to either file or forget it within a short period of time.

Did the judge ask you for a plea? If s/he did, they probably asked you if you would waive time and you probably said yes.

You need to be served before you can be required to appear in court. Enjoy your vacation in Europe and don't worry about this.

If worst comes to worst, make an Alford plea and in one year this'll all be gone.

Gig,
If you can be absolutely, 100% positively sure that this WILL NOT ever be on your record, then I agree with your decision to not seek or pay for counsel.

My reasoning for suggesting that you retain a lawyer was due to the fact that you may need to get the postponment, and that your record remains CLEAN.

As I said previously, you are a very young man. What lies in your future you are completely unaware of at this point. I just think it would be foolish for you to take any chances of this ever comming back to kick your ass.

Getting those postponments is not easy (at least here). I happened to be at a bar and a fight broke out in the parking lot (I was inside). For some reason unknown to mankind I received a summons to appear at the assult trial. I have my own business, and we work out of the local area quite frequently. Many times its government contracts that MUST be completed by a certain date, or I pay X amount of dollars per day for every day late (and it aint cheap). So, back to the point, I needed to get trial postponed, or moved about 2 weeks because I was out of town, working (as if thats not good cause), or not be required to show at all. Afterall, I was INSIDE the bar, I did not witness shit.

So, I placed a call to the D.A. (who I know peronally), and explained everything to him and he told me I needed to write a letter and send to him and he would submit to "The Court" aka Judge. So, I did that. I included a copy of the SIGNED contract I had from the Town we were doing the work for, records documenting my time on the job, miles traveled, expense report, stool sample ( I am kidding), etc. Well, they FUCKING denied my request.

SOOOOOOOO.......I call my lawyer. 1250 bucks later, he sends ONE letter, trial is moved for starters, and 6 days later I get another letter saying I did NOT even need to show up at all.

What did he do that I couldnt ? Hell if I know or care, but I got what I wanted. Was he worth that 1250? Sure was in my book. That is proof that a lawyer can do things that you cannot.

Just DO NOT take advice from people on the 'net. As I said before, what the Judge gave so and so for your exact charge is NOT any type of a gaurantee that you will get the same. Who knows, maybe his 16 year old daughter came home the previous night and told daddy of her new crack habbit, and she is pregnant. He may want you hung with a used rope the next day.......LOL

Best of luck and let us know how it all turns out.


b0nger