Tips For Getting A Felony Charge Reduced To A Misdemeanor
If you are currently facing a criminal charge that is considered a felony at this point, your goal should be to get the charge dismissed or reduced to a misdemeanor. If you can accomplish this, you can avoid living with a felony on your record for the rest of your life, and you might also be able to avoid spending time in jail. If you would like to achieve this goal, here are several things you need to know.
Some Crimes Fall Into the Wobbler Category
In criminal law, there are crimes known as wobblers. If a crime is a wobbler crime, it means that there is flexibility with the way the court labels the crime. The court can label a wobbler crime as a misdemeanor or as a felony. Some examples of crimes that fall into the wobbler category include forgery, assault, and burglary. These are just a few, but there are other crimes that also fall into this category.
If the charge you are facing is a wobbler crime and the court is charging you with a felony, you could petition the court to ask them to change this to a misdemeanor. Asking the court to do this will not guarantee they will do it, but it does not hurt to ask.
You should realize, though, that the court will take several things into consideration if you make this request. The main factor the court will consider is your past criminal history. If your history is clean and free of other charges and crimes, you will have a higher chance of convincing the court to reduce your charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Additionally, the court may look at the crime itself along with the evidence to see the nature of the crime. For example, if you are being charged with a battery crime, was it against another person your age, or was it against an elderly person? The court may reduce the charge if the nature of the crime was not overly disturbing.
Consider Using a Plea Agreement
A second good option you could consider is using a plea agreement; however, receiving an offer for a plea agreement is typically out of your hands. Your lawyer, though, could fight for this on your behalf. To use a plea agreement, you will need to take responsibility for the crime and admit guilt on your part. In return, the court will reduce your charge or give you something that will benefit you.
When a person is facing a felony charge, courts often offer plea agreements that reduce the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor. The reason this occurs is to save the court time and money. If a defendant agrees to a plea deal, the court does not need to go through a trial for the case. The case is settled once the defendant and court accept the plea agreement, and the court can then give the sentencing for the crime.
In many cases, people who receive plea deals that drop felonies to misdemeanors will end up facing probation. If this happens to you, you must abide by all the rules and requirements of the probation office during this time. If you break any rule, the court could issue a warrant for your arrest, and this could eradicate the plea deal you made.
Getting a felony dropped to a misdemeanor is highly beneficial for you if you can achieve this. A misdemeanor on your record does not look as bad as a felony, and misdemeanor charges have lighter consequences than felony charges.
If you do not yet have a lawyer assisting you with your case, hire one today. A criminal lawyer from a law firm like the Nelson Fromer & Crocco Law Offices can talk to you about these things and other options and will be able to offer expert advice to you.
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