When to be Defensive about a Criminal Addendum

[TigerJin]

So, basically this lawyer's blog's scenario happened to me: http://blog.scrofanolaw.com/2014/03/16/ ... -gun-laws/

A common, unfortunate scenario that often occurs in the District of Columbia goes something like this:

Average out-of-state, law abiding citizen with no prior criminal record travels through or to the nation’s capital. We will call him John. John commits one of the hundreds of possible District of Columbia traffic infractions while driving. And this traffic infraction could involve something as innocuous as hanging something from the rear view mirror or having window tint that is too dark. One of the dozens of law enforcement agencies that has jurisdiction in the District pulls the person over. We will call him Officer Friendly. Officer Friendly either asks Johns: “Do you have any weapons in the vehicle” or John, accustomed to the laws of his home state, voluntarily announces to Officer Friendly that he has a firearm in the vehicle. John then tries to show Officer Friendly his home state concealed carry permit for his lawfully registered firearm. In John’s mind, all of this is no big deal.

What John does not know is that his life is about to change forever. Officer Friendly places John under arrest for “carrying a pistol,” which in the District of Columbia is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. It is likely when John sees a judge for presentment after arrest, he gets held in jail for at least three days because of the felony charge. The Court may order pretrial release conditions like drug testing or reporting to the Pretrial Services Agency. And now John has a serious criminal matter hanging over his head.

Within a few weeks the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia will indict John through its Rapid Indictment Process (or “RIP”). The indictment will come down with at least three charges: carrying a pistol, which is a felony, and unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition (if the gun has bullets), which are both misdemeanors. John’s total criminal exposure will be seven years in jail.

To John, the whole situation is absurd, and he wonders if the government will just drop the whole thing.

The sad thing is the government will not just drop it. Even worse, in that scenario, there is virtually no basis to challenge Officer Friendly’s actions. No illegal search; no custodial interrogation; no violation of constitutional rights. John simply thought he was doing nothing wrong so he unknowingly admitted guilt to the officer. The best John can hope for is to find an experienced DC gun lawyer who can convince the prosecutor or her supervisor to offer him a misdemeanor plea. In some extremely rare circumstances, the government may offer a type of diversion where if successfully jumps through some hoops, the case will be dismissed.

Fortunately, many of the judges in DC Superior Court have more common sense then the prosecutors and their supervisors. If John’s DC gun lawyer can get him a misdemeanor plea agreement, the judge will likely impose a very easy sentence. The sentence could be as little as a small fine or a short period of unsupervised probation. However, John’s criminal record won’t be eligible for expungement for eight years and his life is forever changed.

That is pretty much what happened to me barring a few unique identifying details that I will not divulge here. I have no way of writing about this without getting angry. Especially since, within a few months of my arrest DC gun laws have been called into question as unconstitutional. It was wrong for me get to arrested and charged for it and it was the only "crime" that I have ever committed. Further, it is has likely been keeping me from getting jobs as I am now a "gun offender".

How would you recommend my writing this and how much space would I typically have to write about it?

[Adam Tyson]

I'm going to ask some of our admissions experts to weigh in here on how specifically to address this, but let me say this - what the admissions officers want to see, and later what the state bar personnel want to see, is honesty. Be honest, open, transparent, and forthright. Say what you did, admit any wrongdoing on your part (ignorance of the law is no excuse), and hide nothing. Criminal conduct in the past is not a bar to admission to law school, nor is it a bar to being admitted to the practice of law. Dishonesty, at any stage of the application process, throughout your schooling, and in the process of applying to be admitted to practice, is a more grievous offense than a past crime, and nothing will end your career faster than lying.

One more thing, before you commit anything to paper, and that is consult with your attorney. If your case is still pending, anything you say can and will be used, and all that jazz. You may want to put your addendum entirely in terms of what has been alleged, and indicate the status of the case, without admitting to anything. They will understand.

I'll see if I can get others to chime in here.

[David Boyle]

So, basically this lawyer's blog's scenario happened to me: http://blog.scrofanolaw.com/2014/03/16/ ... -gun-laws/

A common, unfortunate scenario that often occurs in the District of Columbia goes something like this:

Average out-of-state, law abiding citizen with no prior criminal record travels through or to the nation’s capital. We will call him John. John commits one of the hundreds of possible District of Columbia traffic infractions while driving. And this traffic infraction could involve something as innocuous as hanging something from the rear view mirror or having window tint that is too dark. One of the dozens of law enforcement agencies that has jurisdiction in the District pulls the person over. We will call him Officer Friendly. Officer Friendly either asks Johns: “Do you have any weapons in the vehicle” or John, accustomed to the laws of his home state, voluntarily announces to Officer Friendly that he has a firearm in the vehicle. John then tries to show Officer Friendly his home state concealed carry permit for his lawfully registered firearm. In John’s mind, all of this is no big deal.

What John does not know is that his life is about to change forever. Officer Friendly places John under arrest for “carrying a pistol,” which in the District of Columbia is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. It is likely when John sees a judge for presentment after arrest, he gets held in jail for at least three days because of the felony charge. The Court may order pretrial release conditions like drug testing or reporting to the Pretrial Services Agency. And now John has a serious criminal matter hanging over his head.

Within a few weeks the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia will indict John through its Rapid Indictment Process (or “RIP”). The indictment will come down with at least three charges: carrying a pistol, which is a felony, and unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition (if the gun has bullets), which are both misdemeanors. John’s total criminal exposure will be seven years in jail.

To John, the whole situation is absurd, and he wonders if the government will just drop the whole thing.

The sad thing is the government will not just drop it. Even worse, in that scenario, there is virtually no basis to challenge Officer Friendly’s actions. No illegal search; no custodial interrogation; no violation of constitutional rights. John simply thought he was doing nothing wrong so he unknowingly admitted guilt to the officer. The best John can hope for is to find an experienced DC gun lawyer who can convince the prosecutor or her supervisor to offer him a misdemeanor plea. In some extremely rare circumstances, the government may offer a type of diversion where if successfully jumps through some hoops, the case will be dismissed.

Fortunately, many of the judges in DC Superior Court have more common sense then the prosecutors and their supervisors. If John’s DC gun lawyer can get him a misdemeanor plea agreement, the judge will likely impose a very easy sentence. The sentence could be as little as a small fine or a short period of unsupervised probation. However, John’s criminal record won’t be eligible for expungement for eight years and his life is forever changed.

That is pretty much what happened to me barring a few unique identifying details that I will not divulge here. I have no way of writing about this without getting angry. Especially since, within a few months of my arrest DC gun laws have been called into question as unconstitutional. It was wrong for me get to arrested and charged for it and it was the only "crime" that I have ever committed. Further, it is has likely been keeping me from getting jobs as I am now a "gun offender".

How would you recommend my writing this and how much space would I typically have to write about it?

Hello Tiger Jin,

Adam gives some good common-sense advice. (Though please don't interpret anything said on this forum as "legal advice" per se"; and, of course, no attorney-client relationship is created or implied by any comments or any general "advice" to you...)
Additional common-sense advice is that you might want to consult several lawyers, not just one; and of course the "Online Law Library" we call the Internet might let you search for various other folks who've been in your situation, and the strategies they used to deal with your problem.
One interesting possibility is that you could use this unpleasant situation as part of any application essay, e.g., "The law is unjust, I've been a victim of it myself, I want to change it and help other people." Or something like that, with your own words and ideas.
Good luck, by the way, You seem like a nice guy, and I hope things don't go too roughly for you!!

Hope this helps,
David

[TigerJin]

In this addendum, how much space would I have to write about it? Am I attaching a separate document or is it like job applications where you have to fill in a paragraph sized text field?


The pro-bono lawyers don't seem to want to help me with how to write this, though, I am still asking around. My concern is, if I write this as defensive essay will it just get thrown away? If they see two pages of argument in the character and fitness section of the application is that a disqualification for me?

Further, let's say I do lay out about how I did nothing wrong and the law was wrong, I can see the admissions guys saying, "Yeah, but you still plead guilty, so obviously you were wrong." No matter what I say about it.

I am thinking of writing it up as bare bone facts, with some details left in, to make it clear that this was not my fault nor did I do anything morally wrong.

[Dave Killoran]

In this addendum, how much space would I have to write about it? Am I attaching a separate document or is it like job applications where you have to fill in a paragraph sized text field?


The pro-bono lawyers don't seem to want to help me with how to write this, though, I am still asking around. My concern is, if I write this as defensive essay will it just get thrown away? If they see two pages of argument in the character and fitness section of the application is that a disqualification for me?

Further, let's say I do lay out about how I did nothing wrong and the law was wrong, I can see the admissions guys saying, "Yeah, but you still plead guilty, so obviously you were wrong." No matter what I say about it.

I am thinking of writing it up as bare bone facts, with some details left in, to make it clear that this was not my fault nor did I do anything morally wrong.

Hi Tiger,

Let me see if I can provide some help. An addendum is typically one page at most (often just a half page). But, your situation is unusual and rather serious, and thus you could likely go to two pages, submitted separately like a second personal statement.

I personally wouldn't have a lawyer help you write this. If you were writing for the court or a judge, yes, they'd be the right person. I'd instead advise getting a law school admissions consultant to assist you (of the type found here: https://www.powerscore.com/lsat/law-school-admissions. If you worked with us, I even know who I'd refer you to; if you work with someone else, that's great too—just get someone who has worked on a law school committee, preferably more than one). I don't normally immediately recommend a professional consultant, but in my opinion you need to have your essay framed for admissions committees by someone who has insider knowledge of how they will react to this situation.

The basic path I'd take is to be honest about what happened, and not be defensive. Admit the error here (and there is one: you traveled to a separate jurisdiction without checking their laws, and while I agree it's a dumb law, it's still a law). It's ok to be candid about feeling this is unfair (and I think it really is unfair—a permit to carry in one state should transfer elsewhere, and at worst this should be a misdemeanor, not a felony. Typical waste of government energies at the expense of the citizenry ). Attempting to not take blame or to be overly defensive usually fails. Stress that you've learned from the situation and despite the unfairness you are still trying to resolve the issue in your favor using the legal tools at your disposal.

That's a start, but like a lot of things it is the execution where things really matter. You need to position this very carefully.

Thanks and good luck!

[es_alfredo]

I have a pending charge against me for an infraction citation for having a beer open at the beach. Problem is I wasn't drinking. My two friends left a bunch of empty beer cans by the site we set our stuff at and went into the water while I took a nap. I was awoken by two officers who were ready to give me a misdemeanor for the cans. My friends were nowhere in site, hiking off somewhere by the cliffs. The officers deciding to be nice gave me an infraction and told me I could split the ticket with my friends, but it would be under my name.

As much as I pleaded and explained to the officer about the situation and my plans to go to law school, he told me it does not matter since it's just like a parking ticket. They left and I did more research into disclosing this information to law schools and realized it wasn't like a parking ticket. I do have to disclose it to law schools if I know what is good for me. I requested a date in court to fight it but now I have to tell the schools my pending charges

Should I be defensive? Or should I just plainly state the allegations against me? Should I even give a hint that I did not do it? It's an extremely unfortunate case because 7 years ago was given a misdemeanor for drinking and driving while being a minor. I have written an honest addenda about the DUI and have taken responsibility for it, stating that I've learned my lesson. But two alcohol related charges does not look good, even if I have not been convicted of one.

I am hoping that law schools, representing what is fair and just, will not bar me from admittance for that pending charge because after all, I am innocent until proven guilty. Right? Would love some advice on how to explain this.

[James Finch]

Hi ES,

You're correct, an infraction like this isn't like a parking ticket--none of them are, not even a speeding ticket. Everything that isn't a parking ticket needs to be disclosed. And when dealing with minor infractions like these, the key is to be open and honest about it, as concealing any ethical/moral failings is almost always considered more serious than the underlying failing itself; it's the cover-up, not the crime, that gets people.

Also, from someone who has also received an open-container infraction at a California beach, you're not going to win your case unless both your friends show up in court and claim possession of the cans. There's absolutely no need to litigate the case to law schools; simply disclose the citation and how you plan to dispose of it (plead guilty, fight it, etc). As to having two alcohol-related charges on your record, it seems pretty unlikely that a school would infer a pattern of behavior based on relatively minor and commonplace violations seven years' apart. Still, it's a good idea to speak to the admissions departments at the schools you're applying to and try and elicit their honest opinions about how this affects your chances of admission, as well as make it clear your desire to be open and honest about this infraction.

Good luck on admissions!