Harassment, Stalking, Misconduct Disturing the Peace/Disorderly Conduct

[CraigYonkus]

About 3 weeks ago I was arrested for disorderly conduct. My roomates and I just got back from a night of going out, and our new neighboors where outside of their appartment. So my roomate decided it would be humurous to chase me around with a kitchen knife. Our neighboors knew it was a joke, but as soon as we stepped outside of our appartment, 4 police officers take the practical joke with seriousness. They immediately pulled guns out on my roomate and proceeded to arrest him. I then told the cops that he was my roomate and this was all one big joke gone wrong. Unfortunately, the cops didn't find it funny and then proceeded to arrest me.

Well, I then went to my arraignment and was told the I was also being charged with disturbing the peace. However, my citiation issued to me after getting out of jail was title as a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. Not one description of a second charge. at the arraignment I pleaded guilty with explanation, but later found out that I couldn't hire a lawyer because I already pleaded guilty. I have a perfectly clean record and now I'm being charged with 2 misdemeanors. What penalties will I be facing and should I hire a lawyer to settle this huge mishap?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

About 3 weeks ago I was arrested for disorderly conduct. My roomates and I just got back from a night of going out, and our new neighboors where outside of their appartment. So my roomate decided it would be humurous to chase me around with a kitchen knife. Our neighboors knew it was a joke, but as soon as we stepped outside of our appartment, 4 police officers take the practical joke with seriousness. They immediately pulled guns out on my roomate and proceeded to arrest him. I then told the cops that he was my roomate and this was all one big joke gone wrong. Unfortunately, the cops didn't find it funny and then proceeded to arrest me.

Well, I then went to my arraignment and was told the I was also being charged with disturbing the peace. However, my citiation issued to me after getting out of jail was title as a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. Not one description of a second charge. at the arraignment I pleaded guilty with explanation, but later found out that I couldn't hire a lawyer because I already pleaded guilty. I have a perfectly clean record and now I'm being charged with 2 misdemeanors. What penalties will I be facing and should I hire a lawyer to settle this huge mishap?

Let me be honest with you - if I was a judge, I wouldn't believe that this was just an innocuous joke that suddenly went wrong. I'm also not sure I understand the complete series of events. Was your roomate arrested with knife in hand? Were you guys horsing around and your neighbors decided that some joke with their neighbors running outside of the house with knives just wasn't so funny?

Pleading guilty with an explanation was not a good idea. It's either one or the other. In this instance, you may want to get a lawyer to deal with the fact that you may not have understood the consequences of your actions. I wish you the best of luck with this but you have to be a lot smarter...

 

[CdwJava]

We have a term for this kind of behavior ... "Felony stupid."

Childish acts sometimes have real and unintended consequences. Claiming that it was all a joke after the fact does not mean that the police or the court are going to believe it. Apparently someone took it as real or the police likely would never have been called.

- Carl