Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

I stopped payment on some personal checks I wrote when I realized money I thought was going to be direct deposited into my account, was not. Checks were reported to police and I was charged with misdemeanor "fraudulent schemes", I have no criminal record, can't afford attorney, had court appointed atty but was of no real help, wanted to plead "no contest" to get it over with and prosecutor agreed but judge wouldn't accept it, I do not trust judges, police or leagl system and could not afford attonry so I plead "guilty" rather than risk a trial where a cop was going to testify against me. Judge took it on delayed sentence 771.1 and probation recommended 9 months probation, fines and community service. I showed up today for official sentencing and judge said we need to reschedule for a time when there will also be a restitution hearing because he said the credit union and the merchants want too have a hearing and make statements. Here's the thing: ALL of the merchants have been paid because they immediately referred the checks to collection agencies, I have letters from collection agencies saying they paid the merchants and I need to pay the agencies, AND the credit union suffered no loss, they fronted no money for checks, they were all "stop payment". Probation officer said judge will want proof I paid collection agencies as part of completing probation BUT can he do that? Isn't it now a civil issue? Should they be allowed this restitution hearing and if so will what they say be allowed to have any bearing on my sentence? Also, the merchants are out of the picture and no longer own the checks and have received payments from these collection agencies. Can the judge in this criminal case order that I repay these collection agencies before my probation will be considered completed and the charges removed from my record? Also I have been notified separately by the county prosecutor's office that some of the merchants referred my checks to them for criminal prosecution. However from what I have found on the Internet these checks do not qualify for criminal prosecution since they were "stop payment" not NSF or closed or fake accounts AND the merchants have already been paid and no longer own the checks - they filed these complaints with the prosecutor AFTER selling the checks to collection agencies. What's your take on that? ALSO, if my credit union is allowed to speak at this restitution hearing are they allowed to bring up anything else besides this specific case, like if I have bounced checks before, etc, or what my past account activity has been with them? PLEASE HELP, THANK YOU


Asked on 12/18/12, 8:31 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

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Answered on 12/18/12, 9:00 am
William Morrison Action Defense Center

Just to clear up a major delusion on your part, the collection agencies bought all that bad paper from the merchants at a huge discount (often 10-20 cents on the dollar). The merchants have not received full restitution. If you attempt too delude the judge on this point, you may regret it.

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Answered on 12/18/12, 2:52 pm


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