Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

When charged with this as a misdemeanor, you face up to 6-12 months in jail. Effective plea-bargaining, using whatever legal defenses, facts and sympathies there may be, could possibly keep you out of jail/prison, or at least dramatically reduce it, depending upon all the facts and evidence. Not exactly a do it yourself project in court for someone who does not know how to effectively represent himself against a professional prosecutor intending to convict. If you don't know how to do these things effectively, then hire an attorney that does, who will try to get a dismissal, reduction or other decent outcome through plea bargain for you, or take it to trial. If serious about doing so, and if this is in SoCal courts, feel free to contact me. I�ll be happy to help use whatever defenses there may be.

It is a misdemeanor that carries up to 6 months in county jail.

In order for it to be valid though, the false information must have been given during a detention. Whether or not the detention was legal and/or you have other defenses depends on all the facts of the case.