Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

You are in the wrong category. This is not a civil litigation question. You need to post it under criminal law.

Mr. McCormick is absolutely correct. When you do report, you have to give the details of what you did and why conspiracy charges are added. That you think the added charges are unnecessary has absolutely no significance as to the facts or what might happen. I would imagine the best way to get around the conspiracy charges is to tell them what you know about the others taking part. If you were putting up gang tags they DA is not going to cut you a deal unless you co-operate by giving up names.

As a property owner who has had his property tagged, I would also suggest to you that you consider what you did. You damaged someone else's property, caused them some mental distress and at least a few hours to repaint or get rid of what you did for a lark or some other selfish reason, and made others people's lives less enjoyable. Would you like it if someone got mad at you and threw bleach onto some of your clothing? Would you try to beat them up or take some revenge against them? If you would, can you understand why the DA, representing the public at large, might want to punish you?

Any way around? No. The DA gets to charge you with whatever he thinks he has a chance of proving.

When arrested and charged with any crime, the proper questions are, can you be convicted, and what can you do? Defend the charges. Go to court, enter a not guilty plea, set up and attend the court hearing[s] and trial date[s]. Raise all possible defenses with whatever admissible and credible witnesses, evidence and facts are available for legal arguments for evidence suppression or other motions, plea-bargaining, or at trial. Effective plea-bargaining, using those defenses, could possibly keep you out of jail, or at least dramatically reduce it. Go to trial if it can't be resolved with motions or a plea bargain. There is no magic wand to wave and make it all disappear. 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 and jail you. If you don't know how to do these things effectively, then hire an attorney that does, who will try to get a dismissal, diversion, 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 you use whatever defenses you may have. If you can't afford private counsel, you can apply for the Public Defender.