Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

All of your questions are valid and this is a big deal. Fortunately, if you hire the right attorney, you should be ok. I handle dozens of these cases each month and would be happy to help. Call me office for a free phone consultation. Tim Klisz

What you need to do is retain a lawyer right away to start doing damage control. Your lawyer may be able to get you in a diversion program or even negotiate a sentence that would not include probation. If you are placed on probation, you normally have to stay in Michigan unless otherwise granted permission by the court. If that happens, your lawyer can always ask the judge to allow you to live out of state on probation for the purposes of college. Or you may be able to report to probation via telephone or have your probation transferred to Chicago. There are always options. That is why investing in an experienced criminal defense attorney is very wise. Look for an attorney that makes criminal defense a substantial part of their practice and has appeared at your court and before your particular judge. Also, look for an attorney that regularly handles retail fraud or shoplifting cases.

You should hire an attorney to handle this situation. I routinely handle these matters if you have questions I would be more than happy to assist you. I can't tell you how many people come to me years later only to find the conviction could have been avoided. The collateral consequences are devestating.

If you were between ages 17 and 20, and your record is clean as you indicated, you would likely qualify for either a diversion program (if the court or prosecutor in that county have one), or would benefit from probation assigned under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act. HYTA is available state-wide but is a discretionary option by each judge in case-by-case situations. Your situation sounds ideal for HYTA. You should talk to an attorney about the process so the proper petitioning paperwork is filed, and effective advocacy is presented to convince the judge to give you this assignment. In essence, HYTA would require you to plead guilty but your plea is not entered as a conviction; the judge takes the plea under advisement and you are given probation terms to follow; if you successfully complete the probation terms then the case is dismissed without any adjudication of guilt; also, the outcome of the case becomes a non-public record. While a background check might show that you were fingerprinted by police for this offense, and that you were charged, you could then truthfully report that you were never convicted and the case was dismissed. You do not have to have an attorney represent you to get HYTA. If you want to read the statute that talks about HYTA, go to www.michiganlegislature.org and in the box that says "MCL Section" search, type 762.11 and hit enter.