Legal Question in Criminal Law in Washington

I was convicted of a gross misdemeanor of malicious mischief in the 3rd degree last year on December 4th. I had aided a friend who had been badly scorned by her cheating spouse and the girl he had been seeing behind her back. It was an ugly battle of words back and forth and she decided she wanted to do something to get back at them for all her grief. So one night, with emotions overflowing, her, I, and another friend of ours slashed the tires on the girl's vehicle. This happened in July 2012. About a month or so after this happened I was contacted via cellphone by an officer who claimed he was investigating the crime. At first I denied knowing anything but he used his "scare tactics" by informing me that they had license plate numbers and witnesses who had seen my friends and I commit the crime. After that he told me he knew I was involved and to call him back when I was ready to talk, and that he was going to be calling the other two. I then had a meeting with my friends about what we should do, and we decided that we needed to come forward and confess to prevent things from getting worse. We met with the same office (Officer Jones) a few days later and came out with the truth. He informed us that the victim was willing to except the payback of $700.00 with out going through court. She agreed to give us 3 weeks to come up with the money. He told us that we were to give the money to a mutual friend to give to her to avoid face to face confrontation, but in the report stated differently. He also informed us that she was still capable of pressing charges even after she was paid back. We didn't think much of this until about a week later she told the officer that she was tired of waiting for her money and just wanted to go ahead and press charges, after promising us 3 weeks to pay her. After this we decided that we wanted her to sign some sort of agreement that once upon receiving her money, she would not press charges, as promised by her. She refused to sign anything which course made us think she would indeed press charges anyway. Why would we pay her just so she can screw us anyway and make us pay her again? Anyway, this whole thing escalated between her and my friend, and she decided she would just press charges. Our first court date was October 31st 2012. We were informed by the judge that we could all possibly face the maximum of 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine. We then each got our own public defender and returned to court on December 4th 2012. I was sentenced to pay $235 in restitution to the victim and $150 in court fees and two years probation. I was told that after paying in full, I would be eligible for dismissal(or whatever its called when they remove the charge from you record). At this time I was pleased with the outcome after learning what the maximum penalty could have been. But as time went on, I began looking more into law information and realized all the flaws in this investigation. For one, in the report, it said we had an arrest date. It is my understanding that when someone is arrested, they must be read their rights. We were NEVER read any rights. The officer had recorded the entire interview, but the tape was never played after we brought up the fact he didn't read us our rights. Everything we said was overlooked or ignored by the court system because we were the bad guys. Since the court hearing, I have paid in full both my restitution and court fees. My friend had also paid hers off in full in the month before. She filed for a court hearing to have her case dismissed, like promised upon completing payments, and she was informed by the judge that "they felt that she hadn't served enough of her sentence so they weren't going to grant her dismissal". I just recently learned through a friend of the victim that neither the victim, nor her boyfriend, had paid to have her car fixed like they had told the officer. She told her friends that her insurance paid for her tires. Yet everyone took her word and assumed she paid the $700 out of pocket like she had said. I was able to read over the entire police report when I met with my public defender before my sentencing. There was nothing in it saying anything about her insurance picking up the bill. So why were we ordered to pay her and not her insurance company? There was also no proof provided by her the prove the amount she "paid" to repair her car. She just made off with a set of brand new tires and pocketed approximately $700.00. For what? I just can't help but feel I got thoroughly screwed over. I am looking for advise regarding what my rights are in this case, and if there is anything I am legally able to do. I have missed out on a great job opportunity that I was in the hiring process for when my sentencing took place. I have been turned down by every employer since. I can not rent an apartment because of my record. This smudge on my record is literally ruining my life. I have no criminal activity on my record besides this one charge.


Asked on 12/10/13, 1:06 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Stan Glisson Glisson & Morris

There is probably nothing you can do at this point. I can't tell from your message exactly how your case was resolved, there are different court options that involve probation and restitution. If the case is going to be dismissed after a period of time, you may just have to wait for that. If you plead guilty, you can request 'vacation' of the conviction, but there is a time period you have to wait, by statute.

Generally when you resolve a case, the law presumes that resolution to be final and allows very few ways to undo it. The court rules do allow a motion to withdraw a guilty plea, if you made one, if new evidence has been discovered. Doesn't sound like that applies to you, though.

You should probably call the lawyer who represented you, or contact a private criminal defense attorney who practices in the court you went to.

As for the owner of the tires, if you are correct that she pocketed the money, that may be a breach of her contract with her insurer, and could possibly expose her to prosecution for insurance fraud. But we definitely don't have enough information to make that kind of an accusation.

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Answered on 12/10/13, 1:17 pm


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