Expert: William A Saunders - 12/24/2007

Question
I have a friend who's charged for criminal mischief 1st degree for intentionally hitting her boyfriend's car when they got into a very heated fight. But her boyfriend now wants to drop the charges. If he were to go and try to drop the charges would that be possible? I heard that since my friend confessed to intentionally hitting his car, the car owner can now no longer drop the charges. Is this true, or does he still have the option to put an end to all this?

Answer
The car owner still has an option to put an end to this.  In many cases, if the two people reach an agreement by the time the court hearing, then the case can be dropped.  For example, there was a man here who stole some things from a store and was later charged with shoplifting.  The man paid the store manager the cost of the items that he stole and when the matter came to court, the store declared that the matter was resolved.

So, with your friend and her boyfriend, if they can reach some kind of agreement and present that to the court, then the matter can end.  If your friend is unwilling to testify, the court case can't proceed.  Her testimony in court would be crucial to the case.  

I hope this information helps you.  Let me know if you have more questions.