Expert: Philip Sweeting - 2/8/2004

Question
Hi Philip, I was hoping you could help me out with some advice. I was arrested a few weeks ago, and 4 tickets were issued to me. I have no idea, what kind of fines and penalties I could possibly be facing, and dont know if I should hire a lawyer or not. My tickets are for :
Violent or tumultuous behavior
Failier to obey officer
careless driving
purposely obstruct the law by means of an independent unlawful act.

Any advice you can give on what type of penalties I will be looking at is greatly appreciated. The one I am most concerned with is the obstruction. Is there just a fine or possible jail time for that charge? I have a clean record, and am in the state of NJ , if you needed that info. Thanks for your help in advance.
Joe

Answer
In most cases if you do not have a prior arrest and you are charged with a minor offense, the most you would receive is a fine and be required to do some community service hours. At worst you would receive that and maybe probation. It is unlikely there would be any jail time.

I live in Florida and am not familiar with the laws in NJ but it looks like three of the charges could be from the same incident. In otherwords, by committing  "violent or tumultuous behavior" you are also failing to obey a police officer and obstructing the law.If you were to be prosecuted, the prosecutor or states attorney would likely only prosecute you for careless driving and one of the other three charges since it was the same act. Or they might try to get a plea bargain from you by agreeing to throw out some of the charges if you agree to plea to one of the others.

If you can afford it you should probably get a lawyer or if you can't afford one the court would be required to appoint one for you.

When considering what you want to do you should also consider the impact a conviction might have on your future. The crimes might be minor and fines small but if you do plead guilty, that will be with you the rest of your life and could have a negative impact on your ability to get a job. Some, jobs such as realtors, teachers, police officer, etc., have restrictions on hiring people who have been convicted of crimes but generally it must be a felony. A lawyer from your state should be able to tell you better than I what a conviction would do to your future. Good luck. Hope this helps.