Expert: Jack Toomey - 7/23/2009

Question
my neighbor filed a complaint of criminal trespass and criminal harassment against me at Newark municipal court. She claimed I parked my car in her property without her consent. We share the same driveway and no fence between us. the truth is this lady has been bothering me and my family. whenever she complained that my car is on her property we remove it right away. her tenants block the driveway most of the time and we don't say nothing. We never had this kind of experience with  the former owners before she purchased this property. We are scared maybe this woman is bent on giving us a criminal record. I have never been to jail in my life. please tell me what to do. Because of this we are putting our house in the market for sale.

Answer
While I cannot give you legal advice I doubt very strongly that you are going to jail for supposedly parking your car on her property.  But if you are convicted you will have a criminal record for the rest of your life and you don't want that.  In fact you have a criminal record right now because of the very fact that the charges have been filed.

I am assuming that you are referring to Newark, New Jersey?  If so that has to be a very busy municipal court and I'd bet that they have a mechanism for mediation and to weed out petty cases such as this.  I can't be sure but if they let every case go forward then no case would ever be heard.

If you show up without an attorney you might regret it if the case goes forward.  I always advise people to at least talk to an attorney (not on the Internet) before going to court on any criminal charge that could give you a criminal record for the rest of your life.

Once this case is resolved don't forget to take steps to remove the charge from your record.  People forget to do that and ten years later wonder why they can't get hired.  I have no idea what the process is in your state but you start at the courthouse where the charges were filed.