My question involves criminal law for the state of: Michigan
Hi! This is my first offense in my twenty years of life, so I decided to get some legal advice, tips, and criticisms if need be.
Around the corner from my house there's a park that I've visited all my life. As an adult, I'm a college student. I recently quit my job in order to give myself time to attend. During my short career, I was working twelve hour days from 2pm - 2am, as a result I developed insomnia. Sometimes I stay up all night writing, reading, looking up tutorials, exercising, and other tedious tasks to pass the time. But there's not to do at 2am - 6am when it comes to the outside. Sometimes I'd go for walks around the neighborhood if the nights got too restless, there's a 24/7 bakery that I occasionally go to with a friend, but we're trying to save money so we can't go there every night.
One night a friend and myself decided at 5:20am we'd hang out because we both couldn't sleep, he works nights, I worked nights, and our schedules are the same. We're both up late as night and usually don't sleep until later in the day after class or not at all. Instead of going to the bakery or a diner as we had no money, we went to the park. We got there roughly at about 5:30am.
There was another car there, a black truck with a trailer hitched to it. After five minutes of us sitting in his car, talking, on our phones, and looking at the stars, the truck drove away. Fifteen minutes later, three police cars arrived. My friend and I pulled out our ID's, spoke with the officers, they patted us down for weapons (we were both wearing pajama pants and t-shirts so they didn't see any reason to thoroughly check us for weapons or substances. We can nothing on us anyway).
They arrive on a call that my friend and I were having a domestic dispute, that we were fighting with each other to the point where we were physical. This wasn't true, my friend and I sat in his car the entire we were there. The worst thing we did is calmly argue about if a celebrity he likes was attractive or not. We never raised our voices, we never put our hands on one another, there was no fighting.
We told the three officers that, two believed us, one didn't as she asked "How can you calmly argue?" and I tried to explain to her how a debate works but I said a debate sounds too serious for the discussion we were having. She said "that doesn't make sense" and went to question my friend.
The time the officers arrived, it was already 5:50. I told the officers that I live around the corner and that this is a park I come to "all-the-time". Two understood that I meant that I lived in the neighborhood for a while, the other (the female) assumed that I meant I was at the park all the time after hours. She explained that the hours are 10pm - 6am and "technically" we were there after hours. Me being a resident, I should understand these rules and should have had them memorized, I didn't. I knew the park opened around 6am but the approximate time wasn't known.
By the time the officers wrote our citations, it was already 6:15am, our fine was 185$ and on our tickets it reads "In a Park After Hours (10pm - 6am). Approx. Time: 5:45am"
There's where it gets strange for me. Here's where I'm unsettled and unaware of how to proceed.
I arrive at the courthouse three days later to pay my fine. The teller read my ticket and suggested that I come back at 2pm to speak with the judge in order to discuss the ticket and have the misdemeanor dropped to a warning or waved all together as she found it "silly" and "troublesome" for someone with no prior arrests, tickets, or warrants.
I accepted her suggestion and came back, but once in front of the judge she didn't allow me to speak. She simply asked "Were you at the park at 5:45am?" I replied with a "Yes, but if I may provide an excuse," she asked what I meant, I told her I didn't know that the park opened exactly at 6am, that arriving a few minutes early wouldn't have been such a drastic crime.
She said it was a serious crime and that they could charge me with up to 90 days in jail and/or a 500$ fine. She then said that I couldn't provide an excuse so I could either plead guilty and pay the fine, or plead not guilty and take it to court to fight the ticket.
I replied, "I'll plead guilty and simply pay the fine. I don't want to waste anymore of anyone's time. I'm sorry,"
She said, "You haven't convinced me that you find yourself guilty so I have to write you down at not guilty,"
I now have a court date to fight a ticket that I didn't want to fight in the first place. I simply wanted to discuss my options, pay my fine, and be on my way.
What should I do in this case? I already admitted that I was guilty. Should I find a lawyer? How should I proceed?
Thank you for taking your time to read this. I know I typed a lot.
Hi! This is my first offense in my twenty years of life, so I decided to get some legal advice, tips, and criticisms if need be.
Around the corner from my house there's a park that I've visited all my life. As an adult, I'm a college student. I recently quit my job in order to give myself time to attend. During my short career, I was working twelve hour days from 2pm - 2am, as a result I developed insomnia. Sometimes I stay up all night writing, reading, looking up tutorials, exercising, and other tedious tasks to pass the time. But there's not to do at 2am - 6am when it comes to the outside. Sometimes I'd go for walks around the neighborhood if the nights got too restless, there's a 24/7 bakery that I occasionally go to with a friend, but we're trying to save money so we can't go there every night.
One night a friend and myself decided at 5:20am we'd hang out because we both couldn't sleep, he works nights, I worked nights, and our schedules are the same. We're both up late as night and usually don't sleep until later in the day after class or not at all. Instead of going to the bakery or a diner as we had no money, we went to the park. We got there roughly at about 5:30am.
There was another car there, a black truck with a trailer hitched to it. After five minutes of us sitting in his car, talking, on our phones, and looking at the stars, the truck drove away. Fifteen minutes later, three police cars arrived. My friend and I pulled out our ID's, spoke with the officers, they patted us down for weapons (we were both wearing pajama pants and t-shirts so they didn't see any reason to thoroughly check us for weapons or substances. We can nothing on us anyway).
They arrive on a call that my friend and I were having a domestic dispute, that we were fighting with each other to the point where we were physical. This wasn't true, my friend and I sat in his car the entire we were there. The worst thing we did is calmly argue about if a celebrity he likes was attractive or not. We never raised our voices, we never put our hands on one another, there was no fighting.
We told the three officers that, two believed us, one didn't as she asked "How can you calmly argue?" and I tried to explain to her how a debate works but I said a debate sounds too serious for the discussion we were having. She said "that doesn't make sense" and went to question my friend.
The time the officers arrived, it was already 5:50. I told the officers that I live around the corner and that this is a park I come to "all-the-time". Two understood that I meant that I lived in the neighborhood for a while, the other (the female) assumed that I meant I was at the park all the time after hours. She explained that the hours are 10pm - 6am and "technically" we were there after hours. Me being a resident, I should understand these rules and should have had them memorized, I didn't. I knew the park opened around 6am but the approximate time wasn't known.
By the time the officers wrote our citations, it was already 6:15am, our fine was 185$ and on our tickets it reads "In a Park After Hours (10pm - 6am). Approx. Time: 5:45am"
There's where it gets strange for me. Here's where I'm unsettled and unaware of how to proceed.
I arrive at the courthouse three days later to pay my fine. The teller read my ticket and suggested that I come back at 2pm to speak with the judge in order to discuss the ticket and have the misdemeanor dropped to a warning or waved all together as she found it "silly" and "troublesome" for someone with no prior arrests, tickets, or warrants.
I accepted her suggestion and came back, but once in front of the judge she didn't allow me to speak. She simply asked "Were you at the park at 5:45am?" I replied with a "Yes, but if I may provide an excuse," she asked what I meant, I told her I didn't know that the park opened exactly at 6am, that arriving a few minutes early wouldn't have been such a drastic crime.
She said it was a serious crime and that they could charge me with up to 90 days in jail and/or a 500$ fine. She then said that I couldn't provide an excuse so I could either plead guilty and pay the fine, or plead not guilty and take it to court to fight the ticket.
I replied, "I'll plead guilty and simply pay the fine. I don't want to waste anymore of anyone's time. I'm sorry,"
She said, "You haven't convinced me that you find yourself guilty so I have to write you down at not guilty,"
I now have a court date to fight a ticket that I didn't want to fight in the first place. I simply wanted to discuss my options, pay my fine, and be on my way.
What should I do in this case? I already admitted that I was guilty. Should I find a lawyer? How should I proceed?
Thank you for taking your time to read this. I know I typed a lot.
Trespassing: In a Park After Hours (Before Hours)
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