Q: I trespassed at UF football game. I've had 2 previous arrests: 1 expunged and 1 dismissed. Am I facing jail time?
Hey there. I was arrested last Saturday for trespassing at a football game. The report (summed up) stated how I was intoxicated and the police officer told me I could not enter. One hour later I came back and tried again receiving the same result. One hour after that I was arrested for trying to get in again. When I was 18 I got arrested for petty theft but got the case expunged. Then 19 I had a DUI case get dismissed. This is my third arrest. I'm a college student coming from a good family. I have a decent job. Can I be facing jail time with a public defender? I'm extremely scared
A: So, this is your third time in trouble. When will you actually learn that you just cannot continue to commit crimes and not face punishment? Now you are extremely scared about jail. Not only that, you openly admit to having committed the crime on a public forum. Even people from good families have repeated run-ins with the law. Whether you will actually be sentenced to jail for this is determined from a lot more factors than you have given. What you need to do is at least find out how much it is going to cost you to hire a private criminal defense attorney, one with decades of experience is best. But just to set your mind at ease a little bit, my opinion is that you will not do any jail time for this, with the very limited information that I have.
A:
The State Attorney makes decisions about what to offer you based upon your current charge and your history, not based upon whether you hired an attorney or are represented by the Public Defender. There are good and bad attorneys in the private sector as well as at the Public Defender's Office. There are things you can do to try to help yourself, and that is to try to atone for your behavior prior to court. For example, you have a dismissed DUI, and alcohol was involved here per the police report. Sign up for a course about drinking, either the victim awareness panel through the Florida safety council, or some other type of course that shows you recognize that drinking causes problems and you are looking to prevent a future alcohol related issue.
Like Mr. De Groot, I don't believe you are looking at jail time based on what you have posted, but please know we cannot guarantee that since we are working with limited facts here.
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