Throw away account for obvious reasons, I have a real account on here, any mods please feel free to reach out and I'll confirm who I am in a non public way.
So, the Q. What are your thoughts on defending yourself against a Disorderly person charge vs getting an attorney? This is pre-trial or pre hearing, I'm not even sure of the right title.
Background. I was involved in a situation recently. I ordered some food from a well known chain. Picked it up and got back into the car and found both the order was wrong, and there was no plasticware. I went back in, the line was massive so I figured I'd skip the wrong order and just grab some flatware, specifically a knife for spreading. None were out so I looked around, saw an employee (I found later they were the Manager on duty that day) and asked a couple of times for a knife. He apparently didn't hear me so I was following him going 'Sir, sir, can I get a knife' or something similar. I followed him through the gap in the counter/service area when he turned round and saw me. He flipped out and started shouting at me that I couldn't be back there. We got into an argument, I was wound up and pissed off at wrong order and no service so I was no longer acting politely by this point as this guy was shouting at me. I turned round and saw some plastic knives so I grabbed one and was waving it saying I just wanted a knife and he was ignoring/couldn't hear me. He and a woman on the checkout were yelling at me, I lost my cool, pushed over a couple of stacks of paper coffee cups (in one motion) and left. I was sitting outside in the passenger seat of the car with the window down while sorting out the food. My window was down. Next thing I know, the guy from inside (Manager) came up and started punching and beating the E36 M3 out of me through the open window. People were shouting at him to stop. The only reason he stopped is because my wife threw the car in reverse and backed out with him still trying to lean through the window. I had a black eye, cut nose and smashed glasses.
Cops were called and took statements inside and outside. The workers inside are claiming I threw a knife at them (I didn't, I had the knife in the car and showed it to the police). At least one witness I talked to is an ordained minister and witnessed both inside and outside. She gave a statement with her details to the police, but didn't give me her details. I know there is video from inside, but none from outside.
I heard nothing for a while, then I was stunned as I got a ticket and court summons for 'disorderly person' in the mail with a Zoom court appearance. Now, I don't disagree I was a bit of an ass and lost my temper, but I'm not sure it counts as disorderly conduct and even though it's a misdemeanor, it's still a criminal charge. I also want to make sure that the guy that beat me up is getting prosecuted somehow as in no way do two wrongs make a right, and no matter how much of an ass I was, I didn't deserve a physical assault, and anyone who loses his E36 M3 like that shouldn't be in a customer facing service managers position. I have heard nothing about a case against the guy who beat me, I would have thought I'd be at least called as a witness, but I've heard nothing.
We have a lot of good friends, and some of them recommended good attorneys to represent me. I figured $1,000-1,500 to make sure I was properly presented from a legal point of view would be a good idea. I don't want to end up with a guilty charge for simply making a process mistake in a legal proceeding. I talked to a couple of attorneys, one promised to call back and hasn't after a couple of follow up calls, so obviously not interested. The other said he's as confident as can be, without making a promise, that I could get it pled down to a fine at most. The thing is he operates on a flat $6,000 fee for anything and everything up to a trial, which it should never reach, but $6K seems insane.
Other info. I've been on a quest to find the 'evidence', witness statements and video with no luck. The trail so far has been:
- Call the Sheriff's office. They sent me to the court.
- Call the court, they sent me to the Sheriff's records office.
- Call the Sheriff's office, they will send me back to court records.
- Call the Court records office and they tell me I need to file a FOIA request.
- Fill out the FOIA request and it gets rejected. Amazingly, a real person answered my email to the rejection email and told me the FOIA request needs to be filed with the Sheriff's office.
- Filled a second FOIA request from the same court website for the Sheriff's office and currently waiting.
This all took long enough that I had to file an adjournment request as the original Zoom Court date was today. I managed to get that figured out on my own. Amusing aside, an adjournment needs to be signed by opposing counsel / prosecutor. I called the prosecutors number on the County court website expecting to get an office, nope it was his cell and he was in the car. I quickly explained the situation and he said no problem, sign for me. I did, I got the paperwork in on Monday and called yesterday and they confirmed it's been put off to Feb 5th so I have some time to get the evidence and decide on an attorney.
So. What does the braintrust, especially any attorneys think? Should I get an attorney, hopefully at considerably less than $6K, or should I go it alone. What are pitfalls or other things I need to do/not do?
P.S. I have never had any run ins with officialdom or the law previously other than a handful of speeding tickets over the decades, not even a new ticket in well over five years. I do hold a reasonably senior position in my industry and travel abroad for business. I was in an Asian country just before Christmas, and one guy who was part of our group has been at fault in a serious auto accident so had a criminal charge on his record. He got pulled aside by customs there and had a ton of extra questions and had to sign extra paperwork promising not to commit any crimes while in the country. I really don't want to have to deal with anything like that, or expose myself to professional issues if I end up with this against me.
TIA
