Misdemeanor - affect on acceptance, licensing and jobs?

[Guest foreverLaur]

OK here is the story.

 

Two of my friends... let's call them Mary (age 21) and Patty (age 20 - used a Fake ID).

 

Mary and Patty had gone out to the bar and had a few drinks and were walking home. Patty spotted a large random orange cone on the way home and thought it would be fun to pick it up and carry it. Mary didn't like this idea and eventually got Patty to stop and helped Patty carry the cone back to where they had found it. In this process, a female police offer spotted them and got out of her patrol car. The police officer called for backup. The male backup police offer thought the whole thing was funny and wanted to just take them home. The female police officer was very upset at the situation. Mary was put in the back of the female police officers car and Patty was put in the back of the male police officers car.

 

Patty showed the police officer her fake ID and claimed her name was that of the fake ID. The police officer soon realized this and found her real ID and found out she was drunk and underage.

 

Mary was of age and had been drinking legally. She tried to explain the situation to the cop about how she had been trying to stop the whole thing and take the cone back and found it funny and the female cop yelled at her for being disrespectful of authority.

 

Patty's dad is a police officer and later talked to the prosecutor and got all charges dropped... including drinking underage, showing a fake ID to a police officer, and criminal mischief.

 

Mary is still being charged with a 4th degree misdemeanor. She can't afford a lawyer because she works 40-50 hours a week to be able to put herself through a private nursing program. Because she works so much, she doesn't qualify for a free lawyer. So she is going into this without any legal advice or anyone to defend her. Chances are she'll end up with a 4th degree misdemeanor for helping a drunk friend carry an orange cone back (aka criminal mischief).

 

We tried to explain to her previous meeting with the prosecutor that it wasn't fair that she was still getting charged when (1.) she didn't do anything wrong and (2) her friend who did WAY more got all the charges dropped for anything a cop for a dad. The prosecutor just responded with she should stop trying to look for ways to get out of her crimes and to start being responsible and not blame others. *SIGH*

 

How will this affect her going to PA school and getting a job? I know you have to explain any time you have been charged with a felony or misdemeanor. With how competitive the field is, will this potentially keep her out of PA school? Any advice? I don't know where else to turn to help her.

 

Thanks.

[primadonna22274]

Mary and Patty are stupid. Difference is Patty's daddy got her off and Mary doesn't have a police officer daddy to do the dirty work. Mary will have to pay for her foolish juvenile mistake. She definitely better own up to the misdemeanor charge and be able to explain it and hope for sympathetic ears. This particular adcom member is relatively unsympathetic to stupid underage drinking/fake ID users and she wouldn't find any love from me (gee, kinda like the female officer I guess).

Get some legal assistance. Find a way.

Pretty thinly veiled here when we already know Mary's life story from previous posts :rolleyes:

[Guest foreverLaur]

1. Mary is of legal age and was not underage and did not have a fake ID. The only thing she is being charged with is a 4th degree misdemeanor (criminal mischief) for carrying the random orange cone back that Patty had taken. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

2. Neither person in this story is me. I don't drink. My father was an alcoholic who abused my mother on a regular basis. As alcoholism can be genetic and after seeing that when I was younger, I want nothing to do with alcohol. I go out with my friends, but I have never and will never touch an alcoholic beverage. I am truly just trying to help a friend out.

 

3. My only idea was to get a continuance. Her court date is Oct 22 and a close friend of mine finds out the results of his bar exam on Oct 31. Hopefully he passes and can then represent her in court.

[Hemegroup]

Poor Mary, that really sucks. These are the lessons we learn in life as the years go by, which types of situations that we put ourselves in which can sometimes end up in negative consequence.

 

As for her explanation, I'd use exactly what you said, "...helping a drunk friend carry an orange cone back (aka criminal mischief)", followed by something along the lines that I said, "it was a learning experience about which types of situations to avoid from then on."

 

Good luck, Mary!

[just_me]

has mary tried to contact legal aid?

 

if your public defenders are anything like the ones we have here then shes screwed either way.....

 

patty should be glad shes not my friend........she'd have some big issues right now

[Guest foreverLaur]

because there is no jail time, the state is not required to provide her legal aide. she works 40-50 hours a week to pay for school and can't afford one for herself.

[bradtPA]

I am going through the licensing process now pending graduation in 2 months. This is the question they asked me that your friend will have trouble with:

 

Have you ever been charged with (arrested, indicted or arraigned), convicted of, pled guilty to, pled no contest to, or received a prayer for judgment continued (PJC) for a violation of federal, state or local law, excluding minor traffic violations?

Do I honestly think it would prevent the license? No. But it would cost her a trip to Raleigh (if trying for a NC license) to go before the medical board to answer for it before it was granted....

[Maximillion]

Mary should get a lawyer!!! I know of a friend who was arrested for DWI and had to take out a loan for a lawyer. Costed her $3,000 after everything was said and done. However, the charges were reduced to physical control. She only had $1,000 to her name so you can't tell me Mary can't afford a lawyer. My friend was working a minimum wage job when this happened. In the name of protecting herself,Mary needs to get a lawyer. If not, the only thing she can hope for is to have sympathetic ears on ADCOMM. Tell her good luck, man. PM me if you have any other questions.

[Guest foreverLaur]

She can't get any loans. She is maxed out on loans for school and doesn't qualify for any private loans without a cosigner. Her parents comopany went bankrupt and their credit got ruined and they don't qualify for for cosigners. That is why she's working full time and more to keep her head above water. She'd essentially have to quit nursing school to afford a lawyer.

 

I would hope that adcoms would laugh when she got a 4th degree misdemeanor for carrying an orange cone on a college campus. Kids like to wear them as hats half the time around here.. she just caught a cop on a bad night.

[primadonna22274]

I still fail to see where being publicly drunk underage and acting dumb is "not doing anything wrong"....

Perhaps I'm a prude (I've been accused of worse) but never done nothin' like that. My stupid little brother did, and yes, he got charged with criminal mischief and public intoxication, and had to show up in court for it, and has a black mark on his record. Of course it's only one black mark of a few others....

[Guest foreverLaur]

I still fail to see where being publicly drunk underage and acting dumb is "not doing anything wrong"....

Perhaps I'm a prude (I've been accused of worse) but never done nothin' like that. My stupid little brother did, and yes, he got charged with criminal mischief and public intoxication, and had to show up in court for it, and has a black mark on his record. Of course it's only one black mark of a few others....

 

The girl that was publicly drunk and underage was the girl that got all charges dropped via her dad. The girl that is being charged (and in nursing school wanting to become a PA) was the girl who had been drinking but was not drunk and not acting drunk. She took the orange cone away from the drunk underage girl and went to put it back. The cops appeared when she was returning the cone and didn't believe the story.

 

She was never breathalyzed because she was 21 and didn't appear drunk. She is ONLY getting charged with criminal mischief for playing with the orange cone which is a misdemeanor.

[Prospective PA]

I had to go with Primadonna on this one, and further more, "Mary" is lucky that she wasnt charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor...

What was Mary thinking taking her underage fake id'd friend to the bar and letting her get wasted...friends dont let friends (minors especially) get wasted....

 

Its along shot considering Mary "took" Patty down the wrong road and found an orange cone....but what about appealing to the sympathy of Patty's police officer daddy?

[Guest foreverLaur]

Patty's dad thinks that his daughter is a perfect little angel who got wrapped up with the wrong people who made her do bad things... aka he doesn't like Mary. If only he knew what Patty was really like at college...

 

Yes, Mary could have gotten in trouble since she knew Patty was drinking underage. But if we busted everyone in college who knew someone drank underage, nobody would be in college anymore. They're both extremely intelligent (Mary is in her 4th year of nursing school and Patty is a 3rd year Molecular Genetics major), no criminal records, both have good grades, both have jobs, and neither were hurting anyone. Give Patty an underage maybe... but ruining a nursing and PA career for something that silly?! Seems a bit extreme to me.

[Joelseff]

Mary can get it expunged later. I was also under the impression that a PD is available anytime regardless of time spent etc. If there is prosecuting counsel, I would imagime that miranda rights provides for the right to an attorney-even during questioning. But all she would probably have to do is fully disclose the event and chalk it up to dumb youth after afew years. i think even if it is expunged you still have to d/c it.

[Guest foreverLaur]

Mary can get it expunged later. I was also under the impression that a PD is available anytime regardless of time spent etc. If there is prosecuting counsel, I would imagime that miranda rights provides for the right to an attorney-even during questioning. But all she would probably have to do is fully disclose the event and chalk it up to dumb youth after afew years. i think even if it is expunged you still have to d/c it.

 

At least here, if there is no jail time they are not required to provide a lawyer free or charge to you. My boyfriend of 4.5 years graduated from law school in May. He hasn't taken the bar exam and has no real intention of taking it until February at the earliest. I have talked to him a little about it but he gets grumpy when I mention anything about the law to him cuz he's "relaxing" after 7 years of school :p:mad:. Anyways - he told me that if there is no potential jail time then they don't provide free legal representation.

 

It just seems like it would be pretty easy to get it just flat out dropped since the other girl did a lot more (underage, fake ID, stole the cone) and got it all dropped because her dad called and personally spoke with the prosectutor.

 

Oh and she can't get charged with contributing to a minor drinking because they weren't in a bar or near a bar. They have no way to prove they were in a bar together. They never said they were drinking together.

[just_me]

legal aid and a public defeder are two differnt things...

 

legal aid is a non profit organization that helps people get in contact with lawyers that do pro bono work, charge on a sliding scale or provide discounted consultations for those who cannot afford a lawyer but cannot get a public defender

[bradtPA]

She can't get any loans. She is maxed out on loans for school and doesn't qualify for any private loans without a cosigner.

 

 

Then the point of this discussion is moot, because without additional loans or good credit, PA school is impossible.

[Guest foreverLaur]

She has good credit - her parents don't. But nobody will give her loans because she already has a ton. She's planning to work as an RN for a good # of years to pay back some of those loans before heading to graduate school.

 

Secondly, undergraduate loans and graduate loans are unrelated.

[bradtPA]

She has good credit - her parents don't. But nobody will give her loans because she already has a ton. She's planning to work as an RN for a good # of years to pay back some of those loans before heading to graduate school.

 

Secondly, undergraduate loans and graduate loans are unrelated.

 

Obviously you know more about student loans and going to PA school than this 50 year old PA student;).

[Guest foreverLaur]

According to the Stafford Loan website, she can take out up to $57,500 for undergraduate and $224,000 for graduate health. I maxed out my undergrad loans too and when I called they said it wouldn't matter. I would still be eligible for the full $224,000 for graduate school. Why would she be any different? Please let me know if I misread the website or was given incorrect information.

[Hemegroup]

You can borrow up to $138,500 in Stafford loans, and that includes what is borrowed in undergrad (I think for some programs you can borrow up to $150,000). The remainder of graduate costs has to made up for in Grad PLUS or private loans (if you need loans).

 

http://www.gradloans.com/stafford_loan/

 

Some private lenders will give loans to those with bad credit, but the interest rates make the deal practically unreasonable.

[Guest foreverLaur]

According to staffordloan.com

 

Lifetime Limits

Undergraduate Dependent: $31,000 (Up to $23,000 may be subsidized)

Undergraduate Independent: $57,500

Graduate or Professional: $138,500 (Up to $65,000 may be subsidized) or $224,000 (for Health Professionals)

 

I assumed that PA school would be in the health category but maybe that's just for medical school? The lady on the phone said the lifetime limits were separate for the undergraduate and graduate categories. If not, that still lives her $81,000 for graduate school. Definitely enough to pay for PA school especially if she works for a few years as an RN and saves up.

[Hemegroup]

I see it , here:

 

http://www.staffordloan.com/stafford-loan-info/graduate-stafford-loan.php

 

Anyone know something about this? I always just took what they told me for granted.

[bradtPA]

According to the Stafford Loan website, she can take out up to $57,500 for undergraduate and $224,000 for graduate health. I maxed out my undergrad loans too and when I called they said it wouldn't matter. I would still be eligible for the full $224,000 for graduate school. Why would she be any different? Please let me know if I misread the website or was given incorrect information.

 

 

Its the correct info with some limits that I will explain. The maximum Stafford loans combined (subsidized and unsubsidized) for my last award was $20,500 per year. If you needed any additional funds you had to apply for a Grad plus or private loan. Credit rating will affect an application. Poor or overextended credit will mean getting a co-signer.

[Guest foreverLaur]

Well I obviously don't know her credit score but I do know that she has two credit cards and has never not paid off her bills on time. She just has a lot of loans for school.

 

And yes, I believe that you can get up to $20,500 a year for graduate school up to the full $138,500 (or $224,000 for health professions).