This may be a long winded post but I could use some other opinions. Also, happy late 4/20! A quick summary i'm leaving out a lot of non important details. Back in August me and about 4 of my friends had $500-$600 stolen from us in the form of Phones, Wallets, Weed, and Cash from a 36 year old person. He bought us a bottle earlier that night (We all were 18-20Yrs. Old) and for whatever reason wanted to hang out with us for a while after buying us the bottle. Later we all became extremely drunk and feel asleep (With the exception of the guy who bought the bottle). He stole from us while we were sleeping. Yes, the moral of the story here is don't let people you only somewhat know into your house, but that's not what the post is about. Anyway, later the next day I talk to the person face to face to try and see what's up because the Police will just tell me I don't have enough evidence and they can't do much. While talking to the guy things got Physical and I needed to do something quick. There was a baseball bat nearby and I cracked him in the head with it until i'm confident he won't be coming after me any longer. Looking back the baseball bat may not of been the best choice. The police were called and I was charged with Aggravated Battery W/ Deadly Weapon, and Mob Action, while the thief got no charges. I've been fighting the charges for around 9 months now. I have many witnesses who all filed reports that greatly back up my self defense claim, and the thief has a long 15 year criminal past (I.E Fighting a Cop, restraining orders, aggravated battery with bodily harm, he even beat someone with a lead pipe in the past. The list goes on.) I also have a very good and expensive lawyer but at the end of the day I had a baseball bat & he had staples in his head. Today I was offered a plea bargain for my case. Plead guilty to Misdemeanor Battery, and go through 2 year probation along with 30 hours community service. My lawyer has advised me to take the deal and this is much better than going to trial over the case where I could get a good or very bad outcome. I'm still young and a Felony charge would fuck me so hard. I've already been put on a "Temporary Probation" until my court case ends so I haven't smoked much at all since the incident started and have an idea how the probation gig works. Two years is a long ass time. Just curious, what would you guys do? It's really stressing me out. P.S. I can use his past criminal record as evidence to show that the use of the bat was acceptable given his violent past.
Hate to say it brother, but I don't think you've got a chance in hell of getting off this charge. I strongly suggest you do what your lawyer suggested. Regardless of the other circumstances, you did assault him and there are consequences for that. You can't just beat an unarmed dude with a baseball bat bro, even if you're fighting. In fact, because you confronted him in the first place, and not the other way around, chances are you're going to be pegged as the instigator if this goes to court.
Jesus take the deal man. Why risk it. At the end of the day, you had a bat and hit an unarmed guy in the head with it multiple times. No jury is going to let you off.
Take the deal man. Wouldn't really matter..Like he said in the end of the day he had the bat and the other dude had staples in his head.
If there is even a remote chance you could get hit with a felony take the deal. You're not going to want future employers to know you fucked some assholes day up with a baseball bat. 2 years of probation and community services is a whole hell of a lot better than having to check yes next to "Have you ever been convicted of a felony" on a job application.
Bad decision after bad decision. The least you could do is make one good move and take the plea bargain.
You are guilty, and are lucky you arent going to prison. Take the deal. If i was the victim i would raise hell until they retracted the plea offer.
Take the damn deal bro. I can't believe you would even need to think twice about this, let alone come to a forum filled with stoners to get an opinion on the matter when the lawyer you are going to pay out the ass for already advised you on what to do. Based on this post, you seem like a poor decision maker, and also seem like you want to deflect blame for you committing a serious assault that could have been avoided. You confronted him over $600 of mostly bullshit stuff that can be replaced, and now you aren't getting that back ever plus paying out the ass for legal fees and going on probation. You need to take this as a learning experience and seriously reevaluate your life choices! I hope that much is obvious!
Take the deal OP. Even if your actions were somewhat justified because he stole money from you and he has a violent past doesn't mean you didn't commit the crime. A misdemeanor battery charge is a 1000x better than felony! If you do take the deal i doubt you will be random DT'd during probation if that's a big factor in the deal. Sent with good vibes
I would take the deal and all but thats fucked up how everyone thinks you're wrong for what you did to me it sounds like self defense thats some bullshit how they did you like that
36 year old hanging around 18 years. Now if you were a person of trully low morals, you could spin that in your favour! But that would be really low lol