How to beat A Criminal Mischief Case
Criminal Mischief Basics
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Criminal mischief charges come in several varieties, there are misdemeanor
criminal mischief charges and there are felonies, it all depends on how much
damage the state can prove in terms of how much punishment they can dole out
for this look ninety four point two seven five percent of these cases are
you know, domestic in nature, a jealous lover a cheating spouse gets back on the
other person, you know, you've watched Dateline or the Lifetime channel, you've
seen the scenario play out a hundred times. That's how these things usually
play out, the damage is typically done to a car, typically done to the front of a
house, things of that sort. The problem is damage alone doesn't get
you a criminal mischief charge, you got to have more than damage, if it were only
damaged then I mean, every auto accident would be a crime because you're
committing damage to another person's property, no, you've got to have malicious
intent, if you've got malicious intent combined with damage then you
potentially have a criminal charge, now malicious intent is a pretty foggy
notion, one time there was a young adult for example living on and off with his
parents they had a very ornate nice liquor cabinet and he decided it was
time to have some of that good fine whiskey that apparently his dad was
saving for a special occasion, problem is, the cabinet was locked, smart move for
most parents, however, lots of damage, thousands of dollars worth of damage to
get into this thing and get out all the liquor, the bottom line is, the kid got
charged with the criminal mischief and the case was thrown out because that the
intent wasn't malicious, the intent was to drink and so you do find, believe it
or not, that within the criminal mischief law there are nuances, there are defenses,
there are loopholes and you want to get a local
involved so that this thing can be fixed. And one other caveat on a criminal
mischief, because the evidence is typically so weak on these things the
cops are probably going to try to reach out to you to get a confession because
they just don't have enough without you confessing the confession will come in
two forms right number one the person with the damaged car or what have you is
going to text you I know you did this blah blah blah blah blah blah don't take
the bait and get back to them don't take the bait and rub their nose in it, yeah, I
did that, you deserved it you slept with so-and-so no no no do not take the bait
call a defense attorney immediately because you're being set up or the cops
will come to your house hey look we're not going to arrest you but we want to
talk to you about an incident, do you know so-and-so, and how do you know
so-and-so, no, don't go down that path at that point you've got to tell them look
I'd like to have an attorney here and then I'll chitter-chatter all you want
to talk but not until an attorney shows up and so what's scheduled an
appointment we'll have this discussion later at a later time that's when I hope
you call somebody like me make sure they're local make sure they've handled
criminal mischief charges before most defense attorneys have and I do wish you
luck with your case, take care.
