Does anybody have any experience being arrested and being brought to the courts? Long story short, I was arrested and charged with criminal trespassing in an office building. Here's the catch, the woman knows me (I left on bad terms), and she actually lied to police and said I was in a locked room when in reality I was in an Atrium. The only evidence the police have is this women's testimony, I actually hired an attorney myself, but after I turned myself, I'm thinking about just letting a legal aide help me and save myself $1000. Heres my question, when I go before the judge in 20 days and he hears that her testimony is that I was trespassing illegally, and then my story that I was using the free wifi and an open Atrium, what will a judge do? I'm 100% sure she won't even show up, I doubt she thought that the police would take it this far. Again, her story is that I was sitting with my laptop in a private room and my version of the story is that I was sitting in an Atrium with my laptop. The charge is a class B misdeameanor.
>>17792892
Obviously the easiest way to tell who's lying is to have the judge issue a subpoena for the security footage. Whether or not he'll actually bother doing that is another story, since that would mean ordering a continuance just to bring in a few tapes.
hire your lawyer, then after youre acquitted file a civil suit against her
>>17792941
This guy gets it pay a real lawyer and do this
>>17792941
>>17792960
This. The legal system can be pretty dumb, many judges will automatically take you less seriously if you show up without a lawyer. When the whole case boils down to "her word against mine," this could very well make the difference between winning and losing. Hire a lawyer
Besides that OP, if everything you said is true, you should be fine. I'm assuming the atrium is a public space and you weren't trespassing by being there. She'd have to prove that you trespassed in a private space, and since you didn't do that, she can't prove it
>>17792925
I didn't notice any cameras, unless there were hidden cameras, I just want this entire thing to go away, I don't feel like spending a couple grand to maybe win a civil lawsuit. Can't I just give a written testimony and have this entire thing thrown out? Like I said, I will be 100% surprised if she ends up coming into court in a month.
>>17792974
Maybe you could try to settle it out of court? If everything you're saying is true, and she really did lie to the police to get you arrested, she could be in a lot of trouble. You should DEFINITELY handle this through your lawyer, though - Contact her lawyer/the company's lawyer, and make it clear that you plan to sue them for the false accusation unless they drop the case and pay your legal fees.
Unless I'm missing something here, she's probably already realized that she really fucked up by lying, and she'd be happy to have an easy way out of this mess