Need some real advice
 

I'll try to make this short as possible.

Back track a year ago...I am wanting to get a baby alligator snapping turtle to put in an aquarium. Google them and there are several for sale at the price range of $50-$75 per piece for a baby turtle(silver dollar size). I quickly lost interest due to cost. A month later I am riding my bike around the neighborhood and see one in the ditch. I catch it. over the next day I catch a couple more. I kept them for a day or so and started thinking what the heck am I really going to do with these little things. Well I said heck I'm sitting on a couple hundred bucks in turtles and posted them to craigslist. No one really wanted them so some guy offers me like $40 for 3 I say how about $50 for all 5. He said deal. So i just got rid of em and went on about my business. A few days later talking to my coworker he says you know thats illegal right. I said no?!? I said well Im glad I didnt get caught but I guess I wont be doing that anymore. Well fast forward almost a year and LDWF shows up on my door step with a ticket for 5 counts of selling reptiles without proper permit and 1 count of not filing proper paperwork for the sales of reptiles. Long story short the guy I sold them to was an undercover agent on a sting operation.

I have tried all attempts to avoid court and all that with no luck. I was told by several agent friends to just go talk to the ASST. DA but they will not even meet with me about it. They are making me appear in court. Then they tell me its like an arraignment where I will put in a plea and go from there. I have never been in court in my life. The most I know about court I saw on My Cousin Vinny LOL. I mean I dont even know what I should plead. Obviously I am guilty but I at least would like to share my side of the story and I;m afraid that if I plea guilty then they will just say okay, bang the hammer, and set the fines. I mean these were 5 turtles the size of a silver dollar that I caught in my ditch with a bait net. Its not like I sold a bunch of 75 year old turtles. But on paper they don't know that.

What would yall do? plead guilty,not guilty? If I plead guilty will I even get a chance to speak and tell my story?

Head to Mexico!

I can't give any legal advise but good luck. I hope you do get a chance to tell your story and they understand that you aren't a illegal reptile dealer.

You have the right to be represented by a public defender.
He should be able to recommend the right direction you should go.

Good luck

ok thats what I was told as well but wasn't really sure if I got him or not. I thought if I pleaded not guilty then I would get him to represent me in trial. did not realize I would get him even before the plea

anyone else have any useful input?

better off just saying guilty, taking the fine, and be done with it. There is no sense fighting the court, especially since they got ya. all they will want is money

Truth is that you are guilty of what u are being charged with. It's illegal to sell reptiles and u sold reptiles. Don't think u can dispute that so your options are guilty or no contest. Seems like a petty offense and u weren't purposely breaking the law so should be lenient on u that's all I got good luck hopefully an atty will chime in.

yep, ur gonna get a fine. hopefully not supervised probation, which also cost some money.
i doubt you will get jail time.

if it's a felony offense, might as well sell your guns now.

if i were you i'd be bringing some turtle soup to a lawyer and find out exactly what you are up against. might be nothing, might be a whole bunch of stuff you don't want. either way, you need to be prepared for whatever is comming.

i know a guy who had a owl hit hit truck, and they dang near ruined his life over it.


i wish you the best of luck.

I would plead guilty and pay my fines and hope that it ends there.
The sale or distribution of turtles with a carapace length of less than 4 inches has been banned in the US since 1975 (Title 21 CFR 1240.62). This is federal law.

I would contact the judge and tell him how you just didn't know what you did was wrong and you would like to avoid the trouble and expense of going to trial but cannot get in contact with the DA to work this out and then see if he can get the DA or the prosecutor to talk to you. even if it gets no result you at least have shown the judge you aren't a criminal and it can help him go easier on you if it does have to go to trial.

I never heard of then refusing to accept a guilty plea to avoid trial before, most likely some low level flunky somewhere was who isn't responding to you. try calling the DA himself directly or go visit with him.

you certainly dont want to roll the dice and just plead guilty blindly because if they choose to make you an example they might throw the book at you

Actually, I would plead "no contest". Pleading guilty means you admit the charges, you have no defense for your actions, and the court can go ahead and levy punishment against you. Pleading no contest or nolo contendere means you admit no guilt for the crime, but the court can determine the punishment. The judge will hold a conversation with you to ensure you understands the plea and the possible punishment. This gives the defendant an opportunity to explain the circumstances and why you are pleading no contest instead of guilty or not guilty. Through this conversation, the judge gains a better perspective on the situation.

That sounds like the thing I need then. Guess I'll talk to the public defender also and get his perspective. I mean the gw said its Livingston parish and the fines aren't that bad. And it's not a felony or anything, just a misdemeanor. But still could be some hefty fines in there

I would recommend an attorney for advice, not a fishing forum.

GO seat in the DA office.. Ask to see the DA... Or the Asst DA... DA doesn't have time to persecute misdemeanors. One of the Asst DA's will.

No Contest may be best.. But I would not Plead before speaking to a lawyer..... Just my Humble opinion.

X2

one thing about public defender is you have to be too poor to afford a lawyer to qualify, you don't just automatically get one even if you have money to get your own lawyer.

that's why I suggest working things out with the DA so you don't have to pay a lawyer on top of the fines and court costs, its not like there is any doubt on this, you sold them to undercover so case closed and you are just negotiating the penalty at this point because it doesnt matter if you knew it was illegal or not.

You posted an ad on Craigslist to sell turtles. Guilty.


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Some offenses mandate that you appear in court. On the summons or ticket it should dictate where you need to appear. If its a federal offense you need to get in touch with an Asst. U.S. Attorney that will be trying your case.

thanks captain obvious. Im not trying to say Im not guilty

its not federal its just misdemeanor charges.

Don't take this the wrong way, did you commit a crime ? Yes. did you know it was illegal ? no. Does it matter? No . Do the crime / do the time and move on , learn from the mistake . It doesn't matter if it's baby turtles or selling stolen prop that you didn't know it was stolen . Do you have kids? If so thing about the example you will be setting by trying the "Schuck n jive" around the law or you could choose to set an example and make it a positive learning experience . Just my $0.02

not yet . feds have two years to file . why i posted this earlier.
I would plead guilty and pay my fines and hope that it ends there.

Being guilty doesn't mean you should automatically plead guilty. A lot of times legal counsel will plead not guilty just to give more time to work on a remedy. You need to find out who was assigned to you as your public defender ASAP. The court clerk should be able to tell you that (your case or ticket number might help so keep that handy). Set a time with your defender ASAP and tell him your side. Your vigilance could be the difference in the low end of fines and the upper end. With 4 counts that could be a huge gap. You never know, maybe they'll drop it down to only 1 count if you have no priors.

One thing you need to know about public defenders is that these guys are usually just starting out and are taking on a huge case load of people they've never seen or talked to. It's your job to make yourself available to him. He's not going to seek you out to help you. Many PD's don't meet their clients until court. If you want the best case scenario you cannot let this be you.

Finding your PD and getting in his office is priority #1. After that, it won't hurt to see what prosecutor is assigned your case. He isn't required to speak to you and may not but it certainly won't hurt. Just make sure you go to lawyer first. Many PDs have relationships with the prosecutors being that they see each other regularly.

Best of luck. Be very vigilant to protect your interest. Being guilty doesn't mean you have to bend over a chair and let courts do whatever they want.

why is everyone assuming this guy is poor and qualifies for a public defender?

if he has a job then he doesn't qualify for a public defender.

that's why it is said when they read you your rights "if you need a lawyer but cannot afford one, then one will be appointed to you"

the only time I am aware of that you get a PD automatically is in capital cases which this is certainly not one of those.

maybe you could sell a whooping crane or a couple of black bears on ebay to pay for your fine?

Because he was selling turtles from the ditch to make an extra buck.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Spit my damn beer out when I read this!

No advice for you OP, but I wish you the best of luck. Sounds like a BS law in my opinion. All that freaking drama over some damn turtles.

kinda my thought. I mean the legal system essentially is there to punish and teach a lesson to prevent repeat offenders. well lesson has been learned and was learned long before I ever received the tickets. Now hopefully I dont have to go empty my bank account to prove that I learned a lesson

Plea not guilty, they will try to get you to do a pre trial deal, which would probably cost you the same fees as if you were found guilty. but what ever happens make sure that you can get the charges expunged so that there not on your record for future job requirements.

I asked my mother in law who works for the DA in Lake Charles, and mt next door neighbor who is an attorney. They both said the same thing. If you cannot get someone at the DA's office to talk to you. You should contact a criminal attorney. Some do not chare for the first consultation. Explain to them the situation they will let you know the minimum and maximum you could be looking at and advise you from there. If it is severe enough and you choose for them to represent you, on your court date they will be there and will have touched base with the ADA before your appearance and will tell you everything the State will seek and what they will agree to if you plea one way or the other. It is normally better to allow them to make the best deal possible for you and plea guilty. They can better advise you on which way to proceed and how it will affect your record. If you walk in blind you will have no options once the judge has ruled if you plea guilty.

If it were me I would want to know for certain what I am facing from the State before I entered any type of plea deal. They could pull your hunting and fishing rights, community service, hefty fines, probation, the list could go on so I would definitely want to know all of my options and an attorney is your best option for finding that out. That was both of their advice.

Lawyer up. You were ignorant once when you sold the turtles. Don't be ignorant the second time when you stand before the judge and say "guilty". Gov't went through enough trouble to catch you in a sting by a undercover agent, think they won't try to make an example out of you?

As a cop that had to get his record expunged to go to the academy (long story) I would offer this advice to you. Don't plead "guilty" at arraignment, then get a public defender to represent you (that's what they are there for). This is not the crime of the century and you made a mistake. Let it work out through the system for a few letters going back and forth and I would plead "no contest" with an Article 894. No convictions for a set amount of time and record is cleared. Time consuming - YES. Pain in the rear -YES. Bid deal - NO.

Good luck!

THIS^^^

I won't go to court over a speeding ticket without an attorney present on my behalf these days! They make a living in that room by taking yours!:work:

So do the lawyers.

Hire an attorney and he or she will meet with the da and tell them your side of the story to work out a deal, pay your fine, case closed, not a big deal.

I may be mistaken but if its in parish court as a misdemeanor you may be able to call and see how much the fine is and just pay and be done with it....My nephew recently got sighted in terrobonne parish and called the courthouse to find out how much the fine was and paid and it was done...

It was but they wouldn't do that. They made me go to court.

so you already went to court? what happened?

..........any other "game" crimes? ever?.........if none...you might reach out to your area Hunters Against Poachers ......they are usually the ones behing pushing game crimes to be seen in court...

it's part of the shame game, but I would be hard pressed to beleive they would feel the same about a few turtles......but I could be wrong