...Am I screwed for life?? Please help!!

[VredesStal]

To all who may be concerned with this matter...


I have a question that I was hoping
that any one could help me with.

Back in September of 2010...
I was involved in an altercation with another person.

Although no one was assaulted, hurt or injured...
a rather expensive item of property was damaged
as a result of me shoving it after the person grabbed me.

As luck would have it, the police were called...
and take a wild guess who was arrested??
(it was me!!).

Again. no one was hurt or injured...
however, this very expensive item of property was damaged
and I was arrested and charged with 2nd Degree Criminal Mischief
(which is a Class D Felony in the State of New York).

(Note:
The reason it was a Felony charge was because
of the amount of the property in question.
In this case, t was an expensive computer-like item...
so naturally... it was a bit pricey. (around $2,500).


Just to give an example...
in the State of NY (where I was charged)...
and perhaps in other States...

...If you steal something,
as long as the amount is not
over $1,000 and/or is under $999.99...
it is only Petit Theft/ Larceny.

However...
if you intentionally/ recklessly damage something
in excess of $250.00 (which that item in question was)
it is a FELONY!!.... go figure.

Of course, in this day and age...
is there anything of value that is NOT
close to or in excess of $250??).


Anyway...
after a long, drawn out ordeal with the DA....
the charge was (eventually) reduced to
Fourth Degree Criminal Mischief
(which is a Class A Misdemeanor in NY).


I pleaded with the DA to drop that
misdemeanor down to a Disorderly Conduct...
but the guy was a real harda$$...
and the farthest he would go was a misdemeanor.

(Note:
This was my first time I had EVER
had any trouble/ offenses/ run-ins with the law).


Make no mistake about it...
I seriously considered taking that case to trial
(which is why this "ordeal" lasted for over 9 months)...

But, in the end...
I certainly DID NOT want to risk the chance
of having a Felony on my record...
which is the (ONLY!!) reason why I did not take it to trial.


So, as it stands now...
I am a 34 year old veteran with 9 years
of collective service of the US Army...
(I just ETS'ed in 01 November of 2010)...

...and I also have my first (and only)
Class A Misdemeanor on my record
and I certainly do not plan on
making this habit.


In case anyone is wondering...
My whole point & purpose of trying to fight for that
Disorderly Conduct was because I knew ahead of time
that even a misdemeanor on my record could
cause problems for me later on down the road....

but, again...

the DA wouldn't budge...
even after I explained to him
my plans for the future.

And so, I picked what I considered
to be the lesser of two evils
(ie, either a felony... or a misdemeanor).


So now... my question is:

Is my life over??

Am I, in fact, dead in the water...
with my hopes of (eventually)
becoming a Police Officer over??

Am I better of just commiting suicide
with a misdemeanor on my record??

(Ha, ha!! JK!! Well... maybe. )


Any help I could get regarding this matter
will be very much appreciated.

Thank you all & Merry Christmas...
and God Bless.

VS

[G35 Mass]

I think you have a chance.

[Gutwrench]

I feel any conviction beyond simple traffic infractions will be a significant problem for a candidate especially if it occurred within the last 5 years. There's always exceptions but that's my honest answer. Even multiple infractions will cause some concern.

[mcsap]

Regardless of your opinion , you committed a felony and got arrested. You got a plea deal down to a Misd and moved on. Will this charge and how recent it was effect your chances of getting hired ? Yes.

You will be competing against others who were never arrested. And it was just over a year ago. I would not discourage you from applying but this will be an issue. All I can say is to keep piling on as many GOOD things that you can do to try and minimize how this looks.

Some depts may flatly reject you , some will want you to have a few years from your arrest. Go and apply and see what happens.

While you have done your best to sugarcoat your offense , you need to do a little more accepting responsibility for what you did. Without belittling the law ( that you may have to enforce) , say what you did , that it was pled to a Misd and that you have stayed out of trouble.

[ChesCopPodz]

I'll qualify my response a bit. Yes you're in trouble. Are you dead in the water? No.

BUT, a lot depends on the circumstances. As a BI, I'd be a lot more inclined to overlook this incident if you were say, breaking up a domestic where a guy was pushing around a woman rather than if you were drunk and simply got stupid.

[DeltaV]

Since you weren't convicted of a felony you aren't officially disqualified at most departments (although some states do disqualify those who have class A / first degree misdemeanor convictions), however it's a huge hurdle to jump and will really hurt you when you're compared with other applicants.

You were arrested and charged with a felony, which you committed. The only reason that the felony was dropped to a misdemeanor was your lack of a criminal record. This is a common occurrence. That's going to be a big blemish on your record. Also, if you try to minimize it like you have here by saying how the law is flawed and it really shouldn't be a felony, that will probably get your application thrown into the trash faster than anything else. I really don't understand why you're minimizing it either. Sure the law might say damage to anything over $250 is a felony and that may be low, however what you destroyed was ten times that amount. That's going to be a felony everywhere.

[ET109]

Regardless of your criminal history, I would be concerned with your mental state if you start 'kidding (maybe)' about suicide if you can't get a job as a police officer.

Even if you are DQ, there are other jobs- not being able to do one job out of all of them in the world should not really make one think 'life is over'.