I went to talk to another lawyer.

Apparently the court I was assigned to (Harbor Court in Newport Beach) is one of the toughest and most unsympathetic courts to be sent to. It doesn't do me any good to know it, but apparently if I'd been assigned to any of the other courts I would have stood a chance of getting either a dismissal or at least an option of a diversion program. I guess the difference of 10 miles can make or break you in everything including making mistakes.

Because I admitted guilt and confessed to my crime at the scene to the police, the lawyer said that it was even more unlikely that the D.A. would consider a dismissal. Although according to her, sometimes the impossible can happen, it comes down to what the D.A. had for breakfast. But the impossible is the impossible. I'm trying to accept that I have no chance of being able to walk away from this mistake.

Best I could hope for would be to have the charges reduced to an infraction (though, what kind of infraction, I forgot to ask.) According to this lawyer an infraction would not show up on a background check. Although from reading the forums it seems like it will still show up somewhere in certain employment fields.

So far, nothing showed up in the paper about my arrest, for which I am thankful. Guess there were enough rapes, burglaries, and homicides to push my stupid stuff out of the picture.

September 11th will always have a new meaning for me from now on...