My question involves criminal law for the state of: California
I bought a pizza place from a guy that couldn't make it work. It was held in escrow. The only capital I had was $200 in my cash register. With a lot of hard work I increased sales from $75/day to $1000/day. When summer hit it was 98 degrees at midnight and 25% of the population left students mostly. My sales dropped drastically to $200/day. I had only lived there for 3 months and didn't adjust my labor, food, and marketing costs in time.
My bank threatened me with calling the sherrifs department if i didn't bring my account back into black. I knew there was nothing I could do so I fled to oregon. It eventually caught up to me when I tried to renew my driver's license. I put $5000 to a lawyer and i never even got an itemized bill
I still lived in oregon so i commuted to my hearings. Right before the trial started my lawyer died. His partner told me that my retainer was used up from my initial consultation and for 3 court apperances. He told me that taking it to court would cost me several $1000 dollars more and he would not go any farther than this until I gave him another $15, 000.
I did not have it. I was forced into pleading guilty as my lawyers partner told me he would no farther. He said he worked out a plea agreement with the DA's Office. My original charge was 3 counts nsf felonies. The plea agreement was restitution, only I felony, probation, and community service. When it came time for me to plea my lawyer met with me for 10 minutes.
He told me the DA's office changed their mind cause the office wanted to go after business crimes. He then told me that I had to plea to the original charges. There would be no deals for me. I was there to plead to the deal he made with the DA's Office. He then reminded me that he would no longer represent me and I would have to start my trial in a couple days. I feel like my attorney ripped me off from my initial consultation$5000 retainer. I feel like there was a side deal made with the DA's office throwing me under the bus for a good deal for another client. That and I would literally go away soon back to oregon.
3 felony counts nsf, jailtime, restitution and fines, probation, commuity service.
I lived in Oregon so all that was served there. I did everything I was ordered to.
My conviction was on 01/11/2000. Did my probation automatically go away since i did everything I was ordered to? Is it possible for my convictions to be downgraded to misdemeanor or removed from my record?
My restaurant went out of business. I could not cover my checks. If I had signed invoices rather than checks there would be no criminal charges. Little did I know. I am sorry my post is so long. I won't do it again.
Lastly I am guilty of the crimes I was charged with. My displeasure with the performance of my attorney is in no means my excuse for my crime. I was trying to keep my restaurant alive so I wouldn't have to lay people off and quite frankly my pride kept me from seeing the wrong I was doing.

