Admitting Guilt

[mynic]

I have a juvenile dependency hearing in the morning, I am in California. I was accused of medically neglecting my daughter, which is absurdly false. I just spoke with my court appointed attorney and he stated that if I don't admit guilt the case will most likely never be dismissed. I will either not get my daughter back or will be under court supervision until she's 18 or both. Any recommendations?

[Daruma]

I'm not a lawyer or an expert or anything, but my personal opinion is that you should never, ever claim you're guilty if you know you're not. It may seem like the easy way out right now, but it will surely come back to haunt you later. Frankly I think your attorney is just trying to make his own job easier. If you admit guilt, he doesn't have to work so hard on your case.

[perfectly_flawed]

That's common with court appointed lawyers. They usually want you to go along with whatever CPS says and that's that. It's less court time for them. By admitting guilt you're opening yourself up for many years of headaches. I was coerced into it, and it was the single worst decision that I made. If I'd insisted on a trial I would have had him home much sooner than nearly 8 years. I would refuse and insist on a trial. The CPS worker must show proof in a trial, but doesn't have to any other place.

[noroses4u2c]

It's been less than two weeks and I still regret being pushed into pleading guilty by my court appointed lawyer.

They had me scared of a criminal case if I didn't plead guilty to civil neglect. I never neglected my daughter.

[kelz03103]

can you recind your signiture , they do try to frighten parents with the big scary time consuming trial , I went through this , i signed the first time around they got me again , the second time around i went to trial , Trial is NOT as scary as they make it out to be , they are all just lazy , and want to keep the peace with each other , they would rather work hand in hand than against each other since they do these cases together all week long , get some free consultations , think it over , and recind your signiture , i also want to add that during my first case i stated I was going to recind , or i wanted something brought up , and the cps lawyer said if you do that we will take our signitures off as well , it was an intimidation move , my lawyer was telling me we did'nt want her to do that , it would look bad ect , they love to say un- cooperative too , so what , i have learned un- cooperative is not a crime , and they question why at some point , and it makes the lawyers have to discuss why and what to do to make you more cooperative . I know the pain of wondering if you made the right choice , and wishing you had not signed , been there done that , I dont know if you can recind now or not , but I also want to tell you that if you get called inagain , or go to court again , that will be the first thing they bring up , that you signed , and were found guilty . In additon, I was found guilty both times in court , and I'm no more guilty than you are . It was worth the fight the second time around , but I still lost. I just wanted to let you know a trial is NOT the scary monster they say it is . good luck , best wishes ~Kelz~

[MaggieC]

While it may be a harder line to tow, if you are not guilty than why admit to same?

Get all the info. Ask your attorney about the consequences of "admitting" guilt.

In my personal opinion, I would never admit guilt when no harm was done, no crime, nothing to be guilty for.

[vau58]

I was in law enforcement for nearly 20 years. I was an investigator that interviewed and interrogated suspects. I am no longer in law enforcement, because I made enemies in CPS. I knew the laws better than their own so called investigators/case workers. There have been many children that I was ordered to take by CPS, but refused to take and the children remained with their parents. I became the subject of an investigation and was charged at the insistence of CPS and the Juvenile Office. I fought for my life and for the life of my daughter maintaining my innocence. I was found NOT GUILTY on all charges except for Tampering with Evidence. To this day no one including judges, prosecutors, and the law enforcement community cannot understand why I was found guilty of tampering when it was proven that no crime occurred. Long story short I lost my career, served 10 months in prison for a crime that no one understands why, but in the end I got my daughter back. She and I have put the past behind us and she is married with a daughter of her own. My daughter and I are very close. I love her very much. To this day and it has been 6 years, my friends in law enforcement and my community still stand behind me and I am a serious thorn in CPS. You cannot admit guilt no matter what they say. Court appointed attorneys are incompetent. You have to fight for the truth to come out, because they want you to admit guilt to justify what they are doing. Find yourself an attorney that has experience in fighting these types of cases. This your life and the life of your child that you are fighting for. CPS came at me with everything they could with a special prosecutor that was running for judge including listening in on private phone conversations between my daughter and my then wife. Listening in on phone calls that you are not a part of is illegal under federal wiretap laws. As a former interrogator you absolutely maintain your innocence no matter what, because if you at anytime admit guilt you will almost never be able to prove your innocence. They will use those words against you and make you into a liar no matter what you say.

[Daruma]

Vau58, after reading your post, I looked up your story in your earlier posts. I have no words to say how horrified I am at what they did to you.

[MaggieC]

"As a former interrogator you absolutely maintain your innocence no matter what, because if you at anytime admit guilt you will almost never be able to prove your innocence. They will use those words against you and make you into a liar no matter what you say".

I am not an attorney, this is not legal advice but I absolutely agree with the sentiment quoted above.