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My boyfriend was charged with VC 4463(a)1 and VC 4462.5. His court date is tomorrow, what should he expect? Should he ask for a court appointed attorney?
HelloCustomerand welcome to JustAnswer.A violation of California Vehicle Code section 4463, subdivision (a)(1), is an alternative felony-misdemeanor, punishable to up to 3 years in State Prison if filed as a felony and one year in the county jail if filed as a misdemeanor. A violation of section 4462.5 is a misdemeanor with a maximum possible sentence of 6 months in jail and a fine of up to $1000.You can see the details of these code sections at:http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=veh&group=04001-05000&file=4450-4467You didn't say whether or not the 4463 is charged as a felony, but if he was cited and released, I would expect that it is filed as a misdemeanor. In any event, these charges carry significantly severe consequences if he is convicted, so he absolutely should either retain counsel if he can afford to or ask for the public defender if he cannot.The first court appearance is for what is called arraignment. He will be told by the court what charges have actually been filed, advised of his rights and asked how he pleads. He should plead not guilty and request either time to retain private counsel or appointment of the public defender. In either event, the case will be continued for a short period of time (perhaps a week or two), for an attorney to either retained or appointed and to make a further court appearance.Good luck with this & thanks for asking about it on JustAnswer. If you have any other questions, please let me know.
Experience: CA Atty since 1976, primarily criminal law. 150+ jury trials.
Thank You for your responce. I do have a few other questions. The original ticket cited only one charge. VC 4462.5 (False Display). (9/3/08). Over three months later, ( 12/17/08) he finally recieved a letter with regard to that ticket entiltled "Initinal Complaint". The letter states there are not one, but two charges filed. The additional charge being VC 4463(A)(1). He still has the original tickets as proof of the one initianal charge. Are they able to add additional charges after the fact?
Lastly, and the most concerning, will he actually have to spend time behind bars? I
You're welcome ... and regarding your follow up questions:What happens in a situation like this is that the initial citation is submitted to the District Attorney's office for review. A deputy DA looks into the situation and determines whether the cited offense and/or any other charges are appropriate. If, based on the available evidence, which typically includes review of the DMV records, the DDA determines that other charges are appropriate, they can be added to the case.This is what happened in your boyfriend's case. The officer could see that there was something wrong with the registration displayed on the vehicle or presented to him when he asked for it (not clear what that might be without more information, but something was amiss with respect to the registration).Then, when the DA reviewed it, he determined that the registration had been altered, forged or falsified in some way. Therefore, he added the 4463 charge. All completely normal and legal. I was a DDA myself in Orange County for 10 years and, as a young DA, reviewed and filed many cases of this nature, often adding charges to those initially cited by the officer.As for whether or not he is likely to receive any jail time, that depends on a number of factors that will be considered by the court, including the nature of the underlying falsity and the reason that your boyfriend did it, as well as the extent of his prior record, if any.Thanks again for asking your question here on JustAnswer.