Answer

Well. The offense would be a class 1 misdemeanor. The penalties can include fines, community service, probation, restitution, and up to a year in jail (although its not very likely).

If they were convicted, it would remain part of their history forever. (For example, if a job application asked, "have you ever been convicted of a crime" they would have to put "yes").

As far as getting it off their criminal record, they could file a motion to have it expunged (motion to set aside the judgment) after they paid the fine, served the probation, and had no problems for at least a year after the probation was done.

A good attorney or even, potentially, a public defender, should be able to negotiate a stay of prosecution if this is the first offense. That basically means that the prosecution would be put on hold and if they don't commit any crimes within a certain time-frame (usually one or two years) then the charges would be dropped.

I would suggest contacting a different attorney. $5000 seems way too expensive for something like this. Something like this shouldn't cost any more than $500 to $1500 depending on how cooperative the prosecutor is.


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