I got cited for public indecency in West Chester, PA for…

A summary offense is an infraction. That is, it is not a crime. Crimes are misdemeanors and felonies. It is, however, a criminal infraction meaning that the conviction can appear on your criminal history.

The judge does not have the ability to turn this into a civil infraction. But the penalty will be a civil penalty. That is, the odds of your having to serve any time in jail for this are just about 0, so long as you show up for your court date.

What you would be looking for in a first arrest case like this is to end up, if possible, without a conviction on your record. Summary offenses in Pennsylvania are generally expungeable, but there is a waiting period of 5 years unless you can get something like ARD. After ARD you can expunge the record once your summary offense has been dismissed.

It's always best to have a lawyer in criminal court, but you can plead not guilty and ask if you can get ARD. There's more work than just paying a fine. YOu'll be on supervision, have to stay out of trouble with the law, you'll pay fines and do some community service, but there's a dismissal at the end and then you can get it quickl expunged. That's better than having a conviction for public indecency on your record when you finish college and start looking for a job.

You're not denying it. All criminal defendants walk into court under a presumption of innocence, and that presumption affords them the right to be advised by an attorney, the right against self-incrimnation, the right to confront the evidence against y, the rights to hearings and trial if you want them, or the opportunity to negotiate a deal if you don't.

You can always take back a not guilty plea and plead guiilty or no contest. But once you do plead guilty or no contest, you have a criminal conviction and you can't count on ever being able to undo that if you don't like the result. So it is customary and expected for a criminal defendant to plead not guilty at his court date. Then he has control over his options and can ask the judge and DA for an offer that will keep the conviction off of his record -- such as ARD.

Unless there is no alternative, a criminal defendant should never plead guilty or no-contest unless he knows what kind of sentence he's going to get in exchange for his plea.

You're very welcome!