I need legal advice regarding a lewdness charge

[Seekinghappines]

Here's my story:

Over Labor Day Weekend 2010 I was at Sandy Hook, NJ at the nude beach. To make a long story short I had a bad day, and through a series of unfortunate events, I ended up talking to a guy on the beach. He started touching me and then we ended up going behind the sand dunes to fool around. The rangers swooped in and arrested us. We were on an isolated stretch of beach and no one was around. No one saw us except the rangers with long-range binoculars. (By the way I have NEVER had any brush with the law prior to this or since. I'm a professional and a student.) The police told us he wouldn't arrest us if we showed our ID's. We did and they arrested us anyway.

Before my court appearance I talked to the public defender and she told me it was going to be downgraded to a petty misdemeanor. In court the assistant prosecutor told me it was being downgraded to "just a violation." He said "We just want to send the message not to do it again." When I cornered the main prosecutor and and the public defender together and asked the public defender if it's a being downgraded to a misdemeanor or a violation and if I will have a criminal record because of this this she said "We get asked this question all the time and the answer is we don't know." Later on the main prosecutor told me again it gets downgraded to a violation. Months later I called the public defender back for clarification and she said it is in fact a criminal offense (so she lied- she knew that before the court date and after, but somehow she didn't know on the court date).

I later on asked the magistrate judge for an official copy of the disposition and he sent it to me with no criminal/violation codes so I still could not verify whether it was downgraded to a petty misdemeanor or a violation.

To make matters worse at one point my public defender told me I didn't need her and she then represented the man I was fooling around with. She then came to me with the prosecutor and was trying to get me to testify against the other guy (In other words, she was trying to help the prosecutor to prosecute her own client).

I want to appeal this case and have it dismissed because so much was done wrong. I have been searching for pro-bono help but I have not been able to find anyone to help me yet.

I've tried Lambda Legal, GLAD, ACLU of New Jersey, and a few other gay organizations.

I'm so angry about this whole thing. I'm angry that I was lied to by the police, the public defender, and the prosecutor. I am studying communications in school and this event has made me so furious that I now want to become an activist for criminal justice reform.

Can anyone here recommend any organizations that deal with misconduct and who can help? I'm in college now and I cannot afford an attorney. Should I start by filing an official complaint or wait for help?

Thanks.

[pellaz]

you must get this matter down graded to less than any type of felony and or expunged. Like going to college its an investment in your future life to get this erased.

[Blue]

PAY a decent lawyer - lewd and lascivious conduct is not a charge you want to have on your record - in lay terms molestation and, given how people's minds work, well you see the connotation that are going to go with that. You can't hide it, you have to register (sex offender) and, employers will see it, car insurance, etc...

You need to get it off your record, even if that means you make some other sacrifices, get a loan whatever to get a lawyer that can do that for you.

[Seekinghappines]

Just to clarify here. The original charge was public lewdness, and I pled guilty to Disorderly Conduct. I was not convicted of lewdness. The issue is that I was told it was being downgraded to a violation when it was actually downgraded to a lesser criminal charge. That's why I'm angry about it.

[Blue]

Disorderly, no big deal. Misdemeanor, non sexual, non violent. Yeah it might put a stickler employer off, but that's just you got drunk, got loud and someone called the cops basically. Jusy means you got a little rowdy once and, the cops got involved.

[Rawr]

So I'm not just going crazy. For minute I was certain I had already read this a year or two back. Turns out there was someone else who posted here a few year back who had a similar experience. De ja vu

http://gayspeak.com/showthread.php?t=16311

Maybe you can get some info from that thread?

[Rawr]

Wait a second... the other thread is your thread isn't it?

[Seekinghappines]

Yes, the other thread was me. My old account got locked out and I could not get back into my account so I started a new one. Anyway, if anyone can steer me in the direction of an organization that can help, please help.

Thanks.

[Blue]

All there really is is Legal aid, free if you are low income and, have a legal matter that has not been resolved (this has by their definition unless you have another court date.) and Hiring a lawyer to handle sealing and/or expunging your record - not cheap, takes a bit of time and, wipes out the good with the bad in some instances.

[Rainbowmum]

I would suggest no matter what it costs , get this off your record.
Hire a lawyer to get this done, it is your future.