A child care worker in her mid-40s was recently out drinking with two friends. When they went to close out their bill, they were $9 short, so one of the friends called someone else to bring him money. The bar responded by calling the police. The woman who became our client tried to prevent the police from arresting the friend who was calling someone else for money. As a result, she was arrested in Roanoke City General District Court for fraud on a restaurant, resisting arrest, and failure to give her name to the police – three counts of Class 1 criminal misdemeanors.
Our client had prior public intoxication and two assault and battery charges on her criminal record. Given her work in child care, keeping her criminal record from further trouble was important. Michelle Derrico represented her and was able to resolve the case in one court date. There were technical issues in the case since our client wasn’t resisting her own arrest – she was resisting her friend’s arrest. Moreover, we argued that the charge of failing to give a name to the police violated a city ordinance that may have been inappropriately adopted by the City of Roanoke. The client pled no contest to a disorderly conduct charge with a $25 fine.
Case results depend upon a variety of factors unique to each case. Case results do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any future case.