ABH, no record,glass involved,jail?

[Thekopman]

Hi all - I am a 34 yr old married man with no record and 2 young children (3+7).
Last August I was out with friends and family celebrating the birth of my brothers(policeman) new baby.Most of night was spent in a local social club playing skittles but we decided to spend last hour in local pub where the problem was.
My brother was talking to this girl - mainly about his new baby and over walked a bouncer who turns out to be girls boyfriend - suddenly she changes her friendly attitude and accuses my other brother of pinching her bottom.What resulted was a dispute between the bouncer and my policeman brother who did nothing but hold his hands up in a defensive way.I walked over towards the incident and found myself throwing 2 or 3 punches - scared for my 2 younger brothers welfare and that of my own.It all lasted 20secs and CCTV has shown the bouncer threw 1st punch.I spent nite in cells on my own because I had a glass in my hand at the time and it smashed on his head - I was only aware of this when my own mate said"you had a glass mate". I was finally charge this Feb with ABH after originally being charged with wounding with intent.He had 2 small cuts which required glueing.
My solicitor advised against pleading guilty at magistrates as I would lose all credit and the magistrates may well just give me 6 mths without any knoweldge of full facts.It know goes to Crown Court.
I may well plead guilty but have to insist the bouncer was well out of order and was just looking to make trouble that night.My younger doesnt agree or deny pinching the girls bottom but doesnt remember her making and fuss at time if he did.
My brother has siad no jail but he is my brother and I need some inpartial advise?Anyone with some views / advise would be welcome.

[Thekopman]

Oaky - so no chance of it all being over if I plead guilty at Crown on the 18th June then? Not even where I have no previous or anything? What will have to be done then in that time? Do the probation service get invloved?

[Thekopman]

Oh well - at least I know its gonna be another wait.Will get the world cup in before possible jail. Have to joke about it as it will drive me mad before it gets to court otherwise.Thanks for your advise!

[Thekopman]

Thanks Eddie - nice to hear that from someone other than my brother (the policeman).I am being realistic however.The fact that my brother is involved may make them throw the book at me. The one thing that I do hold onto though is the fact that if they thought I was a threat to society why take 10mths so far and leave me out on bail.
ps- colour TV and no wife nagging me - starting to sound good - again - only joking - only way to cope with it!

[Thekopman]

Does anyone know where all Eddies answers have dissapeared to? He was giving me some advise with regards my siuation and all post have gone?

[Thekopman]

Well I had meeting with Solicitor and viewed the cct in full and I have to say I cant believe it was only myself arrested although obviously I realise that I was the one who did the damage (although my brother ended up with 4 stitches in his lip - the defendent had 2 cuts glued). I am pleading guilty because putting the glass issue out of the equation I assaulted the bouncer (self defense maybe) and that is what I did. I have been advised that after my plea next friday it will go to probationers interview / report. I will come out of this as a low risk and my solicitor expects a community order and or fine. Really hope that there are no changes in court dates now.Its been a long 11mths with a lot of time to think,really dont want it to go on much longer.

[Thekopman]

Thanks Eddie

9.15AM this friday for plea and direction which will hopefully be straight forward.

Will let you know how it goes.Fingers crossed for no concellations.

[Thekopman]

Eddie,

Thanks so much for your concern but no I am out and will be staying out. The judge after I pleaded guilty turned to the probation officer and said "Could you do a report on My Lang in the next hr or 2? I dont believe MR Lang needs another 3-4 week wait on top of the 10mths he has had". The probation officer said yes and the judge turned to me and said this will be sorted today Mr Lang and I can say I wont be sending you into custody. WHAT A RELIEF! I then had a 20min interview with probation and was called back to be sentenced after lunch about 2 hrs later. The judge when sentencing said "Mr Lang, I dont believe I will ever see you again and because of your good character , your attitude in questioning and your early guilty plea I will be giving you just 100 hours of unpaid work and £200 fine towards costs. The prosecution had asked for £1200 costs to which the judge frowned at saying £1200 on a guilty plea - I dont think so. I believe once the judge had seen the CCTV, the damage done etc he believed it shouldnt have come this far and should not have taken this long to come this far. I went staright to local probation office for a half hour interview after court and have my full day induction this tuesday.

I must say for the most this sight has decent people who want to offer advise (Like yourself Eddie and New Judge). However when I first came on here for advise there seemed to be an element of scare mungering which doesnt help anyone. I suppose that you cant post all the facts or CCTV on here though so sometimes the real truth is clouded.

I will carry on having a browse on this sight and offer support to anyone in a similar situation to what I have been. Thanks very much to ANY advise I have recieved in particular the 2 I have mentioned in this post!

[Thekopman]

Thanks Eddie
My solicitor echoed what you have said really. Just got to start my community order now. Didmy 3 hr health + safety induction this tuesday and an hour of litter picking and will start my unpaid work proper a week monday. ONLY 96HRS LEFT!