Ask HN: I need legal advice

The "facts" of the event are going to be presented if you go to trial. Prosecution presumably will do its best to paint you in a bad light. What do you have to say in your defense? "I feel terrible and I made a huge mistake" isn't a defense, it's a plea for clemency.

I suppose it is possible that you might get lenient treatment if you were exceptionally remorseful and contrite. Maybe. Or maybe the judge or jury will feel that "We Need To Send a Message."

You claim that you "didn't take anything." But (apparently) you are not being charged with the robbery. So you are in agreement with the Cops / Prosecutor on this. You seem perhaps to think that the assault charge is about the robbery (yes?) but it looks to me that the assault charge is about the threat to use deadly force ("I have a gun!") You should get this clarified with your lawyer. You should also know the differences in sentencing levels between "Assault 3" and "Assault 4."

Even if you did not really have a gun and did not physically harm anyone, the law may still consider that you committed Assault. It sounds like you are not being charged with the robbery... well, that's something good for you. But you were "involved" in a robbery and when the victims of that robbery pursued you, you shouted out that you had a gun. Have you gone on record agreeing to that?

If you haven't gone on record admitting that you shouted out that you had a gun, you could try lying under oath and claim that you did NOT say such a thing. And face two witnesses who will swear that you did say that. That might not work out well for you.

If you did claim to have a gun (even though you did not), in that situation the law might assume that the victims felt (or any ordinary person would feel) threatened. Such a threat might be classified as Assault.

The fact that you were charged with (felony) THIRD degree assault, with an offer to reduce it to "Assault 4 gross misdemeanor" suggests that somebody either is willing to give you a bit of a break (!?), or they figure that going to trial, and succeeding, with the 3rd degree assault charge might be difficult. (Why not charge you with FIRST, or SECOND degree assault... hey, you could be in a worse position than you are!)

So...

Go to trial and lose: you have a felony on your record. I think this is Bad.

Go to trial and get more leniency than the reduced charge offer... you'd be ahead. What would need to happen for you to get that better deal? How likely is that to happen?

If you take the offer: you have a "gross misdemeanor" on your record. (I'm guessing that's less bad than a felony but I don't actually understand the difference.)

Does your lawyer think you have any additional wiggle room? If you overflow with remorse, contrition and abject apologies... could you get 6 months of community service instead? Or something?

That's all I have for now.

Again, IANAL, but this is especially a good instance where I would hire an attorney if you can afford to. You may be able to get the DUI and assault cases consolidated, even though they are separate incidents. You may be able to take a stiffer sentence on the DUI to avoid the penalty on the assault. Just as an example, I was able to get two completely unrelated charges almost a year apart consolidated. Took a stiffer sentence (longer, more prohibitive probation) to avoid certain jail time on the greater charge. My lawyer was able to get probation on the greater charge to run simultaneous with the other probation. So I served one year of hard probation (curfew, almost daily monitoring, and constant monitoring of my home and business), instead of two years in jail.

As for the girl turning herself in, if she is the one that actually committed the theft she may be worth more to the prosecutors in terms of conviction than your assault charge. Just like a getaway driver turning in the bank robber. The bank robber is who they really want, and in most cases they will let the getaway driver off with a slap on the wrist if they help get the bank robber convicted.

I can't reiterate enough though that I am not a lawyer, not familiar with your case, and this by no means legal advice by any stretch. The only honest, been there done that, advice I can give you at this point is that in situations like this you need to step back and assess the direction you are headed. If you are truly remorseful, this was a slip in judgment, and you are honestly wanting to get your life headed in the right direction, you need to remove yourself from your current circles. Snitches get stitches is all fine and great when all you aspire to is life on the streets or in jail, but if you want to change for the better you have to look out for yourself first. That means taking actions that can be difficult at times, like completely dropping the circle of people you hangout with (they aren't your friends if they are robbing stores when you are with them) or moving out of the area.