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I am wondering if anyone can attest to having been admitted with a similar slew of dismissals. If you can't attest to such an occurence but have advice I would love to hear it.

2 years Ago I was riding around with a couple of poor friends and was given a citation for posession of marijuana even though it wasn't mine and the guy who owned it admitted to it. I hired a lawyer and the case was dismissed by the DA.

1 Year Ago I was Arrested for Destruction of Property and Posession of Marijuana. I was in a car accident. While carousing through my car a police officer found .5grams of marijuana in my back seat that I honestly didn't know was there. The car was my brother's.

The Destruction of Property is a class C Misd. and I pled guilty and paid a fine.

The Posession of Marijuana was dropped because I agreed to work for the local police department in putting away a dealer that was operating at my job. It was common knowlege that this guy was dealing out of the back of the restaurant.

A month later I was Arrested a second time for Criminal Trespassing. I was smoking a cigarette at my job, the people who own the complex have a no smoking policy, and upon witnessing me smoking a cigarette they called the police and had me arrested at my place of employment for trespassing. The DA refused to prosecute. Basically it was similar to your landlord telling you that you can't have your friend over to the apartment you pay rent at. I have since sued the complex owners and reached a decent settlement for lost wages, harrasement etc.

I am 22 years old with a 3.5 GPA and 167 average practice LSAT score. I intend on taking the LSAT this October and applying for the 2011 admission cycle. I'm looking at SMU, OU and maybe :\ George Mason. I am on my school's Moot Court Team and my school's academic conduct committee.

In conclusion, I have decent numbers, I'm looking at decent schools, I have 2 dismissed posession of Marijuana charges and 1 dismissed Criminal Trespass charge. The only thing I have been convicted of is Destruction of Property and a handful of speeding tickets.

What do you think my chances are?

You sure seem to have poor luck with marijuana mysteriously finding it's way into your possession without you knowing. You should get that resolved before applying. Seriously, though, dismissals and deferrals are not out of the ordinary, and it's difficult to believe that you have two POM arrests and it wasn't yours either time. I don't think that story will earn you any points with an admissions committee. Just sayin.

Marionberry wrote:You sure seem to have poor luck with marijuana mysteriously finding it's way into your possession without you knowing. You should get that resolved before applying. Seriously, though, dismissals and deferrals are not out of the ordinary, and it's difficult to believe that you have two POM arrests and it wasn't yours either time. I don't think that story will earn you any points with an admissions committee. Just sayin.

+1

This is exactly what I was thinking as I read this. Dude, you clearly have a bad habit of associating with the wrong crowd and there's some fault to be had there. So no, you're not totally innocent and you need to quit acting like you are. If you pull this when you explain these incidents on your apps you can most likely expect some dings.

So basically (to answer your question) I don't think your chances are great unless you take some responsibility for the reasons why you were in the situations you were in (guilty or not). The fact the charges were dismissed means nothing. If you can manage to take some responsibility in your apps, and demonstrate some maturity/growth you'll be fine.

cartercl wrote:

Marionberry wrote:You sure seem to have poor luck with marijuana mysteriously finding it's way into your possession without you knowing. You should get that resolved before applying. Seriously, though, dismissals and deferrals are not out of the ordinary, and it's difficult to believe that you have two POM arrests and it wasn't yours either time. I don't think that story will earn you any points with an admissions committee. Just sayin.

+1

This is exactly what I was thinking as I read this. Dude, you clearly have a bad habit of associating with the wrong crowd and there's some fault to be had there. So no, you're not totally innocent and you need to quit acting like you are. If you pull this when you explain these incidents on your apps you can most likely expect some dings.

So basically (to answer your question) I don't think your chances are great unless you take some responsibility for the reasons why you were in the situations you were in (guilty or not). The fact the charges were dismissed means nothing. If you can manage to take some responsibility in your apps, and demonstrate some maturity/growth you'll be fine.

Agreed. As with any addendum about legal trouble, you need to be wiling to take responsibility and demonstrate that you've matured since the incident. As such, your addendum should look vastly different from your original post.

Also, you should probably stop smoking so much weed and doing shit to get yourself arrested, just as a general rule.

Marionberry wrote:Also, you should probably stop smoking so much weed and doing shit to get yourself arrested, just as a general rule.

This made me literally laugh out loud. Probably because it's what we're all thinking.

Marionberry wrote:Also, you should probably stop smoking so much weed and doing shit to get yourself arrested, just as a general rule.

+1. Cut that shit out, then man up and take some responsibility.

blurbz wrote:
Agreed. As with any addendum about legal trouble, you need to be wiling to take responsibility and demonstrate that you've matured since the incident. As such, your addendum should look vastly different from your original post.

I certainly agree and intend for my addendum to look vastly different from my post. My post's purpose is as a list of facts. A criminal addendum by definition is meant to be persuasive.

I do have a deep regret for my poor choices in the past, and such convictions will certainly be conveyed to the admissions committee. I am at fault for associating with the wrong people and for my behavior in the past. These are a given.

I suppose my question should have been: "Taking these dismissals and conviction alone into account what do you think my chances are?"

The answer I gather from your responses is that it doesn't really matter as long as your remorseful. Is that correct?

I don't know that any of us can definitively answer that: The answer will come after you apply. I think the pattern, since that is what it is, will hurt more than if it were simply an isolated incident. Because of this, your remorse/maturation will be even more important. Unfortunately, all of this will make your cycle hard to predict--Your job is simply to put forth the best application you can!

Because of this, I think you need to apply broadly. While it is possible that your cycle will play out exactly the way your numbers predict, it is probably equally possible that it will not. Give yourself a wide cushion and apply to any school from which you'd be comfortable graduating.

Thanks!

.

HBK wrote:

Funny. I was thinking the same thing.

Read all applications closely. You probs won't have to disclose your dismissals on all of them.

Also, being a NARC = NOT COOL

If none of us believe your stories behind your run-ins with the police, the adcoms most certainly won't believe you either.

One thing I noted in my applications this past year is that private schools require a lot less disclosure than public schools. This is not universally true, I would guess, but a general rule. So, look into this sort of thing with great attention (try not to be high for that part).

sumus romani wrote:If none of us believe your stories behind your run-ins with the police, the adcoms most certainly won't believe you either.

One thing I noted in my applications this past year is that private schools require a lot less disclosure than public schools. This is not universally true, I would guess, but a general rule. So, look into this sort of thing with great attention (try not to be high for that part).

lol

don't write your addendum in the tone you took above. you sound kind of whiny.

somewhatwayward wrote:don't write your addendum in the tone you took above. you sound kind of whiny.

also, don't be a snitch.

You could, however, write your personal statement about how being a snitch sparked an interest in criminal law, and through your work as a lawyer you hope to make it so that people can snitch without getting stitches.