Downey Public Urination, 8 Hours Community Service Dismissal
Our client, age 31, went out for drinks with friends in October 2022 to a bar called The Glen in Downey. The bar had karaoke night and there were pool tables and sports playing on flat screen televisions. It was a fun place. It is located in a strip mall at the corner of Stewart and Gray Avenues in Downey.
At about 1:45 a.m., the group could see that the staff of the bar were getting ready to shut down at 2:00 a.m., so they left a few minutes early and talked in the parking lot, directly in front of Old River Liquor, which was in the same strip mall as The Glen.
Our client realized then that he needed to urinate, so he walked back over to the Glen to ask to re-enter to use the restroom. To his surprise, they said he could not re-enter.
Our client was somewhat surprised by this refusal, and told his friends. One of his friends suggested that our client could urinate beside his car, on the passenger side, which would not be visible to anyone driving by on the street.
Our client then walked over to the passenger side of his friend’s car and did urinate. After he finished, to his astonishment, two Downey Police Department officers on foot in the parking lot walked up to him and told him they watched him urinate alongside the car.
Our client explained that the bar refused to let him back in and his friend said he did not mind if our client urinated alongside his car, out of view to others (but apparently not the police officers).
The officers then asked for our client’s identification and issued him a ticket for violation of Downey Municipal Code § 4115, public urination. The officers asked our client to sign his name where he promised to appear in the Downey Superior Court in about five months, in late February, 2023.
The ticket had “m” circle next to the municipal code violation in the column labeled misdemeanor or infraction.
Our client did nothing in response to the ticket until the day before the arraignment, when he called Greg Hill & Associates and spoke with Greg about the ticket. The client described what had happened and asked what he should do.
Our client lived near the Downey Superior Court, in Pico Rivera, but did not want to go to court. He had a prior DUI from the Downey Superior Court from 2016, so he was anxious about going to the courthouse.
Greg described how such misdemeanors are handled in the Downey courthouse and explained how he could appear on the client’s behalf the next morning and negotiate for a reduction of the charge to an infraction, judicial diversion or “DA diversion,” although the matter would be handled by the Downey City Attorney’s Office, not the District Attorney’s office. Greg knew the Downey City Attorney from years of handling cases like this one and knew he was a reasonable person on such low-level offenses.
Greg then described why having the case reduced to an infraction was advantageous to having the case remain as a misdemeanor.
Greg also explained what judicial diversion was and what “DA diversion” was and how these two resolutions were better than having the case reduced to an infraction.
The client then retained Greg Hill & Associates and Greg appeared on the client’s behalf the following morning in the Downey Superior Court. Our client remained at work.
Greg discussed the case facts briefly with the Downey City Attorney, who at first offered to reduce the charge to an infraction in exchange for a $250 fine. Greg asked if some form of “DA diversion,” or more properly called “City Attorney diversion” was possible. The Downey City Attorney said, “sure – how about eight hours of community service for a dismissal in 90 days.” Greg agreed to this on the client’s behalf.
Greg then continued the arraignment for 90 days to allow the client to perform eight hours of approved community service. The client was very happy with this resolution.
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