Posession of Marijuana

Name of the state: wisconsin

So about a week ago I got caught with 1 gram of weed on me and an underage drinking. It is first offense for both, so my fines might be lowered if I go to court, but I don't see either of them going away.

In this county, the underage drinking ticket leaves my record after 1 year automatically. So here is my question, as far as the marijuana ticket goes,
a) how long does it take for this to leave my record, if ever.
b) I was reading about getting it expunged so I don't have to have future employers find out about it. I've already seen the forms that would have to fill out if this were to happen. How long does someone have to wait after the charge to try to get it expunged and how difficult is it to? (example: I go a year without any more charges of any kind and then attempt to get it expunged) Would this be to short of a wait before trying? And would the judge grant it?
c) Is there anyway that a judge would give me a deferred sentence without a lawyer? And can I request it or does it have to be offered?

Whew...I know that's a lot...thanks for any help you guys can offer me.

Responses embedded.

Originally Posted by Unregistered Name of the state: wisconsin So about a week ago I got caught with 1 gram of weed on me and an underage drinking. It is first offense for both, so my fines might be lowered if I go to court, but I don't see either of them going away. In this county, the underage drinking ticket leaves my record after 1 year automatically. So here is my question, as far as the marijuana ticket goes, a) how long does it take for this to leave my record, if ever. I was on a jury, and a defendants juvenile record was put in front of us to show a history of drug use. So my guess is that it never leaves your record. The key is to never appear in court again for drugs possession or use. The first time may get treated as a youthful mistake, but not if you're back in court for the same thing. b) I was reading about getting it expunged so I don't have to have future employers find out about it. I've already seen the forms that would have to fill out if this were to happen. How long does someone have to wait after the charge to try to get it expunged and how difficult is it to? (example: I go a year without any more charges of any kind and then attempt to get it expunged) Would this be to short of a wait before trying? And would the judge grant it? Future employers who use a good background service check will find this info. The good ones do search across state lines and do dig deep. See the answer to your first question. We did see previous records well after the year was up. c) Is there anyway that a judge would give me a deferred sentence without a lawyer? And can I request it or does it have to be offered? No idea on this, I'm not a lawyer. Whew...I know that's a lot...thanks for any help you guys can offer me.

By the way, pot and pot smokers smell pretty bad so unless you want to live life
with some pretty bad body odor, i'd give the stuff up. Actually, drug users in
general tend to smell, their use of the stuff seems to go hand in hand with their
lack of personal hygiene.

Make sure in that situation that you get legal counsel (or at least the public defender) to try to keep this off your record eventually--jail time is not likely if your record is clear now. But having that arrest and/or a conviction on your record could make job-hunting etc. more difficult. Often this could be negotiated down to some kind of court supervision or even be dismissed etc.

Originally Posted by Unregistered Responses embedded. By the way, pot and pot smokers smell pretty bad so unless you want to live life with some pretty bad body odor, i'd give the stuff up. Actually, drug users in general tend to smell, their use of the stuff seems to go hand in hand with their lack of personal hygiene.

I beg to differ. The females that I hook up with, always tell me how good I smell, and compliment my hygiene. Poor generalization on your point that shows how intelligent you are. Even Brad Pitt is a known "pot smoker" and even the good lord knows he doesn't smell.