How Can You Be "vacated" From A Charge?

[MalahatTwo7]

What happens? The charge takes a vacation and doesn't come back?

Trunk Mom Gets Off Booze Charge on Technicality

Woman had earlier conviction for letting kids ride in trunk

Updated 2:01 PM EDT, Mon, Mar 9, 2009

A Thurmont woman convicted of providing vodka to teens has had her guilty plea vacated.

A judge vacated a guilty verdict against a Thurmont woman convicted of providing vodka to a 13-year-old girl.

The Frederick judge found Lanora Lucas, 41, had been charged and convicted under the wrong statute. She was convicted under a statute pertaining to businesses and individuals with liquor licenses.

Lucas cannot be charged again due to protections against double jeopardy, said defense attorney Chad Weddle.

The charges stemmed from a teenage drinking party in May. Two teens, ages 13 and 16, were hospitalized with alcohol poisoning.

Lucas was convicted three years earlier of reckless endangerment for letting three young children ride in the trunk of her car on a 90-degree day.

Copyright Associated Press

And yes, this is a serious question, because I have never heard the term in this context before.

[gamewell35]

What happens? The charge takes a vacation and doesn't come back?

Trunk Mom Gets Off Booze Charge on Technicality

Woman had earlier conviction for letting kids ride in trunk

Updated 2:01 PM EDT, Mon, Mar 9, 2009

A Thurmont woman convicted of providing vodka to teens has had her guilty plea vacated.

A judge vacated a guilty verdict against a Thurmont woman convicted of providing vodka to a 13-year-old girl.

The Frederick judge found Lanora Lucas, 41, had been charged and convicted under the wrong statute. She was convicted under a statute pertaining to businesses and individuals with liquor licenses.

Lucas cannot be charged again due to protections against double jeopardy, said defense attorney Chad Weddle.

The charges stemmed from a teenage drinking party in May. Two teens, ages 13 and 16, were hospitalized with alcohol poisoning.

Lucas was convicted three years earlier of reckless endangerment for letting three young children ride in the trunk of her car on a 90-degree day.

Copyright Associated Press

And yes, this is a serious question, because I have never heard the term in this context before.

I've heard of this so-called double jeopardy before, but only thought it applied to capital punishment cases.

[hwoods]

In Maryland Law, "Vacated" means the same as the more common "Expunged". Either refers to the Charge being removed from the permanent record, after the fact. "Acquitted" which is when the charges are found not to be merited by evidence, is an action taken by the Judge during the Trial, where the others are an "After the Fact" action.

This info provided by FirehouseLawyers.com......

[EFD840]

I assume this is in the US, if not then my answers don't apply.

Vacated simply means that the judge threw out the conviction.

The defense attorney may want to take a refresher. She certainly can't be tried on the same charge, but not because of double jeoprady. Double jeoprady says that once you're acquitted, the state cannot retry you for that same offense. In a similar fashion, if you're acquitted of murder the state cannot come back and charge you with manslaughter for the same killing. This sometimes plays into prosecution strategy. If you've got a multiple homicide case, don't charge them all at once. If you lose you can get a second bite at the apple with the other victims. Oddly enough, the courts do often allow federal charges after state acquittals.

This lady wasn't acquitted. Her conviction was vacated because she was tried under the wrong statute. I can't think of any reason the state could not retry her on the proper statute.

[MalahatTwo7]

For edification, Thurmont is just outside of Frederick, MD. And ya, the prosecution screwed up by charging her as if she were a business with a licence to dispense alcohol. Which, as a private citizen, she is not. Although I really wonder how any lawyer could make THAT mistake........

[doughesson]

If it had been a dude that gave alcohol to a 13 y/o girl,he'd be so far under the jailhouse they'd have to slingshot daylight to him.And that's if they bothered to remember that he was even there.
Think there's not a double standard?If a male teacher gets caught taking indecent liberties with female students,he is excoriated on national news and gets jail time where he learns a new game called "Survival".
Rarely does the same thing happen when it's a woman teacher.The most common refrain is "Where were teachers like that when *I* was that age?"

[hwoods]

For edification, Thurmont is just outside of Frederick, MD. And ya, the prosecution screwed up by charging her as if she were a business with a licence to dispense alcohol. Which, as a private citizen, she is not. Although I really wonder how any lawyer could make THAT mistake........

You had to bring that up.............. Thurmont is also where Laura and I have our Weekend getaway place, on the next Mountain over from The President's digs at Camp David. Haven't seen Mr. & Mrs. "O" yet, but I'm sure they will drop by.......


The other thing - The Conversation went something like this: "Hey Billy Bob, this here's John Boy, I'm representing this dummy out here that was giving the kids Booze. Can you write that up on the Wrong page so it gets tossed out? (reply) " Sure Man, No Problem. By they way, ain't it your turn to Bring the Beer for the Fishin' on Saturday Afternoon??........." ..........

[MalahatTwo7]

You had to bring that up.............. Thurmont is also where Laura and I have our Weekend getaway place, on the next Mountain over from The President's digs at Camp David. Haven't seen Mr. & Mrs. "O" yet, but I'm sure they will drop by.......


The other thing - The Conversation went something like this: "Hey Billy Bob, this here's John Boy, I'm representing this dummy out here that was giving the kids Booze. Can you write that up on the Wrong page so it gets tossed out? (reply) " Sure Man, No Problem. By they way, ain't it your turn to Bring the Beer for the Fishin' on Saturday Afternoon??........." ..........

SEE, I knew it! One beer passes to another and its a done deal.

[doughesson]

SEE, I knew it! One beer passes to another and its a done deal.

And one term as County Sheriff sets a man up for life.Sometimes in more ways than you'd expect.
As to getting something removed from your record,the Hank Junior song had it best,"Send lawyers,guns and money,the skit has hit the fan!Help!".
Ol' Waylon Jennings just said "America is the greatest country in the world if you can pay for the lawyer."