David Reed gets a stet

**festivus** · 02-19-2011, 12:33 AM

Looks like Reed is walking away from this one.

A stet is like an indefinite postponement. For any reason within the first year after a case is closed with a stet, it can be reopened by either side and given a new date. Beyond that, either party would need to persuade a judge to sign off on the reopening of the case.

Mark Viviano idiotically described it as "a kind of probation" on the news, but he doesn't know anything, apparently. It's not. It's not an admission of guilt and is normally just a way for a prosecutor to get rid of a case that's not so awful it just needs to be dismissed.

After three years pass Reed can move to get it expunged off his record.

**AirFlacco** · 02-19-2011, 01:46 AM

I bet it cost him at least $10 grand for a lawyer.

**Brtnder81** · 02-19-2011, 01:51 AM

it kind of is like probation to a point where he gets no punishment and it wont be brought back up pretty much unless he does something else related wrong.

**AirFlacco** · 02-19-2011, 08:41 AM

Yea, like if you get a speeding ticket and you don't get any points but you
better not get another ticket within a year or the fine and points double or
something like that.

They still have no lo contendre where you get off with no jail time like VP
Spiro Agnew but there's a record. That's like saying you did it but didn't do it.

Reed's case is something like this but they're not calling it no lo and his record
can be expunged later on if he stays clean.

**festivus** · 02-19-2011, 10:18 AM

The difference between a stet and probation is there is not (and never was, which would have been probation before judgment) a finding of guilt. The thing it resembles most closely is a postponement, which is why judges say, when they're qualifying defendants, that a stet is like "an indefinite postponement."

The *worst* that can happen is, if he misbehaves, the case can be reopened. All his rights - right to a trial, right to a jury, right to call witnesses, and so on - are still available to him. The only right he's given up is the right to a speedy trial.

If one of you was arrested and ended up with a stet, you'd probably be pretty pissed if people went around saying what you got was like probation.

It's not. It's a prosecutor turfing a case. I'm sure there was a reason, I'm not saying it was inappropriate, but a stet is a nothing. It's a turfed prosecution.

Remember, even a case that's been dismissed, or nolle prosseque'ed, can be charged again by the prosecutor, just as the stet can be reopened. A stet is somewhere between a nolle prosseque (dismissal) and a postponement. It's not in the same neighborhood as a probation.

Not that I'm trying to defend Reed, I just thought I'd make sure we were all clear on what happened to his case.

**Captain Offense** · 02-19-2011, 10:27 AM

Assuming this is a first offense involving CDS, this disposition is no different than anyone else would get. Carroll County's prosecutors normally condition a charge like that with completing a drug education/treatment program. You complete the program and stay out of further trouble, they do not prosecute. From what is public, it appears to be SOP for that type of case.

No real surprise in how this went down.

**RavensfanRob** · 02-19-2011, 12:58 PM

Thanks, Festivus for explaining the situation. If he has no other run-ins with the law, he can fully concentrate on football, (provided there's a season)..I hope.

**RavenScallywag** · 02-19-2011, 04:39 PM

I'm no lawyer, but this seems a case of "we didn't have much to go off of, and at best, this was minor possession, so let's just let this go without me looking bad by dropping the case"

Now, I don't give Reed a free pass in this, because there was SOMETHING there, otherwise he wouldn't have been charged. So he needs to make sure he's got his act in gear now. But it sounds like he gets a deserved 2nd chance.

**festivus** · 02-19-2011, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by RavenScallywag

I'm no lawyer, but this seems a case of "we didn't have much to go off of, and at best, this was minor possession, so let's just let this go without me looking bad by dropping the case"

Stets can be used in exactly that way.

That said, they can also be used in the way Captain Offense suggests (in some Maryland jurisdictions; in others this would never happen): Got caught doing something 'minor' that's been resolved by the inconvenience of getting arrested, getting a lawyer, coming to court? Ok. Here's a stet, stay out of trouble, etc.

They can also sometimes have specific requirements, as in: Here's a stet, go to anger management classes, get a certificate saying you completed the course, and we won't reopen the stet. Things like that.

You could be right, Captain Offense could be right, it could be you're both right or it's something else entirely.