586 Disposition
What is 586 Disposition? Do I have to pay court costs?
586 Disposition is where the prosecutor agrees that if you pay full restitution to the other party the district attorney will withdraw prosecution. This normally comes up where there may or may not have been a mens rea (criminal intent) in the act, and the district attorney has bigger fish to fry, so they allow you to make the other side whole and walk away without ever being prosecuted. Its a wonderful idea to do this if offered. I previously addressed 586 in this article.
As far as court costs go, the answer is a little dicey. The statute does NOT say the defendant must pay costs. The statute says that there must be an agreement as to who will pay costs. In my experience, I have not had a 586 where my client had to pay costs. But, I am sure there are some judges that will not accept a 586 unless the defendant agrees to pay costs. I think if a judge does that, its bogus, but 586 allows you to get the case over with no records, so I would probably tell my client to suck it up and just pay the costs.
Sometimes, you gotta eat the pie.
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