The defense attorney, Michael D. Petersen of Wisconsin, was ordered to make the embarrassing disclosure because he inaccurately told his client, who wanted to plead guilty to attempted theft, that he had made a deal with the prosecutor providing that, if the client pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery, the prosecutor would later change the paperwork to reflect that the client had actually been convicted of attempted theft.
The judge in the criminal case against Peterson also sentenced him to a year of probation and ordered him to spend five days in jail and to return the $5,000 that his former client’s family paid for his former client’s representation.