So here's my anti chuff for the summer. It's a bit of a long story.
My son was not a good person for a while. He did a lot of things that he never got caught doing, but then he got busted and is paying the price. He did a good job turning his life around, getting clean from drugs, getting into programs to help, getting a good job and doing so well the owner is promoting him like crazy. He's been clean for nearly 2 years now, is serving his probation for his drug charges, and doesn't associate with the old crowd that kept him in that lifestyle. He has been working really hard to get all his debts paid off and so far the charges have cost him over $15,000, of which he has paid off every dime. He's what you would call a productive member of society who's just trying to get back on his feet so he can move forward with his life.
So about a year ago, he got off work and went to hang out with a friend in a parking lot that is commonly used for the younger crowd to hang out. They were just sitting in his car and he fell asleep. A cop saw him and he came up and woke him and then tested him for being drunk. He hadn't had a drop and blew a zero-point-zero. The cop was sure he was drunk because why else would someone with tattoos on his arms be asleep in his car at 11:30 pm on a Friday? So he took him to the jail, tested him again. 0.0 He said since the breathalyzer wasn't working, he had to get transported to the hospital for a blood test. This takes upwards of 24 hours, usually no less than 12 hours. He had just started this new job and had to work at 9 am, he knew if he agreed to the blood test he would end up being held up until 3 or 4 pm the next day at the minimum. So he declined. They held him for another hour and did a third breath test. Again a zero. They then released him (it was 3 am). His buddy was also charged but accepted the blood test. He got released the next day at 5 pm. He tested negative for alcohol.
My son was on a drug patch that will detect ANY drugs in his system, had been for nearly a year for his pending drug charges. So there is proof he also wasn't on drugs.
So he asked for a public defendant and was assigned one. At the first hearing in court, a new PD showed up and told him he was reassigned to a new lawyer. That lawyer asked for a continuance. It was put off for about 6 weeks. In that time, my son called a dozen times trying to get a meeting with this new PD. The guy never returned a call. At the next hearing, my son spoke up and told the judge he had not met with this lawyer once because he could never get a call back. The judge gave them another continuance. For the next 8 weeks, same story, he called every day trying to get a call back and finally got one meeting with the guy. He explained his side of the story and the lawyer said he would prepare a defense for not guilty. A few weeks later he called and said he had to postpone again due to a conflict. About 7 weeks later he finally got to court and the lawyer started telling the judge he would plea guilty. My son spoke up again and said he wasn't guilty and that he told the PD lawyer he was going to fight this, and the judge got upset and said he would set a trial date and expected them to be ready (after dressing down the lawyer). They finally met and went over everything and the lawyer said it was all good, easy case, etc.
So a couple months later my son was travelling for work. He had scheduled this with the lawyer 5 weeks in advance and even told the judge he would be out of town, signed the waiver for the right to a speedy trial, etc. (it had been some 7 months now already). While he was out of town, the bail bondsman called and said he had missed his court date and he needed to get back to town and get into court or they would put him back in jail. He ended his work out of town early and came back to town and went to see the lawyer. The guy lied and said he just missed the date because he thought it was 2 weeks later. Turns out he showed up to court and told the judge my son just failed to appear.
So he had a bench trial rescheduled for yesterday. Last Friday my son got a call from the public defenders office saying he was reassigned a new PD lawyer. Usually this means months of delays again, but he met with this woman immediately and she went over everything in the file. There were forms he should have signed along the way that were not done, and the whole story of what the last lawyer was doing came out. They got their ducks in a row and this lawyer said she could be ready for Wednesday's trial.
So they showed up at 1 pm for the trial yesterday. The trial ended up starting at 6 pm. The judge listened to the evidence, then heard testimony from the cop, who was certain that despite the evidence showing my son was sober, he was a professional and just KNEW when someone was drunk. The judge decided that since the police officer was a professional, he was right and the breathalyzer was wrong and my son was lying. Since he declined the blood test, he found him guilty.
So, if a cop says you're drunk, you're drunk. PERIOD. Doesn't matter if it's been a weeks since you had a drink and the breathalyzer shows a zero. Doesn't matter that you would lose your job if you were detained for 24 hours while waiting on a blood test. Either you lose your job and prove you didn't have a drink or you get nailed with a DUI.
My faith in the legal system is gone. I have a sheriff buddy who told me straight up that some cops take on a personal "mission" to bust as many people for DUI as they can, and they don't care if they were drinking or not. All they care about is their tally at the end of the month. It's a competition among some of them. I'm sure this cop was having a few beers with his fellow officers celebrating another "win" last night. He really stuck it to this punk kid with tattoos on his arms and a record.
Now, all that being said, my son DID do some stuff that he never got caught for, so you could call this karma or whatever. But if the whole purpose of the legal system is to reform and "correct" people's behavior, it failed. He was already doing everything right. He had already left that life behind and was paying the price. Now he has another bill to add to the pile, and it will now be several more months (if not years) before he can successfully become debt free and be able to afford to live on his own and remain a productive member of society. He had spent several weeks in a drug/alcohol program that he completed (at a cost of $3500, only $800 of which was covered by his medical insurance) to get his license back and cover the requirements of his drug charges. Now he has to do the EXACT program all over again. He literally just finished the program a couple months ago, and the DUI charge was from almost a year ago. But that doesn't matter because the judges get a kickback from the program, so it isn't about whether the treatment works, it's about the judge getting paid.
Sadly, if he had known the judge would ignore the evidence and just go with what the cop wanted, he could have plead it out a year ago and been done with it. Now he lost his license for another 6 months and can't even get a probationary license for 30 days.
My experience with the legal system in the past two years has taught me a lot. I have had conversations with several people involved directly with trying to help people get back on their feet after getting busted for drugs and cleaning up (lawyers, people who monitor parolees and those out on bail, etc.) Some people within the legal system here (cops, judges, etc.) have a racket going, and they make kickbacks from every part of it. The goal is to keep people in the system as long as possible. Arrest them for something like Minor in Possession or Public Drunkenness. Then there's a company that handles 100% of the District court drug and alcohol cases. No choice, you have to use this company. Of course, the judges get a kickback from this company. Community service - you have to pay. Yup, it costs money to do community service. Then you have to do an evaluation with a psychologist, and you can't pick the doctor, THEY pick them (who happens to work for this company). That costs you another $350. Then that doctor will tell you that you are an addict and need a drug and alcohol rehab program. There's only ONE place you can do that program too, and it costs $2500 for the basic program. Often that doctor will tack on others, like if you have ever been to a casino, you're also a gambling addict, so that's another program. And the rehab clinic.. guess who owns it? The judges. One is in jail already, but the rest evaded the racketeering charges and still own the clinic. There's other clinics that have that program (as well as churches with certified counselors who could do the program), but you can't use those if you are convicted in District court, only if you are convicted in City court or Federal court. Once you finish, they try to nail you on something, get you back into court, and then get you back into jail so you have to start all over again. Oh, couldn't pay the $1500 fine in 3 months? Back to jail, start over, a new fine, another charge to do community service, another evaluation for $350, and another round of therapy for $2500. Can't afford it? Back to jail you go!
It makes me sick!
So, that's my big downer for the summer. I was positive the charges would be dropped once a competent lawyer presented his case properly. He had other charges that he was guilty of (driving without insurance) and he was prepared to pay the price on those. But this DUI was BS, he wasn't drinking and he stood up for himself only to learn that it doesn't matter. Did he deserve it based on the things he didn't get caught for? Maybe, and frankly he could be in prison with the other people he used to run with, but he got out before the hammer came down on them, so despite this setback he's still better off than he could have been. But it still pisses me off.
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Topic: The Summer 2015 Anti-Chuff Thread (Read 34596 times)
