Eh well, I've been in the midst of clearing up some less than pleasant past history involving the judicial process and one plank of that was supposed to culiminate today. The Facts: -16 yr old charge -Officer cannot recall anything about arrest -in NC each side has one continuance -Lawyer moved for a trial today. Alrighty, in NC the Defense and Prosecution has a limited number of continuances, the Prosecution had used theirs and today my Atty hit me with a propostion: "We can take it to trial today, and you either walk free, or post on the phins much less for the next 30 days" I like that sort of aggressiveness so I said "If that is the way it has to be, that is the way it has to be" Lawyer motions for a trial...Padre sits on pins and needles for 6 hours waiting for case to be called..the Officer in Question had told my attorney he did not recall anything about my citation.. So far so good, Officer testifies in one case, waves to the Clerk and out the door he goes. Did I mention in NC you only have "X" continuances? Err, okay, this will likely be dismissed anyway..err..I approach the bench and the judge asks me "So how do you plead and who will represent you"? Wait a minute, my lawyer is to my left, I point to him and say "he is my lawyer" Judge gives that condescending Judge look and says "but how will you plead in this matter and who will represent you"? Turns out the interpid little elves in the ADA's office laid an ex post facto charge on my by using a 2004 law on a 1995 allegation..up until 2004 there was no charge for "Failing to Appear"..it is a low level beef, that is not my concern. My concern is the ADA so blatantly stepping outside the line of Ethical Behavior, as the Statute plainly says "for all crimes committed after December 1,2006" When my lawyer then motions for dismissal due to Double Jeopardy attaching the judge kindly says "I am not sure who asked for the continuance" your lawyer was not in the courtroom..ah but see, the Prosecution begins the case, not the Defense Atty, they simply chose not to honor the motion to begin the trial, then acted like nothing happened. Oh boy, now I've known DA's who can play a bit loose with the rules at times, however to blatantly use an ex post facto charge, and even then, one beyond the statute of limitations of 2 yrs to try and keep their ugly duckling of a case alive..err.. So some advice please: How badly does the ADA want these charges to stick? -eh, not to bad -oh man -they want your *** NC District Attorney Newsletter http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...g-OmMd&sig=AHIEtbQOMbJFoi46NZWihY65DqpB6WVnYw NC School of Government opinion on FTA http://sogweb.sog.unc.edu/blogs/ncclaw/?tag=failure-to-appear Now the one thing that has been curious to me is I have been to every court hearing, without exception..this time around....but the only case that has been argued out of the 6 charges is the one from 1995, the one from 1998 has never come up, the DA has not once brought them up, so I have to wonder if they did not sandbag me on those? But that would make no sense, as they could have called the cases at any time for me to enter a plea, but they never did..not once.
I guess it really depends on the charges. I got pinched taking a wiz outside a bar in a South Jersey beach town. The cops treated me like I just axes 3 coeds. They cuffed me, brought me to the station, searched me, took my mug shot and finger printed me. When it was all over, the gave me a citation and told me I had to appear in court in a month. This town was a good 3 hour ride from where I lived at the time. So I asked if I could just pay the fine. They said the judge needs to set it. I said I'll pay the max. Too bad. So as I was driving home the next day, I crumpled up the ticket and chucked it out the car window. I got a few failure to appear notices over the next few months and than a letter saying there was a bench warrant out for my arrest. 12 years later I decided I was sick of driving the speed limit in NJ, so I got a lawyer from that area and went to court. Judge was a complete hardass (didn't help my case that I pissed him off by reading the newspaper while the other cases were being heard). When my turn came, he agreed to a guilty plea of loitering and a $500 surcharge for failing to appear all those years ago. Cost me over a grand to take that leak. I should have pissed in the sink like everyone else was doing. Hard to get a read on your situation. It really depends on the charges. Whatever the case may be, and as irritating as your posts can be I certainly hope you don't spend any time in the clink. Good luck, Padre. Seriously. sent from my EVO 4G
Cannot get a read on my lawyer BB, I normally can read people fairly well, body language, facial expressions, the whole bit. This dude is crazier than I am! I'm like Murtaugh to his Riggs, Ever meet the dude who hops on a mortorcycle and just drops the clutch and throttle and thinks nothing of it? THAT is this guy. I'm more like, okay, take it around the block, give it some gas on a flat straight away...tap the brakes, then go from there..this cat..aw hell no..Floor that *****, push push push, all or nothing.... Which I like, aggresiveness and bending and pushing the rules are hallmarks of success, however, when the Judgette went off of the reservation..he was like...err...err....that is a violation of the US Constitution's Ex Post Facto strictures..but that is only raisable at trial, not at a "arraignment".
I think we are kindred spirits.. We let our talent take us into places that our minds have not been to first, then again, aggressiveness creates opportunities. At the end of this, there are fine grounds for a colourable appeal, if "joe average" had been in charge..fougetaboutitt. Basically the ADA's violated the Constitution to try and sustain an unsustainable charge, if he had not pushed that would have never have happened. Think of it this way: "In order to avoid a dismissal via my lawyer's contrivance, the ADA's overreached and created reversible error, if such a nonsensical charge had not been laid, there would have been no basis for appeal if the worst happened" Chances are good that no prosecution is sustainable when their lead witness point blank tells them "I do not recall"..however these are not courts of Justice, they are Courts of Law..if the ADA's step out to try to win, and do win, then that is not the end of it. Gotta love ambitious lawyers.
