Judicial system in the trenches just sucks for the poor...
 

I was in court today defending a bogus DUI charge. While waiting, an obviously poor black guy had been charged with petty larceny for stealing someone's phone. Black guy testified he had found the phone in a a gutter. Picked it up and it was wet and wasn't working. Took it home with him and laid it on a table. A few days later after it had dried out, it rang. He answered it and it was the owner calling the number. Guy said I'll bring it to you, I found it, yadadada.

So this guy drives about 25 miles to meet the owner to return the phone. When he meets up with the guy he says "How about giving me $20 to cover my gas?" Phone owner gets mad and says hell no. Black guy says fine...I take it back to where I found it and leave it there...and he does. Stories between the parties were pretty consistent. Proseecutor goes off on this poor guy about extortion and holding the phone for ransom. SHEESH.

Phone owner presses charges. Guy is found guilty and sentence to 60 days (45 suspended 15 to serve) fined $500 + $244 in court costs.

I'm thinking of taking it on pro bono...but the guy doen't have the $$$ to even post an appeal bond.:mad:

Whatta crock o'schit

The kicker is the guy obviously doesn't have the money to pay the fine so he'll stay in jail for an additional 30 days to "work" off the fine @ $25/day. Well, at least he'll be out of the cold and be fed.

That's nuts. If you have the time, it would be a cool thing to do. Be sure to write the local newspaper about the prosecutor and the complaintent too.

If you aren't represented by competent counsel, you're screwed.

Problem with taking on the case is by the time I file a motion to proceed in forma pauperis for the guy and get it front of a judge it will be over a week or 10 days.

By contrast my client's DUI was dismissed for insufficient evidence and the second charge of DUI refusal was thrown out because he was stopped on a commercial parking lot (where implied consent laws don't apply). Oh yeah...he was in his red Viper. Had the poor guy been charged he would be facing $1500-2K in fines, loss of license for 6 mos-1 year, jail, Alcohol assessment/treatment program, yadadadadada. Tell ya anything?

Wow, that really sucks.

It's messed up that the stuff that's supposed to make the judicial system safe is also the stuff that makes it dangerous.

Damn, no good deed goes unpunished.

Still, you shouldn't expect a reward. If he needed the $20, he should have asked or not driven, made the owner come and get it. Even if the owner was a dick, taking the phone back was a dick move too.

Both sides of the story suck, but 60 days and a fine seems pretty steep.

You really should take it pro bono.

Poor people get fked every day in America.

With all due respect, the judicial system sucks all the way around, it benefits no one, except the lawyers of course. Not to start any arguments or anything but the law is nonsensical. There is no shortage of examples to demonstrate my admittedly inflammatroy statement, obviously. The law is a total crapshoot. It is an embarrasment and makes a mockery of itself. It's a joke. Guy does the right thing, ends up in jail. Wanker hires a lawyer, gets off scott free. Tell ya anything? I know, I know we're stuck with it and all. But, at least we can start caling it what it is-a racket.

Why don't we all donate a few bucks to cover the guys fines......I don't have much, but would gladly give it up......
What are the chances this guy loses his job for missing while in jail?
The movie "changing lanes" really shows the kind of **** sandwich a single douchebag can lay on someone by a single act......

Re: poor people being f***ed.

I hear what you're saying and agree wholeheartedly... only thing is, it seems this seems to be the norm throughout recorded history so I don't know how worked up I should get.

I'd happily paypal $5 to dueller for the guys bail.

Yea the guy shouldn't have "held the guys phone as ransom".......he made a bad judgement call by offering to drive it to the owner in the first place without agreeing on some compensation for fuel......i
I'd still donate......

I hope you will take it or refer it.

Did the guy have a legal right to demand $20? I am guessing not. He went from performing a good deed for someone to being an arsehole instantly when he demanded the money. I have no pity for him at all.

I have no sympathy for the guy, he created his own problem. If he had just given the guy his phone perhaps the guy would have thrown him a few bucks but no, he wants to play the stupid card.

[QUOTE=Dueller;5112938]If you aren't represented by competent counsel, you're screwed.


Sucks about the guy with the cell phone. The jerk who lost it is the one who ought to be in jail. Nothing wrong with the guy asking for gas money for delivering the phone. His only error was showing too much faith in humanity by delivering it.

Kind of a dick move to ask for money, and they get pissy when the owner wouldn't agree. Would they guy have made any attempts to return the phone if it had not rung?

The owner should have come pick it up. He was probably suspicious and didn't want to venture into the finders neighborhood.

The owner should have offered him some gas money right away.

This is one for the media. Finder sitting in jail? The local news would love this.

The dick here is the judge.

The person to blame is the prosecutor. He obviously has nothing better to do than show he is a hard ass. His time would be much better spent prosecuting more serious crimes.

His time would be much better spent in a different profession i think.