Fire Bug

So yesterday I had two different court dockets. I started out with a felony one and ended up finishing out a traffic one. Fun times.
The first case that was noteworthy was a future serial arsonist. This genius figured that a great way to make his ex-girlfriend to pay for breaking up with him was to burn down her house. Then he goes into our jurisdiction and decides to attempt to light his CURRENT (this girl had not broken up with him yet) girlfriend’s car on fire. Needless to say he’s going to prison.

The only other case of interest was a sex offender. This case was actually unusual because the guy was getting sex offender treatment right after this incident occurred. He was also staying in the treatment. It sparked my interest because I have never really had the chance to see how sex offender treatment works. I had the chance in graduate school to take a class on correctional counseling but I was too busy interning and doing my other requirements to take it.

I’m holding out hope though. In law school I can work with the psychiatric institute at (my future law school) when they are doing evaluations on offenders. I might also be able to see the sex offender treatment being done in federal prison system if I can get a SLIP position with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Only driving case I saw that was noteworthy was a guy who was putting up a great defense for a $25.00 seatbelt infraction. These kinds of tickets are just civil penalties (they do not go on your driving record). The judge offered him the choice of either paying the fine or having it dismissed by doing 5 hours of community service. The guy still kept pitching a fit.

It was so bad that he accurately had a letter from the DMV about that area being safe (thus I guess you don’t need to have your seatbelt on despite being mandatory for state law). The police officer who wrote the citation just kept looking at me. I smiled and tried not to laugh. The judge was not happy.

The sad thing about it is that this guy put up more of a defense for his seatbelt ticket then the defenses I’ve seen presented in murder trials.

Dynamic Duo

I would first like to say that I apologize for the lapse in time on my blogs. I have been attempting to straighten some things. While I am the route to successfully completing them, I still a long way to go. I’m sure I will get there. It’s all about self determination.

Either way a few weeks ago I had a misdemeanor docket. In court we had two brothers who have both had problems with the criminal justice system. I remember these brothers because I once dealt with them before during a traffic docket. During that time the charges against them were for a curfew violation and drunk in public. They were both found guilty. During the court proceedings, however, their mother claimed they were being “targeted” by the police and that apparently they were exempt from being held responsible for their criminal behavior due to their grandfather’s apparent affiliation with the NYPD. The judge did not buy this line of thinking and they were held responsible for their actions.

On this particular day, however, they were both in court on obstruction of justice charges. One of the other brothers was also charged with attempting to damage a police car. The charges stemmed from an incident where the two brothers were involved in a police chase. A suspect apparently had attempted to rob a person in another neighborhood. When he found that the individual did not have anything to take, he decided that he needed to fire shots at the victim. Police were contacted that and the suspect took off.

Here enters our pair of brothers. Police observed one of the brothers talking to the gunman. When the police attempted to stop the individual the brother who was conversing with the suspect would not move his vehicle. When the brother decided not to move the car, he was detained for obstruction. He was placed in the back of a police cruiser where he felt the need to try and kick out one of the windows of the squad car. He was threatened with mace and then decided to behave.

Then enters our other brother. This brother gets arrested because he decides to try and interfere with his brother getting detained by the police. He then gets put in handcuffs as well.
Needless to say our dynamic duo were found guilty. Apparently they had the same gang afflation as the original suspect in the case. This might explain why they were acting like such morons.

Only other noteworthy thing about this case was that one of the annoying defense attorneys from one of my early posts was back. She is just aggravating. Her voice is high pitched, she refuses to state clearly what she is talking about, and she wears all kinds of Asian themed clothes when she is a skinny blonde chick.

I liked how she stated that her client was “a working member of the community” because he worked at McDonald’s and was “hoping” to get his GED. Wow, what a pillar of the community.

I’m hoping sometime in the future I can hand her ass to her in court. She just annoys me.

Breath of Fresh Air

This blog highlights most of the criminals that I have to deal with in the criminal justice system. Most of these people continue to reoffend and will be in and out of the criminal justice system for most of their juvenile and adult lives.

There are, however, a few exceptions. I was glad to see one last week. I figured good news is always something to share.

There was a woman who was to return on a deliquency of a minor charges that stemmed from when she was arrested for a DUI with her kids in the car. She was originally charged with felony child deliquent but she was allowed to plead down on the condition she get substance abuse treatment and take some parenting classes.

This woman had to come back before the court to see whether or not the charges would not be upgraded. It had been a year since her last court appearance.

She came into court with all her paperwork in order. She stated in court that she had done all of her parenting classes, continually attending her substance abuse treatment, and taken a second job to pay off all of the costs of her arrests. She also stated she had given primary custody of her children over to her ex-husband (but had visitation on the weekends) so she could focus on her soberity and finish taking care of her criminal issues.

Only minor infraction was the lady didn't pay up front with for her substance abuse classes (I guess they had a payment plan) and she ended up having a temporary suspension of her license. Upon finding out she went and paid the fee, went to DMV, and got her license fixed the same day as finding out.

She had all of her recepits, forms, and her work records. She thanked the judge for the opportunity and stated she planned on staying in AA so she could work on her recovery. She also stated she was working things out with her children and thanked her ex for stepping up to the plate when needed to deal with herself.

Seriously how often do you see this? Woman had all her proof, paid her fines, went to her programs, and seemed to be doing better. She gave up her children to her ex so she could focus on being a better person and mother to them in the future. She even took a second job to pay for her expenses and took care of an administrative issue the same day before it became a criminal problems.

Overall I think she is a good example. While she did do something criminal and reckless she appears to have taken responsiblity and is attempting to move on with her life. You have to respect that.

Retarded ReRun

This post is about a retarded rerun. When I say rerun I’m talking about criminal offenders who continually get arrested, prosecuted, found guilty, and sentenced for the same type of offenses. You would think that after the first time they would understand NOT TO FREAKING DO IT. I’m guessing their stupidity on this matter is the same stupidity that contributes to their criminal behavior.

In court we had a bond hearing for a criminal defendant who was charged with malicious wounding. Apparently he got involved in a physical altercation with his significant other and decided to beat that individual with various household items (vodka bottle, gun, lamp). He got arrested.

Well, come to find out, ding dong had been arrested for the same thing for pistol whipping some guy over a traffic infraction. He was found guilty On that case he got a couple of years suspended prison time, probation, and had a huge fine. He was sentenced on that case on a Thursday. That weekend FOLLOWING THAT he got arrested AGAIN for the above mentioned incident.

Of course idiot got denied bond. He tried to convince the judge he was “a good person.” Judge told him he was violent and was to remained jailed.

What a dumb ass. You get arrested for something a FEW DAYS after you get suspended prison time. You have to be stupid.

Once again, only in my world.

Some Apples Do Not Fall Far From the Tree

The topic of this blog is bad parents. I think that bad parents and a horrible upbringing can sometimes influence an individual to commit criminal acts. These are a few examples of these kinds of parents.

In court we had a juvenile who charged with assaulting a teacher at the alternative school where she attended. She had a prior record for the same thing (disorderly conduct, assault, and resisting arrest). The evidence was fairly simple: She assaulted the staff member when he tried to remove her from the classroom. The place where she struck him was a place he had surgery prior. He testifiedthat due to being struck by the girl he had to have more surgery, was out of work, and had to file for workman's comp.

The judge found the juvenile guilty. She was also convicted on her prior offenses (she was given a possible deferred finding). After finding her guilty the judge asked the victim in the case if he had any out of pocket expenses due to his surgery. He stated that he did not at this time and would notify the court if he did.

After the trial the juvenile and her mother were waiting in the area outside of the court. I overheard the girl's mother talking about how the teacher was "trying to get money out of her." I was shocked. After hearing the evidence I was convinced of the girl's guilt. After hearing what the mother said I'm also convinced this girl learned her antisocial and moronic behavior from her mother. Guaranteed she will either end up a)in the adult system or b)pass this crap onto her own offspring.

The next great parent I saw was a mom who was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and obstruction. This woman, in her late 30s, met a 16 year old at a surfing competition. At some point she decided she wanted to date him and started seeing him. Then she decided to take him out of state and take him with her to Miami with her own teenage daughter. She also told him to tell her daughter he was in his 20s so her daughter would be cool with him going.

So anyways the juvenile's mom ends up finding him missing, car gone, along with his luggage. They ended up tracking the car down to the woman's house. In the car they find the kid's luggage, ID, and money. They think the worst has happened.

The police get involved and find out the woman's name when they did a records search of the property. The police contacted her and she denies knowing the kids. When the kid's mom calls her, however, she states she does know the kid but he's not with her.

Eventually the woman gets pissed at the kid and leaves him in Miami. He ends up getting picked up by the Miami Police and jailed down there. His mother and father end up paying for him to fly back home

The woman testified and gave some lame ass excuse. Needless to say the judge was not amused and found her guilty of both charges. She has a several thousand dollar fine and some other charges stemming from this incident to worry about.

Thing about this case is this woman had a daughter who was not that much older than the boy she was seeing. I just hope to God she doesn't end up like her moronic mom....

Community Service=Unpaid Slave Labor?

Community service was developed as way to reconcile offenders with the community. You perform some sort of service for a non-profit agency (private or governmental) and you help to work off the debt you’ve created. Wikipedia defines it as “service that a person performs for the benefit of his or her local community. People become involved in community service for a range of reasons — for some, serving community is an altruistic act, for others it is a punishment.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_service

When defendants in the court I work in get assigned to due community service by the judge they are given a list of locations they can do it at. They are also told they can do it at any nonprofit organization. Despite being given this information, some still cannot follow directions. This leads us into our next tail.

We had a juvenile had his mother come back on a return for a marijuana charge. The juvenile was supposed to do a certain amount of community service and get a substance abuse evaluation (they give out paperwork for that as well). So when the juvenile comes in he states that he apparently did his community service for a neighbor and helped her clean out her backyard. This neighbor told the kid (allegedly) that she has an organization and he was with helping that. He said the neighbor lets all the offenders in their community due yard work for her to work of their time. The judge, after hearing this, just kind of laughed. He said “Sounds to me like she’s running a slave operation here. You should probably sue her for the wages you would have been paid.” The kid was then allowed to complete ALL of his community service again.

The other whammy about this case was that the kid’s mom was a ding bat. She was the one who told the police to file charges on her kid for marijuana. Despite this mom was so stupid that she didn’t understand what a “Substance abuse evaluation” was even with the paperwork explaining how you can get one for free through the city. Instead of calling the court to ask about it ding bat looked it up on google. She told the judge “I looked it up on google. It was so confusing I just gave up.” Needless to say if the genes got passed onto this kid, he’ll make an easy criminal to catch considering the level of stupidity of his mother.

We also had another criminal defendant who thought that she could d0 community service in her apartment complex’s management office because “people in our community get Section 8 assistance.” The judge asked her if was public housing. The defendant said no, but the owner of the complex told her it was “okay.” The judge, once again, told the defendant NON PROFIT.

Seriously I am beginning to see a trend of stupidity with these people. I tell these stories to people I work with and they laugh their butts off. If normal people get it, why can’t these morons?

I made the TOP TEN! (AGAIN)

Another one of my rants made the top ten again at workrant.com

a)This week, despite the fact that we were busy, we had nothing but fucking meeting all week. Dumbass meetings. Instead of just not having them, cutting them short, or whatever these fuckers just didn't have them. It's just stupid. We had the same fucking meeting two days in a row. It's just stupid. No one likes working here so why the fuck talk about ways to leave. Is it a wonder why all these people are either looking for other jobs or are actually leaving? Get a fucking clue.

b)My boss is a stupid dumbass. First thing is if you ask her a fucking question she acts like a retard. You get a look like you've just interrupted her brain process when you ask her a question. I swear you can see sparks flying from her head. The second thing the dumbass is going on vacation AGAIN. She lies about it and says "I'll be out of the office for a week." Of course you will be. Your sorry ass will be on some cruise ship somewhere and you make it sound like an emergency. This bitch just went on vacation to disney world in december. This comes after denying other people leave all the time.

Seriously I SWEAR TO GOD MANAGEMENT CAN FUCK THEMSELVES?!?!?! DID I MENTION I'M FINALLY GET MY CRAP TOGETHER AND LEAVING THIS HELL HOLE? I'm actually excited to get my REAL career going...

Seriously can you tell I was mad? I think I just need to get something (shall go nameless) or whatever.

All is well now. I just spend my work time devising ways to deal with the serial offender.