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you shoulda pulled your out and pissed on is outdated white with blue stripes patrol car and told him that youre not drunk just re ed
It's a boring and unfunny story so i wont waste your time with all the details... I was leaving a bar last night and walking with a group of 4 others WALKING to a friends house party 4 blocks away. We got to the main road and everyone yielded to the do not walk sign. Dumbass me, though, i bolt across. When I get to the other side a cop is sitting there and yells at me to come over. I had only had 5 or 6 beers at this point starting at 5:30, it is now about 9:30. Cop gets my id tells me to sit on the front of his car. Another cop shows up and we start having a cordial conversation; where are you going? what are you doing? etc... Original cop comes up and asks how many ive had, I tell him. Then he sees me looking for my credit card, he says "What are you looking for???!" I said " oh just my card, make sure i didnt leave it at the bar." "Hah! Wha! you dont remember giving me your id just now?? You just gave it to me!". "UHhh no, my credit car..." (Cuts me off)"You must be alot more drunk than you're letting on."
So the guy continues checking my , I figure, worst case scenario, Jaywalking ticket. He walks up to me and asks where I'm going, I tell him and he asks if I plan on continuing to drink. I said yes. He slaps the cuffs on me and says he's taking me in. I was dumbfounded, I was thinking suuuuurrreely we'll get to the station and they'll release me. I didnt do anything besides jaywalk and they dont take you in over that. I dont say anything to the cop on the drive other than "what is your name" and "you should have just given me a jaywalking ticket, I am not intoxicated" to which he replies "Oh i'm gonna give you that too!" ( ing asshole).
So we get there, i'm booked and 4 hours later i go see the judge. He tells me im in because of an unpaid speeding ticket from 2 years ago that I thought had been thrown out. HE says "tell you what, christmas spirit and all, we'll consider time served tonight and wipe this from the record if you plead no contest to this charge. "No contest!" I was like sweet!, a-hole cop lied to me and brought me in on a warrant, in liar. But this is good, I'll be out of here in an hour and a half having lost out on only a few hours of my life. 3 hours later they FINALLY call my name. No not to leave, but to go back to see the judge. Nooowwwww he wants to tell me about my jaywalking and pi tickets. He asks me how I plead. I say " 100% guilty on jaywalking, I definitely broke the law on that." "and the PI?" "100000000% not guilty at all. I'd like a trial by judge and hopefully your officer is truthful when we meet in court." Judge says ok, your officer is going to argue that a) he smelled alcohol on your breath (no ing , I had been drinking and was WALKING to my destination. I had admitted to drinking.) b) that you were stumbling in front of his police vehicle (bull ing ). c) that your eyes were bloodshot (very doubtful. I wasnt high and I was only 5 beers deep before 10 oclock. And d.) that you were looking for your id after you had given it to the officer. ().
So... no sobriety tests of any kind, no miranda rights read, friends and possibly another officer than can corroborate my side of the story.
Anyone have advice on how I can get out of this? What I can do during my hearing? How I can collect evidence on my behalf? Appreciate all suggestions except for sarcastic ones.
Thanks brahs.
you shoulda pulled your out and pissed on is outdated white with blue stripes patrol car and told him that youre not drunk just re ed
Hire a hitman to take out the asshole cop before your court date. Case closed sir.
moving on...
really tho, if the cop dies between now and then I would be happy
I'd hire a really expensive lawyer who will negotiate a back-room deal with the assistant DA prosecuting your case. In my experience it's easier on the mind to pay a lawyer, as opposed to a court sanctioned fine.
But these assholes for putting you in this god-awful and undeserved situation in the first place. I hope that self-righteous prick of a cop gets clipped.
no way i can drop 1000 bones on a lawyer. i gotta be on my own on this one
Then as a two time prisoner of the law my 2 cents would be to roll the dice and be brutally ing honest about what you think of the cop in general and PI charge you received. If your character and intellect shines and if you get a good judge he/she might be inclined to believe you. Then again a bad judge might take your backbone and honesty as an insult to The State's Authori-tie. Tough call. If you do represent yourself, I'd say it's worth not giving a ing inch. Stand your ground and stick to your beliefs.
If you go to trial, theres probably at least a 50% chance the cop doesnt even show up. Tickets are just at municipal court and are small time stuff. Cops hate going down there on their time off for a Class C violation.
Also, tell the Judge that you admitted to what you did (the jaywalking). Theres a good chance, he will figure that if you were only being an a-hole in going to trial, you would have fought all of it and not plead guilty to the jaywalking.
Plus the punishment, probalby wont be all that different than if you plead out to it. The only real downside for you probably will be the time it will take to go down there 3-4 times before you get your trial.
good advice guys. I just have to make sure im prepared for anything they could throw at me. If there was a dash cam, which i hope there was, should I ask for access to the video? Do i need to "subpoena" my friends and the other officer that was there? Shoulkd I make a big deal about the current work I do with at-risk travis county youth? Tell the judge about my near-future plans of joining the peace corps and how this charge could affect my cadidacy?
Serious question. If you weren't drunk and you were only a few blocks away from this party, why didn't you just ing run? that cop. I doubt he would've even chased you.
didnt know where the party was and felt like i was innocent and wouldn't get in any kind of trouble. hindsight, yes, i should have just ran away
Well, best of luck. At least you have some people to backup your story so it's not just your word against his.
thispego, I don't know if I ever told you this, but I worked for an attorney for several years and one thing I learned in that time, never try to fight a DUI, DWI, PI or Domestic assault charge without an attorney. You shouldn't even try to do it with only a court appointed attorney...at least not if you want to win the case. I've seen plenty of people that were actually 100% innocent lose cases when they tried to fight it themselves or go with a court appointed attorney.
Pretty sure this charge is only a misdemeanor and while I'm not going to claim I know the law, I believe he might be able to use the Jaywalking as evidence you were intoxicated. And he's got a witness too....a cop. Since you already plead guilty to the Jaywalking, the cop doesn't need a witness to corrborate that.
If you are fighting this on principle, well does that principle include winning? Because you are unlikely to do so without an attorney, or even with a court appointed one.
If you aren't worried about it then I wouldn't bother fighting it without an attorney as it will just waste your time. I think you'll get @ $500 dollar fine at worst and a Class C misdemeanor(which isn't in the grand scheme of things).
I'll be real surprised if this keeps you out of the Peace Corps as well. A Class C isn't and there are probably a lot of college students with PI's in the Peace Corps.
But I'm not an attorney so take all this with a grain of salt...
My advice:
1. If you truly want to win, you need hire an attorney. And I say that as someone who pretty much hates attorneys.
2. You are going to most likely wind up $500 poorer out of this...no matter which way you go. Just sayin'. I think the way you are electing to go you are likely to wind up $500 dollars poorer and with a Class C misdemeanor on your record.
If you do fight this yourself and win...let me know when you do it, I never known anyone that was successful at this before. I've seen completely innocent dudes lose cases without an attorney, and I've seen completely guilty ones win cases with an attorney...
I'll never forget the time this guy I worked for represented a cop that got busted for a DWI....
The guy was on tape, admitting he was drunk, and pleading with the cop not to give him DWI because it could cost him his career, it was on tape...
The guy I work for won the case for him....jury trials can do amazing things.
Did your previous appearance before the judge, that night you were arrested, count as your pre-trial, or will you have another pre-trial opportunity with the new court, before the real thing goes down?
I'll consider getting an attorney but I felt like it was a mistake last time I hired an attorney. I felt like he didnt get me any better of a deal than I could have gotten on my own. I feel like a could represent myself and do it competently enough where my chances would be 50/50. I feel like it will come down to the judge I get and if they feel like being a or a nice guy on that day. Honestly, I agree with you that this may not be the best course of action to take if I want to win but I really can't afford to hire an attorney. I have to take the chance of winning it on my own and if I lose, well thats just the way things were meant to be.
this really sucks
and I hope you're right about this not affecting my PC candidacy
lol, saw this movie for the first time the other day. wish i had a cousin vinny
think i'll have another pre-trial opportunity
i recommend you criple walk in and out of the courtroom....credibility brother....
I'll bet..
It's all about the $$$. The system with DUI, PI, DWI, and Domestic assault is pretty much geared to where you have to have an attorney to win....especially domestic assault.I feel like a could represent myself and do it competently enough where my chances would be 50/50. I feel like it will come down to the judge I get and if they feel like being a or a nice guy on that day. Honestly, I agree with you that this may not be the best course of action to take if I want to win but I really can't afford to hire an attorney. I have to take the chance of winning it on my own and if I lose, well thats just the way things were meant to be.
this really sucks
I met a bunch of people that got into a fight with their spouse and one or the other called the police and said they were assaulted, and then the spouse wanted to drop the charges once the cops got there...
Uh-uh...if the cops got called someone was getting arrested and the arrested person was going to be prosectuted...even if the caller then claimed no assault happened(which they almost always tried to do once they realized their husband/wife boyfriend/girlfriend was going to get arrested).
A lot of times these guys balked at the agreement their other half signed with the attorney I worked for to represent them in court as part of the bail agreement(frequently they balked at this with an attempt to kick my ass)...and they'd elect to fight the charges themselves thinking it would be an easy win since their partner would be there to claim that no assault actually occurred...
Should be an easy win right?
Uh-uh...I probably saw about 50 people attempt this...and not one time that I know of did they win the case...not even with a court appointed attorney, and they usually wound up with a felony assault charge on their record and spending a couple of months in the County Jail.
It's really not about innocent or guilty most of the time...it's about the lawyer you hire. At least that was my experience. The judges and the attorneys work together to ensure this system.
Even the public defender system is pretty much corrupt...those guys are worthless 99% of the time, even though they are usually successful when they are hired.
After all...private citizens don't make the campaign contributions or cast the votes in judicial elections...attorneys do.
Last edited by whottt; 12-20-2008 at 08:04 PM.
I am about 99% certain that PI is Class C at worst...and they usually only ask about felonies on any sort of employment application.
I don't see you getting any jail time out of this since you arleady spent time in jail...unless you refuse to pay the likely fine.
It's possible they will count your fine as time served, although since you already said they counted that towards the speeding ticket and or the Jaywalking it's doubtful...
As for about how that judge will feel on that particular day...that judge will probably know and might even be friends with that prosecutor, they work in the same industry...you're just some guy he/she will never see again. I wouldn't count on them feeling too friendly towards you...
Best case scenario IMO for you without an attorney is that you lose the case and don't get a fine...and I will be genuinely surprised if that happens.
yeah, pi is a a Class C misdemeaner. Not a big deal but it still has such a negative connotation. no matter tha cir stances surrounding the incident, Public Intoxication just sounds horrible.
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