long morning. court was running late. first we went down to meet the public defender assigned to ant, an older man who said he had been a lawyer 40 yrs. he opened a door, waved at ant and said see you up in the court room. I said HEY WAIT A MINUTE.
he said what is the problem? I told him he had not even spoken to my son to get his defense ready. the lawyer said with this being the 4th DUI there is not much he can do, the judge has heard it all and no pleas would be given from the DA. he said he knows this judge and he wont listen to a thing.
I argued with him that he is to defend ant the best he could not just give up. he said the only thing he would try maybe is a new program for drug and alcohol offenders that would include so many months locked up and then a gradual return to society via halfway then 3/4 houses over some time. he said he never got anyone into it before. he said ant had a felony charge pending(the evading and eluding police) and because of that he would not get into the program anyway.
I told him to ask for a plea bargain anyway of some sort.
the police officer was 15 mins late. there were tons of people in the halls and all over the bldg. ant and I went in and listened in on a couple cases this judge had. the judge was screaming at the people, rude to the lawyers, the tipstaff and was barking at everyone. I have seen mamy judges, but I was convinced they were not kidding about his reputation as a hard one.
meanwhile the public defender talked to the cop and the DA in the hall-I never saw either. after a long time, the public defender called us and told us we had some time to go to the bathroom til the judge was ready for our case (it was already one and one half hour late). the girl whose car ant had driven was standing there in the witness room. I spoke to a private atty in the hallway and asked what we could expect if we had hired a private lawyer...he said 2.5 to 5 yrs in jail.
a man came over to me and told me to have ant go pay 100.00 to the clerk of courts and then go in to the judge. I asked him who he was...he said I am Mike, the District Attorney. so ant and I ran down the hall to the clerk of courts and paid 100.00 for a CRN evaluation-a mandatory test to see what your drug and alcohol problems are... ant's third test. we took the receipt into the courtroom.
when we got into the court room, they talked with ant and signed papers in front of the judge. no hearing, no testimony.
ant had signed a plea bargain. they dropped the two most serious charges and that left driving with a suspended license and the 4th DUI. ant will have several thousand in fines as well as restitution for the girl's car and the cop car that were wrecked.
the sad thing and I guess I should be grateful for the length of time....is that ant agreed to one to two yrs in a state correctional institution. sigh. they let him go on his own recognizance (no bail)..and he is to report back october 17 to go to camp hill PA to be processed into the state prison system. when he gets out in a couple yrs, he will have three yrs probation and will have to work on the fines.
They do not know yet which prison he will go to. camp hill does the evaluations and processing as a central starting point.
we then had to go down to adult probation and he had the CRN test completed.
I took him to lunch and he was just quiet. he said he was not going to to drag this out with trials etc. it is a miracle he got a plea at all. he said he will be ok. I told him to quit talking about it because I feel like I have a knife in my stomach.
I do feel sad, but not panicky. I feel kinda numb, and sick of the whole justice system and having to go to so many hearings etc for the past 11 yrs.
I was to take him to the county jail there too to get fingerprinted and booked but I didnt have the heart so I left him with boyfriend. boyfriend will do that today. they have this done within 5 dys of the court session to get the paperwork all lined up.
to top it off, next tuesday he goes to see his probation officer in our local county. apparently he doesnt intend to tell him of these new charges yet. that PO could put him right in jail for a probation violation for the whole thing, not to mention all the drinking and going to bars.
I told ant his drinking is a serious problem. he said he can quit anytime he wants. he said he is "not going to drink that much anymore".
sheesh
he said what is the problem? I told him he had not even spoken to my son to get his defense ready. the lawyer said with this being the 4th DUI there is not much he can do, the judge has heard it all and no pleas would be given from the DA. he said he knows this judge and he wont listen to a thing.
I argued with him that he is to defend ant the best he could not just give up. he said the only thing he would try maybe is a new program for drug and alcohol offenders that would include so many months locked up and then a gradual return to society via halfway then 3/4 houses over some time. he said he never got anyone into it before. he said ant had a felony charge pending(the evading and eluding police) and because of that he would not get into the program anyway.
I told him to ask for a plea bargain anyway of some sort.
the police officer was 15 mins late. there were tons of people in the halls and all over the bldg. ant and I went in and listened in on a couple cases this judge had. the judge was screaming at the people, rude to the lawyers, the tipstaff and was barking at everyone. I have seen mamy judges, but I was convinced they were not kidding about his reputation as a hard one.
meanwhile the public defender talked to the cop and the DA in the hall-I never saw either. after a long time, the public defender called us and told us we had some time to go to the bathroom til the judge was ready for our case (it was already one and one half hour late). the girl whose car ant had driven was standing there in the witness room. I spoke to a private atty in the hallway and asked what we could expect if we had hired a private lawyer...he said 2.5 to 5 yrs in jail.
a man came over to me and told me to have ant go pay 100.00 to the clerk of courts and then go in to the judge. I asked him who he was...he said I am Mike, the District Attorney. so ant and I ran down the hall to the clerk of courts and paid 100.00 for a CRN evaluation-a mandatory test to see what your drug and alcohol problems are... ant's third test. we took the receipt into the courtroom.
when we got into the court room, they talked with ant and signed papers in front of the judge. no hearing, no testimony.
ant had signed a plea bargain. they dropped the two most serious charges and that left driving with a suspended license and the 4th DUI. ant will have several thousand in fines as well as restitution for the girl's car and the cop car that were wrecked.
the sad thing and I guess I should be grateful for the length of time....is that ant agreed to one to two yrs in a state correctional institution. sigh. they let him go on his own recognizance (no bail)..and he is to report back october 17 to go to camp hill PA to be processed into the state prison system. when he gets out in a couple yrs, he will have three yrs probation and will have to work on the fines.
They do not know yet which prison he will go to. camp hill does the evaluations and processing as a central starting point.
we then had to go down to adult probation and he had the CRN test completed.
I took him to lunch and he was just quiet. he said he was not going to to drag this out with trials etc. it is a miracle he got a plea at all. he said he will be ok. I told him to quit talking about it because I feel like I have a knife in my stomach.
I do feel sad, but not panicky. I feel kinda numb, and sick of the whole justice system and having to go to so many hearings etc for the past 11 yrs.
I was to take him to the county jail there too to get fingerprinted and booked but I didnt have the heart so I left him with boyfriend. boyfriend will do that today. they have this done within 5 dys of the court session to get the paperwork all lined up.
to top it off, next tuesday he goes to see his probation officer in our local county. apparently he doesnt intend to tell him of these new charges yet. that PO could put him right in jail for a probation violation for the whole thing, not to mention all the drinking and going to bars.
I told ant his drinking is a serious problem. he said he can quit anytime he wants. he said he is "not going to drink that much anymore".
sheesh