Chapter 2 - Our First Three Weeks in the "Justice" System

Chapter 2 – Our First Three Weeks in the “Justice” System

 

In the last chapter, I had flown to Denver, arrived late at night, met with a bail bondsman, paid him $12,000 as his fee for covering the $100,000 bail, arrived at my sister's home, prayed and begged God for help, and tried to get some sleep.

 That next morning, I met the bondsman at the _____County Jail.  One of Tim's good friends met me there and basically took care of seeing that I was OK throughout the day.  I was so grateful for this and will be forever indebted to him.  At this point, I was operating on pure adrenalin and courage scraped up from somewhere.  I was moving into a world that was totally foreign to me and had no “instruction manual” or “guide” to navigate.

By the time the bond was posted, it was too late in the day for the sheriff's people to process Tim out, and I had to return the next morning to pick him up.

 Meanwhile, I was trying to digest what I knew of the pile of charges, though I still did not know what exactly had happened at the accident that landed Tim in jail.  One of the lawyer's associates had met with Tim the night before, but I had not been allowed to talk with Tim.  The on-line arrest record showed the following charges against Tim as charged by the _______ County District Attorney’s office:

Leaving the Scene of an Accident (F3)

Vehicular Homicide (S3)

Vehicular Homicide (F4)

DUI (M)

Leaving the Scene of an Accident (T2)

Failing to Report an Accident (T2)

Reckless Driving (T2)

Failure to Display Proof of Insurance (T1)

Fictitious Registration Plate (T2)

Unregistered Vehicle (TIB)

 

What does all of the above mean???  I know some of it is untrue. How can I interpret this “foreign language??”  Who will help us?  I am heartsick, feeling ignorant, and very helpless.  How hard must it be for someone with less education, less professional work experience, and no resources to cope???

 

This charging was done the day after the accident.  As you see, it is a clear example of the current trend toward over-charging in hopes of having something “stick’ and of scaring the person arrested into an early plea deal.  There was no evidence, at that point, of most of the infractions charged, in fact at that point there was no definitive proof that Tim was even in the vehicle that hit and killed a man on a motorcycle.  The only known fact was that a man had been hit and was dead, a terrible, terrible tragedy.

 

The circumstantial evidence certainly makes it reasonably clear that Tim was driving this car that night and that his car struck a man on a motorcycle and that man was killed!  How did it happen?  How do I, how does Tim, deal with this.  He can’t remember anything and I wasn’t there.  We are overwhelmed with the horror of such a thing happening.  What in God’s name do we do?

 

Thus began my growing disillusionment with the justice system, at least in that county.  I had always believed that justice was fair and justice was blind and that one was “innocent until proven guilty.”  I was to discover over the next two years that neither was the case, that it was all about the prosecution winning at all costs.

I picked Tim up as he was released from the jail.  He was required to wear an ankle monitor that would keep track of his whereabouts and which also had to be "read" twice per week by a third party contractor that could assess whether he had any alcohol in his system or not.  (Note, Tim had to pay for the monitor as well as each of the readings.)  It is just one of the ways, as you will discover in later chapters, that many parties profit from our justice system of mass incarceration.  He also had to go for urine tests twice per week at another third party vendor, for which he also had to pay. He complied with these requirements to the letter.

Picking up my son at the ________County Jail as he was released on bail, was such a weird experience.  On the one hand, I got to hug him and talk with him.  On the other hand, we were facing some very serious charges.  Little did we know that the process would take almost two years and that that process would be brutal, unrelenting, and very convoluted.

 I took him home to get settled and to hear what his account of the incident was.  Unfortunately, due to head trauma and the drug given to him at the time of his arrest (Haldol), he couldn't and still can't remember the accident at all.  He only remembered "coming to" by the side of a road in the bushes and weeds and in some barbed wire.  He couldn't find his car and, finally saw some lights at a service station about a mile away.  He headed there hoping to get a friend to come help him.  Video of him in the convenience store shows a person behaving normally, walking soberly, buying a soda, and going outside to use his cell phone.  I found out later that he was very disoriented, did not know where he was and didn’t make any sense on phone calls to a friend.  One of these calls was reported falsely by the patrolman who the interviewed the friend, and who then made a false report of the conversation verbiage, which he only corrected much later when Tim’s attorney forced the correction.  (Another reason to feel doubt about the system and law enforcement.)

Before he could connect with anyone, he was approached by some law enforcement people.  He asked what they wanted and, being very concerned about their aggressive demeanor and approach, declined to answer any questions.  Apparently, they continued to badger him, and he became verbally angry with them, at which point they locked him in the back of a police vehicle, still not telling him anything.  He was not placed under arrest nor was he read his rights at this time, though he was held.

Unfortunately, he tried to get out of the car, and they dragged him out, hauled him out of surveillance camera range and assaulted him, resulting in cracked ribs and a huge footprint bruise on his face.  They then hogtied him, and the officers called for an ambulance.  When Tim said he did not want to go to a hospital, they injected him with Haldol (a drug used to subdue psychotic people in crisis) and took him to a hospital anyway.  There, blood samples were drawn, even though the judge on duty that night denied their request for a warrant for a blood test, because they did not have probable cause.

The next day when he came around from the sleep induced by the Haldol, there was a deputy in the room.  Tim said that he was feeling OK and could he please leave so that he could go home to take care of his dogs.  He was told by the deputy "You aren't going anywhere except jail. You killed someone!"  This was the moment when Tim found out that they believed that he had been the cause of an accident in which someone had died.  He still has no memory of any of it.  And off to the _____ County Jail he went.  A day later, I received the another nightmare phone call from the DA's investigator referenced in Chapter 1.

I have always supported law enforcement.  I taught my children from an early age to respect policemen and that if they were ever approached, to be polite and respectful.  I was to find out that there are some bad eggs in the basket who think nothing of committing brutality and/or lying.  I also know that my son has a lifelong fear and irrational paranoia in regard to law enforcement officers.  These are deep seated and come from several very traumatic events in this life that changed his perspective radically through no fault of his own.  When an officer who might operate on the edge comes into contact with a civilian with extreme fear of that officer, only “bad” can result!  Please coach your children to be completely polite and respectful, no matter the situation and to only give their name.  They should be instructed to politely say that they will be glad to talk further when they have an attorney and parent present.  They have to hold this line to protect themselves.

 That evening, after I took Tim home, he was terribly distressed, pacing the floor, weeping, frantic, and trying to remember anything about the accident.  He struggled with movement and breathing due to the cracked ribs.  He begged me to contact the family of the person who had died so that he could talk to them and tell them he would never have hurt their person on purpose.  I had to advise him that his lawyer would be very unhappy, if he made that sort of contact. 

Tim asked if I would spend the night at his house, since he was so distraught and didn’t want to be alone.  I did.  He did not sleep that night....wandering, pacing, worrying, weeping.  I didn't sleep either.  It was one of many sleepless and draining nights to come.

 My husband arrived from out of state the next day, and we both made an appointment to meet with the attorney to try to get a beginning grasp of the situation.  Again, this was totally foreign territory for all of us.  We had no idea what was really in store for us over the next two years!  We were about to enter a "convoluted country" that was totally unfamiliar and unfriendly, that talked in terms with which we had no experience, that made up many of its own rules, and that, basically, did not care what damage is inflicted on those who are under investigation and prosecution as long as they win.  It was and is a world where money matters….from that day on, I realized that if one were poor and of a minority group, he/she had no chance at all.  We were not poor, not of a minority group, but we too had no chance at all, though I didn’t realize it at the time.  We were not rich enough or influential enough.

 My husband and I, along with Tim, met with the attorney David.  Of course, the first thing to be discussed was David's fee for defending the main charge of Vehicular Homicide, $50,000.  Fortunately, he was willing to work for a flat fee plus costs.  Little did we know what “costs” could add up to!!  He did briefly outline what those costs might be, and they seemed reasonable. 

My main question to David was "Do you have the guts to do what you need to do to save my son's life?"  By that I meant keep him out of a long- term prison sentence, if he were found guilty.  His answer was "Yes".  We all felt good about what we were seeing and hearing from David and retained him. He had years of experience in the DA’s office in _______County and had been successful in private practice.  I had no idea that $50,000 would seems like chump change before it was all over!!  Again, we were so completely ignorant about the whole criminal legal process.  No one tells you these things and unless you know someone who has been through it, you have no resources to ask.  It’s a dark and scary place.  We did not know anyone who had been in jail for a serious charge…no points of reference at all.

 David recommended, based on the charges and what he knew at that point, that Tim agree to go to a residential alcohol treatment center.  The illegal blood tests did show a fairly substantial blood alcohol level, and Tim had had prior driving and alcohol issues.  After much research, we selected a place that had a good reputation and that was located about an hour from Tim's home.  They had available space for him, and we arranged for him to begin a month-long treatment program starting shortly.  Note, this program costs $20,000 for 4 weeks, paid in advance.

Unfortunately, the DA in ________ County was very upset that Tim had been bailed out and was planning to go to the treatment facility.  The District Attorney and his staff put every roadblock available to them in the way of Tim going to get help.  This postponed his entry into the program by about two weeks by making ridiculous demands.  My husband and I had to return to our Wisconsin home while the attorney wrangled with the DA.  An agreement was finally reached, though it required that Tim travel all the way back to the ankle monitor vendor (an hour and a half ride) to have it "read" once per week, even though the treatment facility could have done the appropriate tests and reported those back.  Tim finally entered the program, and after some initial reticence at being evaluated and analyzed, settled in and began to make progress.  It was a good place, and he was starting to realize that his apparent involvement with alcohol had some pretty deep-seated triggers from his growing up years.  He had also been using marijuana on a regular basis.

Tim had been at the facility for two weeks, when, out of nowhere and with no notice to Tim's attorney or to the treatment facility, a large contingent of law enforcement people from ______ County appeared there, surrounded the place as if it were a terrorist stronghold, rushed in and took Tim back into custody and back to the _______ County Jail.  His lawyer was notified after the fact.  They told Tim nothing.

 That next heavy boot dropped when I received a phone call from David, the attorney, while I was at Costco shopping back in Wisconsin.  He said that he had some bad news, and I thought “what could be worse than what we were already facing?”  It was worse, very much worse!  The DA had decided to drop the charge of Vehicular Homicide and recharge Tim with First Degree Murder with no bail.  (Note:  this recharge meant that we lost the $12,000 bail bond fee as well as half the treatment facility fee. $10,000.)  We found out later via a reliable source, that the DA had been very angry that we were able to bail him out initially, and, that we were able to send him, in the DA's own words in court, to “a cushy” and fancy rehab instead of leaving him in jail where he belonged.  They also believed that our family was so affluent that he might escape the country.  What absolute fantasy!!  We are far from affluent, and, if Tim had wanted to "escape" the facility, he could have.  It was a walk-away voluntary treatment center, not a locked prison.  Tim was doing everything right, by any rational thought process by any rational person.

 A Preliminary Hearing was set for a few weeks away.

The next chapter will give my experiences in dealing with the County Jail system.  Though mine was in _______________ County in Colorado, from my reading and research, they are all similar in many ways.