157 lines
9.2 KiB
Plaintext
157 lines
9.2 KiB
Plaintext
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*-* *-*
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*-* *-*
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*-* TTTTTTTTTT AAAAAA NNNN N J *-*
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*-* T A A N N N J *-*
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*-* T AAAAAAAAAA N N N J *-*
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*-* T A A N N N J J *-*
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*-* T A A N NNNN JJJJJ *-*
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*-* *-*
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*-* There Ain't No Justice *-*
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*-* #07 *-*
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*-* *-*
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*-* Phoenix Modernz Inc. 908/830-8265 *-*
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-At the End of My Rope-
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So far in my relating of my dealings with the law, I have pretty much stuck
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with my associations with the police. Well, I have left mucking with the
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police behind, and moved on to the world of legal aides, lawyers, and
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judges.
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First off, a few facts. Believe NOTHING that the cops tell you about your
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rights. Trust the Miranda, but nothing else. The cop who told me I wasn't
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entitled to a public defender until I had a court date was full of shit. In
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fact, I'd still be WAITING for a court date if I hadn't gone off and gotten
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a Public Defender...
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This is the same cop, by the way, who told me that I had been indited back
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in October. He waxed quite poletic on the length of my Grand Jury trial,
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and how I'd been found guilty (in absencia, I might add). I asked him why I
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hadn't been informed, and was told that I didn't need to be present... I
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asked him who had acted in my defense... that he didn't have an answer to.
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Cops are ignorant... about everything but donuts. And don't you forget it.
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Once you've got the Public Defender, have HIM call the EFF. They won't
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really want to talk to YOU, and all they ever told me to do was to have my
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lawyer call them. Don't get me wrong... the EFF is a great organization;
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but they are lawyers. They want to talk to other lawyers, not scared
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hackers who have little to no idea how much trouble they're really in!
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Anyway, on with our story...
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I had been basically vegetating for a few months, when a friend took a
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renewed interest in my case. He contacted a Mike Godwin via internet, and
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started getting me to do something about my predicament again. Talking to
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the EFF was a pretty strange sensation: my initial conversation with Mike
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Godwin went something like this...
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Me: Hello?
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Mike: THIS IS MIKE!
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Me: <pause> Hello?
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Mike: This is Mike...
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Me: <longer pause> Ummmm...this is Tal Meta.
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Mike: This is Mike...Hello?
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Needless to say, I was not encouraged by the way this conversation was
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going. When I finally got him to acknowlege that I was there, and
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participate in the conversation, all he really told me to do was get a
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lawyer, and have the lawyer call him. Let me add, though, that the EFF is
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not all knowing. Mr. Godwin was fairly certain that the whole case would be
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dismissed under the speedy trial statues. Unfortunately, the state of NJ
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doesn't HAVE a speedy trial statute. Maybe Massachussets does... (this
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being where they are located). Don't take every word they speak as gospel
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either. Afterall, unless you're paying them, they have at best an academic
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interest in you. Don't go jumping for joy just because someone there tells
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you you are saved.
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Going down to the legal aid office to request a public defender didn't
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impress me any more than talking to police dispatchers had in the past.
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While friendly, the folks who worked there were uniformly ignorant, and I
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was asked more than once if I was SURE that my case was still active.They
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had this big list of things I needed to bring with me to request public
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defense, (none of which I had been warned about on the phone) but they
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never asked for anything but a copy of my arrest warrant. I guess I just
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looked sufficiently poor. But to be on the safe side, bring your whole life
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history along for the ride. Tax Records, returns, pay stubs for the last
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three years... anything that proves you're poor. Me, I declared bankruptcy
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back in 91...that was all they needed to hear.
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Having been approved for Public Defense, I was eventually called in for my
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first interview with the PD's investigator. The thing I have grown to hate
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most in these proceedings is explaining over and over again to totally
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computer illiterate people what it is that I supposedly have done. The
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second thing I hate is when the very people responsible for depriving me of
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my computers seem to be totally incompetent at retaining things like the
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records of my arrest. I wonder sometimes what would have happened if I had
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simply NEVER done anything... Would they have finally found my case when I
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was sixty or something?
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The day of my meeting with my public defender, I spent some time waiting in
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an overly small waiting area with 5 of my fellow felons. Three were there
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on various drug charges, one for assault, and the last for prostitution.
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Four were alone, and one brought his Mommy. Mom wasn't allowed to do much
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except sit outside with the great unwashed... so if you're over eighteen,
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leave Mom at home. Nobody wants to see her. The pinnacle of the morning was
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when this old geezer walks in and asks if he has a claim against his
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insurance company because they cancelled his policy. The lady behind the
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desk (who was a total bitch in the first place) gets all bent out of shape
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trying to explain to the geezer that the public defender's office only
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deals with people ACCUSED of crimes, not every Joe off the street with a
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beef against someone.
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I think one of the reasons my lawyer was so happy to see me is that I
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represented something genuinely DIFFERENT than his normal crowd...
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Anyway, I eventually got to meet the guy whom the state of New Jersey had
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chosen to defend me from the charges against me. He seemed competent
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enough, but he, like everyone else, has had a hard time grasping exactly
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what it was charged with.As he had no access to the evidence that the
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prosecution had (and had lost!) he didn't have alot to say to me. But he
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accepted my story with a grain of salt and sent me on my way.
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Now, the reason I stared to write this file is that my case finally started
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to take off. I received one letter from Criminal Case Management informing
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me that I should report for inprocessing into the Pre-Trial Intervention
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Program; a New Jersey program designed to give first time offenders a
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"second chance", by allowing you to be put directly on probation without
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going through a trial. You can plead not-guilty, serve a 1 year probation,
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and then have the case DROPPED... you get your equipment back, and the only
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thing your criminal record contains is a note to the effect that you've
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used up your one shot at a PTI.
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However, when I called my lawyer, he informed me that he had moved for a
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probable cause hearing, which, if I won that, would have my case dismissed
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wholesale. However, no sooner do I get off work early to go to this, then I
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get a phonecall from the lawyer telling me not to show up because the
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prosecutor has moved for an adjournment. What this means, my lawyer
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explained, was that the prosecutor's office suddenly realized that they had
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no witnesses, and were thus unprepared to demonstrate in court why this
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farce should continue any longer.
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My lawyer felt all this was a good thing, as it meant that my chances for a
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dismissal had climbed. He sees no case, I have no idea what they EVER saw,
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and now the prosecutor is forced to grasp at straws. My lawyer is also
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currently looking to cut a deal with U.S. Sprint whereby they drop all
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charges, and I agree not to scan their exchanges anymore. Its amendable to
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me... after all, there are dozens of other companies to fuck with!
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In any case, this concludes yet another chapter in our neverending battle
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with the forces of law and justice. I'm in the mood for something different
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for awhile... so expect the next file to be... obtuse!
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*-* Phoenix Modernz Inc. TANSTAAFL BBS:908/830-TANJ *-*
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*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
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*-* Modern Textfiles Inc. The Matrix BBS:908/905-6691 *-*
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*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
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*-* The Lawless Society Inc. CyberChat BBS:908/506-7637 *-*
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