254 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
254 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO oOOOO OOOO. OOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" .OOOOOO OOOOOo OOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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OOOO oOOOOOOO OOOOOOO. OOOO oOOOO
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OOOO .OOOO OOOO OOOOOOOOo OOOO OOOO"
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OOOO oOOOO OOOO OOOO "OOOO. OOOO OOOOo .OOOO'
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OOOO .OOOO" OOOO OOOO OOOOoOOOO "OOOO. oOOOO
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OOOO oOOOOOOO..OOOO OOOO "OOOOOOO OOOOoOOOO"
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OOOO .OOOO"""OOOOOOOO OOOO OOOOOO "OOOOOOO'
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OOOO oOOOO ""OOOO OOOO "OOOO OOOOOO
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|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| There Ain't No Justice |
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| #58 |
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|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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- "How do you Plead?" -
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-- or --
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- A Phyrric Victory Beats No Victory At All -
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by Tal Meta
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Wednesday, the 16th. 11 Hours to D-Day.
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---------------------------------------
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I dunno. Maybe I should be scared. Maybe I am, a little. But I'm also
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cocky/arrogant. The evidence is that clear to me. I look at it, several
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times an hour. I go over it in my mind, I've been planning my cross
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examination for three days. I'm settling for general nervousness.
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"Will the defendant please rise..."
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I look at the stuff the cops gave me when I called for discovery. The
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SprintDerf says I was trying to hack PBXni. He's wrong. If I had been, his
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pretty list of numbers should read like an endlessly repeating prankdial.
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It doesn't. It goes from 9860 to 9861 to 9862. A sequence of ascending
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numbers, never dialling the same number twice.
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"I object!"
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I know little about legal protocol. I watch the occasional episode of L.A.
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Law, does this make me capable of pulling this off? I hope so. The Sprint
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charges I can destroy, I can make the SprintDerf disprove his own point.
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Can't I? He'll have his $1000 an hour legal eagle from the company pool,
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and I'll have the light of moral certitude shining from within.
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"This is all circumstantial evidence..."
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The receiving stolen property charge no longer worries me. I know the cop
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who's pressing that charge, its purely a local thing. He hasn't a shred of
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evidence. Nothing. Unless he's holding something back, which will earn me a
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mistrial. And even if he does, if he obtained it AFTER the SprintDerf
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returned my system (did I mention that the VICTIM of my "crimes" took
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possession of my system, to do the analysis? Can you see the conflict of
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interest there too, or do I need new glasses?) I can say that the evidence
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was tainted.
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"The police used to watch over the people. Now they're watching the people."
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There's a feeling like elation in my heart. I truly believe I can beat
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them, beat them at their own game. Me, some long haired cyberhippie,
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bearding the giants of Law and Order in their most private sanctum. I'm
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even considering changing my future plans, from programming to law. People
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need protection from this sort of persecution. If I win this thing, I'll
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believe I'm the person to do it. But thats a day away, yet. Alot could
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happen.
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"I have no further questions for this witness."
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I have no witnesses. No evidence of my own. I don't think I need any. The
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incompetence of the cops and of the SprintDerf leaves me trusting that I
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won't need any. I should probably create some. A printout of the file I was
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REALLY making dialing all those numbers. Gotta remember to bring copies of
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FFejScan & CodeThief to court tomorrow, just in case I get a chance to do a
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demonstration. Gotta remember... epiphany...
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"You are in contempt!"
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I have to remember to be humble tomorrow. To be quiet, and reasonable. So
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tonight, I am loud, and obnoxious. I say all the wild, troublesome things
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that could cost me the opinion of the judge I so desperately need to
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convince. Thats how I handle stress. Before the confrontation, I say all
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the things that would cost me points, loudly, to anyone who will listen.
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Then, when the time has come, I can be calm, and rational.
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"Does your heart not hear the call to battle?"
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Rational is good. Long ago, when I created "Tal Meta" in my mind, he
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represented the coldly logical side of my being. The side that could stand
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in front of a gymnasium full of people and be spat upon, and take it. That
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happened, once, long ago. Harry Eldridge, I think his name was. Big ass
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wrestling dude. He could've broken me like a twig... and he knew it. And he
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knew I knew it. What he never comprehended was that it didn't matter. I had
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insulted him... over what, I can't remember. He wanted to fight me. I
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didn't care to oblige him. So he spat on me, right there in front of 50
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some odd people, one of whom was a girl I cared for deeply. She understood,
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though. She was a Jehovah's Witness... people spat on her all the time. Two
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months later, after he held me in a death's grip headlock over another
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slight, (which a coach had to come and break before he made me pass out, or
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killed me) I waited for him in a stairwell, and jumped on his ass from the
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second floor. I broke his arm. I didn't even get expelled. I was one of the
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"good kids".
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"I stand before you, draped in my sins..."
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Thats the key, you see. On one level, I know, that since this is my first
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offense, the system is going to "go easy on me". But thats not what I want.
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I want to win, I want the system to bow before me. I've worked hard at
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becoming a "respectable" member of my community. Nobody really knows what
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I'm up to. If "Fred" insists on pressing his unsupported case tomorrow, I
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plan on destroying him on the stand.
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"They agreed with that line from Shakespeare... 'Hang all the Lawyers'..."
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"And just when did you become aware that a crime had been committed?" "Was
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that before or after Mr. Aninnos there had the evidence 'analyzed'?" "And
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where is your evidence of that crime today?" "Whats that? You say you've
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misplaced it?" "This is not Traffic Court, Officer Fred. Your word against
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mine is insufficient." "Your Honor, I move for this case to be dismissed
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due to lack of evidence..."
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"Nothing has to BE true, but everything has to SOUND true."
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SprintDerf is another story. He's going to explain to the court how a PBX
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works. Then he's going to tell us how to compromise one. And then, he's
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going to explain to us how the evidence he's presented supports that
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picture. The beauty of it all is that he can't. Thats my plan, anyway. Alot
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can go wrong between now and then...
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Thursday, the 17th, 3 hours PAST D-Day.
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---------------------------------------
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I went to court. I sit waiting... for what, I don't know. I wait as the
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caseload is called out... SprintDerf is nowhere to be seen. They call my
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name. I rise, and enter my plea. "No, your Honor, I'll be defending
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myself." I say. No SprintDerf in appearance. Am I happy, or sad? Shit. The
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Judge is a substitute. He doesn't want to be there, you can hear it in his
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voice. Says he has to be in another town by 3 today. (I wonder if he made
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it?) Every time he speaks he sounds like an auctioneer. Time passes. I
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watch those pleading guilty get their sentences. Fines mostly. One of the
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cops I know comes in... (Fred) The one with a complaint against me. During
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a break, I ask him one last time if he has ANY more evidence concerning my
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charges. He says SprintDerf has it all. I ask him to point out SprintDerf.
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I go ask him for more info. He says the cops have it all. But he's carrying
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this HUGE binder. The Binder has two things written clearly on it. U.S.
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Sprint, and my last name.
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"Can you hear me screaming?"
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I follow SprintDerf back to Fred. They converse, and tell me they're going
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to talk to the Prosecutor. They vanish for about ten minutes. I stew in my
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chair, wondering whats in that binder. I get called into the little room at
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the back. The Prosecutor offers me a deal. He says that he's got enough
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evidence to bury me. He shows me some. He might even be right. I complain
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that SprintDerf's binder is about eight times the size of all the data I've
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been allowed to see thus far. The Prosecutor wants to cut this deal though.
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If I take his deal, he'll drop the receiving stolen property charge, if I
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plead guilty to the other two. Says he'll push for minimum fines, and no
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restitution. If I DON'T take his deal, and ask for another adjournment to
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study the evidence, he'll press for maximum fines, jail time, and
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restitution. I ponder the odds. I ask about my equipment, and begin to form
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my counter-offer. The Prosecutor has no clue, so he calls back in Fred &
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SprintDerf.
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"Stay Alert. Trust No One. And Keep Your Laser Handy!"
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Seems my "buddy" Barney has put in a motion for me to forfeit ALL of my
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seized equipment. I'm not amendable to that, so Barney gets called in.
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While we wait for Barney, we chat about world events. Somalia, and such.
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SprintDerf has a brain in his head. He's the epitome of evil in my world
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right now, but I still can respect that. Barney arrives. The look I gave
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him would have melted steel, but he seems oblivious. We "discuss" who gets
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what. Barney wants my laptops. (I guess his grandkids will be happy this
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Christmas...) He also wants my IBM. I want my Commodore system back. I want
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to trade him the cheesy word processor for a laptop, but no go. In the end,
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we all agree that I get my Commie system back (worth twice what the IBM was
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worth in today's market) and I get the mouse card out of the IBM setup. I
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get copies of all the software on the IBM. I get all the other software
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too. And my VCR, the phones, etc.. Oh Joy.
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"Sometimes, in order to win, you have to lose a little..."
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I'm still stewing. I'm NOT guilty of what they want me to plead guilty too.
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It sticks in my pride like a white hot knife to plead otherwise. But it
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will get my equipment back. It will end this charade. It will give me my
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life back, to do with as I would. So I agree to this devil's bargain, and
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we go out to face the court again.
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"Do you think you could twist the knife in my back a little to the right?"
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I sit there, as another case is heard, and I want to scream. I would really
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like to hurt someone. Preferably SprintDerf. I watch them, Fred, Barney, &
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SprintDerf, all chummy on the other side of the room. The Judge calls my
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case again. I rise, and walk towards the bench, wishing I had a weapon. I
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stand there, mute, as the Prosecutor explains the deal to the Judge. He
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asks me if thats what I want. I say that I do, but anyone with an ounce of
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empathy would have known I was lying. I'm forcing myself not to snarl, like
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some caged animal who's been tormented by people he can't reach, and can
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only huddle in one corner and snap at them.
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"Jesus wept. I prefer firing on full auto."
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The Judge reads the charges, and unique as they are to these small town
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courts, he has to look up the penalties. He gets sidetracked for a moment
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by some obtuse ruling involving theft of electrical service, that carries a
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minimum $500 fine. I'm groaning inside, trying to visulaize myself paying
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off a $1000+ fine. The Prosecutor & SprintDerf look at one another, and
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silently agree that this shouldn't be considered under those rules. The
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Judge, who still wants to get out of here soonest, reads off the fines
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almost too fast for me to add them up in my head. In a mere twinkling, its
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over.
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"Not with a bang, but with a whimper..."
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I go downstairs, and fill out a check. $400 isn't too unbearable. But I'm
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wishing this had made it to a probable cause hearing at the County Level.
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It all might have gone away there. But I suppose I can live with it. I
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guess I'll have to now. A career in law looks very appealing to me now. A
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chance to strike back. A chance to make a difference. But I probably won't
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do it. Ask me six months from now, and maybe I'll have a different outlook.
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Maybe not.
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This is HOPEFULLY the last "Legal TANJ" I'll ever write. There may be more
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written by others, but I'm planning on covering my tracks well enough never
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to be in a courtroom again.
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<20> <20><> <20>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>۲<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> Phoenix Modernz Systems: 908/830-TANJ
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<EFBFBD>۱<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> The Syndicate: 908/506-6651
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<EFBFBD>۱<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> The Matrix BBS: 908/905-6691
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> First United Church Kalisti: 602/753-3784
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> The Cell: 817/870-1060
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD>۲<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20><>
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<EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD><EFBFBD> <20> <20> <20> |