I was initially charged with failure to use a turn signal, reckless driving and DUI. On February 19th I plead not guilty to all charges and a motions hearing was set. I filed a motion to suppress everything in an effort to get somebody to look into my case and realize that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prosecute me. Prior to the motions hearing the district attorney offered some default plea bargains but had not read the case file. I believe the arrest was wrongful, so I’m going to fight it every step of the way. That motions hearing was yesterday.
I arrived at the courthouse at 2:30, a half an hour before the hearing. As soon as I showed up the District Attorney walked up and informed my lawyer that the DA’s office was dropping the DUI charge. I was pleasantly surprised and pissed off at the same time. I mean this cop arrested me without any probable cause, took my driver’s license, locked my ass up in jail, made me post bail, reported my DUI to the DMV and forced me to fight for my driver’s license. Had I not prevailed at my DMV hearing, I would have lost my license for a year. Then what happens? The fucknuts drop the DUI like it’s some kind of favor to me, when I should have never been arrested for it in the first place.
My lawyer and I instantly start restructuring the questions to ask the cop for the hearing. The DUI now irrelevant, we were going to have to fly by the seat of our pants. I believe the DA waited to inform us of the changes in the case until the last minute as part of his courtroom tactics.
As 3:00 neared, the DA approached us with another change. He threw this curve ball. To drop the DUI they would like me to take a plea bargain admitting my guilt for the turn signal, reckless driving and get this… misdemeanor ELUDING! A brand new charge! They try to muscle me into this plea, claiming that if I don’t accept it they will take me to trial for the eluding as a felony. A crime punishable up to 6 years in prison.
My lawyer, doing her job, informed me of the twist. She mentioned that the felony is quite serious and reminded me that innocent people loose trials due to the fact that jurors are not perfect. Trials are very unpredictable and loss is a possibility. I could see how somebody with no balls would happily accept this plea to avoid the drama. That’s not me. I refused the deal and called bullshit on the whole thing. I am innocent. I’m not going to let anybody fuck with me like this… let’s move on.
My attorney then asked me if it would be alright to show the DA a piece of our evidence. I was reluctant at first but then realized it would not be a big deal. It was a photograph of the car, showing that it was not the same as the one the officer described. This is one big hole in the DA’s case. She presented it to the DA and he agreed to drop the felony eluding. I believe the whole felony thing was an unscrupulous tactic by the DA. This is how they play with your freedom. By trying to frighten you into pleading guilty to something that you aren’t guilty of.
So, as of now, the score is: DUI dropped, misdemeanor eluding added. I have accepted no plea bargain and I’m already coming out ahead. The eluding is a lesser charge than the DUI. I’m ready to get this party started. We entered the courtroom for the actual hearing. The reason I came to the courthouse in the first place. At this hearing we get to question the officer in an attempt to show the judge that the officer had no reason to stop or detain me. Thereby throwing out the entire case. Well, the officer is a no show. The DA explains that it was a clerical error and that the officer was subpoenaed for the wrong day. The reason we were here was to question him and he has not arrived. My attorney asked the judge to grant us our motion because of this, however, he decided to give the officer a chance to arrive. The DA got on the phone to call the cop and then informed the judge that the officer would be arriving soon. The judge made me wait for the cop. Had I not shown up there would have been a warrant issued for my arrest. Go figure.
The actual hearing part of the day was quite uneventful. We did get the cop on the stand. He did admit the car was not how he remembered it, but similar. The judge decided not to grant me the motion. I proceed to trial June 12th.
