I was Downriver (Areas south of Detroit along the shore of the Detroit River is colloquially known around here as Downriver) in a District Court today waiting for a scheduled trial.
Sadly for me and my client, the Judge adjourned our trial even though we had shown up ready to go.
Scheduling conflicts bumped us and criminal cases beat civil cases in order of precedence. So, I will get to do the trial soon and it's going to be EPIC. Will blog about it once done, but suffice to say it has already been rather entertaining in the lead-up to trial.
But, as we were waiting to see if we got to go, the judge was going through criminal case after criminal case.
There was a clear ongoing set of commonalities amongst practically every criminal case called:
1. Drugs or excessive alcohol usage (or both) was involved; then
2. Someone couldn't keep their hands to themselves, and/or off the steering wheel.
On top of that, many compounded the problem by stupidly failing to appear for their first hearing without any notice to the court causing them to catch new fun, expensive, and jail-able penalties now that they got caught after failing to show up.
For almost all of the people called it wasn't their first criminal call rodeo.
One lady had 4 concurrent cases running right now in front of three different judges for 4 separate recent incidents. Sadly for her, judges can see your current proceedings even in another court and they're not impressed that you're trying to earn frequent court customer points. In fact it's rather the opposite as they can see you're really not learning and now they have to teach you a lesson.
You will not like that lesson.
There was a very clear pattern of a lack of impulse control amongst all defendants.
So quite simply if you can both:
1. Stay off drugs and keep your alcohol usage under control so you don't get stupid drunk/drugged in public and then do stupid things; and
2. Handle your inter-personal relationships while keeping your hands to yourself and not on a steering wheel if drunk or stoned,
Then, you're likely not going to be on the receiving end of the criminal justice system.
Should you choose to fail to do steps 1 and 2, then A) Get a lawyer; and B) Show up when you're scheduled to show up.
Failure to do A and B is going to make things a whole lot worse for you.
You really don't want a judge to say to you as a defendant: "You're just not getting this are you?"
3 comments:
You mentioned the Detroit River, and it reminded me of my daughter's cousin, who would have been my niece by marriage with my ex wife. The cousin is married to a Michigan State trooper, who spent his first years assigned to the Detroit area. I got this 3rd hand from my daughter.
It seems like there is an island in the Detroit River that is used by the criminal element for drug deals and such, and it is one of the least liked duties to patrol that area. So this Michigan State trooper of course ended up getting more than his share of this assignment, and just hated it. But I guess that since he and his wife, my daughter's cousin, did not have any kids yet, he stayed in the Detroit area for a few extra years, so that he could have a better chance to get a better duty station when they started a family.
I know that for me, any big city is unusual, since I was born in the tiny hamlet of Hesperia, MI, and spent the first half of my nearly 62 years living in that area. And now I just live in Muskegon, which is not really a booming metropolis. I go to Grand Rapids and it is too urban for me, yet alone to go to a Detroit or Ann Arbor.
I know that people who were born in cities look at my life, and just cannot understand how people like me can live without the conveniences that they take for granted, such as entertainment, or access to the top medical care and the finest restaurants if they so desire. We really are a mixing pot of a nation, I guess.
Should you choose to fail to do steps 1 and 2, then A) Get a lawyer; and B) Show up when you're scheduled to show up.
(C) Wear proper clothing
(D) Do what ever you MUST do to get a babysitter.
Both of those still amuse me in court.
pigpen51: Muskegon is a great place and I really enjoy visiting there - friendly people, great beaches, USS Silversides, and they also have really nice ATC controllers there too. It all depends on what people want out of life, I suppose, and there's something out there that fits for each person's tastes and needs.
Detroit area as a duty station (and an island in the river even more so - wonder if it was Belle Isle or somewhere else) for MSP can be rough, but they do get a lot of action and experience there they won't get almost anywhere else.
Mathew W: Yep, those are also good additions to the list and it is amusing when people don't follow those guidelines.
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