Would you like an extra shot of expresso with that speeding ticket?
by mikel k
This courtroom was different than the ones that I use to go in and out of back when I was drinking. The biggest difference was that everything was repeated to the people gathered in the courtroom in Spanish. Everything; so getting around to the actual business of standing people in front of the judge took twice as long. Also, you couldn't plead innocent in front of the judge, just guilty. Several guys had attorneys with them and plead no lo. I was taught, a long time ago, that you don t need to have an attorney with you in a courtroom to plead no lo. The attorneys know this, so why do they stand next to you in a court of "law" and take your money from you when you don t need them?
The young man that I plead not guilty to in the hallway outside the courtroom was standoffish and semi-mean, a prick, in other words. I wouldn't be surprised if I ran into him as my prosecutor should I go that far with all this. I chose a jury trial instead of a bench trial. A bench trial means that I stand in front of the Judge and sort of next to the prosecutor and her or she tries to convict me.
All this for a traffic ticket(85 in 65.) What is my point?
Does the officer who says that I was speeding sit at the same spot every night and administer equal justice to the citizens who drive through that patch of highway or is it a random thing, what they call a speed trap, that is set up to fatten city coffers? Is a law that is enforced randomly enforceable? Is it fair? Ha ha on the fair, enforceable I might set out to find out, or I might wave all my rights and pay the ticket as the Judge said that I could.
The court was way more set up, and seemed more interested, in collecting fines and getting guilty pleas than anything else. There is that brand new court house to pay for. Is an American courtroom sort of like Starbucks, the buck being the bottom line or is justice for all the goal of the men and women who work in the court system and rely on it making money for them to get paid?
by mikel k
This courtroom was different than the ones that I use to go in and out of back when I was drinking. The biggest difference was that everything was repeated to the people gathered in the courtroom in Spanish. Everything; so getting around to the actual business of standing people in front of the judge took twice as long. Also, you couldn't plead innocent in front of the judge, just guilty. Several guys had attorneys with them and plead no lo. I was taught, a long time ago, that you don t need to have an attorney with you in a courtroom to plead no lo. The attorneys know this, so why do they stand next to you in a court of "law" and take your money from you when you don t need them?
The young man that I plead not guilty to in the hallway outside the courtroom was standoffish and semi-mean, a prick, in other words. I wouldn't be surprised if I ran into him as my prosecutor should I go that far with all this. I chose a jury trial instead of a bench trial. A bench trial means that I stand in front of the Judge and sort of next to the prosecutor and her or she tries to convict me.
All this for a traffic ticket(85 in 65.) What is my point?
Does the officer who says that I was speeding sit at the same spot every night and administer equal justice to the citizens who drive through that patch of highway or is it a random thing, what they call a speed trap, that is set up to fatten city coffers? Is a law that is enforced randomly enforceable? Is it fair? Ha ha on the fair, enforceable I might set out to find out, or I might wave all my rights and pay the ticket as the Judge said that I could.
The court was way more set up, and seemed more interested, in collecting fines and getting guilty pleas than anything else. There is that brand new court house to pay for. Is an American courtroom sort of like Starbucks, the buck being the bottom line or is justice for all the goal of the men and women who work in the court system and rely on it making money for them to get paid?
posted by mikel k poet at 1:48 PM
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