OK - Explain

[km gresham]

In municipal court a young girl (maybe 18-19) fairly pretty. Arrested for simple posession. She was a passenger in the car with a weasly looking (close set eyes, weak chin) little man who was 30. He was also arrested for posession and traffic violation.

The girl had never been in trouble, had no record - nothing. The judge offered her (encouraged her to accept) pre-trial intervention which would have resulted in her having no criminal record upon completion of the program. She turned it down. 3 times. She wanted the sentence along with the criminal record!

I do not understand. She seemed fairly smart and lucid. Why on earth would this girl (3 times) turn down an opportunity to avoid a criminal record which the judge explained ad nauseum would follow her for the rest of her life?

The guy she was with had a criminal record. The judge was not happy with his influence on this young girl.

[ 03-10-2005, 11:32 AM: Message edited by: km gresham ]

[Katherine]

Was the girl mad at her parents or something? Maybe she thought a crimminal record would be cool. Mabe her self esteem or intelligence is nonexistant.

[Norman Bernstein]

Where did this story come from?

[km gresham]

What I saw while at municipal court.

I don't know Katherine. She didn't have any family there with her, just weasel man.

That judge did his dead level best to save her from making a very poor decision.

[ 03-10-2005, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: km gresham ]

[Katherine]

There in lies the problem. Where the hell were her parents? Okay at 18 she may not have needed them for court, but if I was the judge I would be betting that they screwed up when she was younger. Can't understand why she would be attracted to weasel man. He obviously doesn't have any respect for her. Sounds like she may have a few underlying issues.

[Gresham CA]

Where did this story come from? Eye witness account Norman. I couldn't believe what I was seeing or hearing in her case. The only thing I can figure is that it was some misguided gesture of love for this older fella. And he was a looser, judging from his record.

[km gresham]

Most of the young people there were accompanied by an adult. One girl with a traffic violation was there alone, but she told the judge when he asked if her parents knew of the ticked told him they did, but both were working. smile.gif

He asked all the young people if their parents knew about their ticket. This girl was on the phone when she was stopped for running a red light while talking on the phone - to her mother. smile.gif

[MJC]

tongue.gif Hmmm, methinks there's a story here. tongue.gif What were the Gresham's sr. doing in traffic court? tongue.gif Hmmm? tongue.gif

[km gresham]

smile.gif Our duty. Anyway, it wasn't just traffic. There was a man charged with letting his pit bulls run loose and they had killed a couple of smaller animals (neighbors' pets). The judge was very clear about what would happen if he heard about the pit bulls roaming free in the town again.

A pet, a child it's all the same to vicious dogs.

[ 03-10-2005, 11:38 AM: Message edited by: km gresham ]

[Katherine]

When I bought my house a few years ago, the rep for my home owner's insurance made it quite clear that there were some breeds they would not cover claims on. Pit-bulls and Chows were at teh top of the list. Fortunately I have a collie that always wants to play and drowns you in fur.

[brad9798]

She was standing by her man ... and then, soon, he'll dump her naive little a$$.

Or, she is just stupid ... and doesn't realize the gravity of the situation.

Or, she has distorted thinking and doesn't think she has drug problem ...

[Gresham CA]

She was standing by her man ... and then, soon, he'll dump her naive little a$$. BINGO!

[Dale R. Hamilton]

well you know, life is tough- but its tougher when you're stupid. Watch any episode of cops, read any newspaper, the late news- all filled with examples of human stupidity.

[Ian McColgin]

She waived counsel?

Poor child, regardless of her chronological age. I suspect we'll be taking care of her and hers for some years . . .

[km gresham]

Well, if weasel man goes to prison he'll be easy pickin's. Not much to him.

[Katherine]

Stupid, Stupid, STUPID girl. Does she think this man loves her or something? She needs to get a clue before her whole life is ruined. What's next for her, prostitution?

[Victor]

I get depressed whenver I set foot in a mall, seems like the prettiest girls prefer the crummiest guys. The nice guys don't stand a chance. She'll live to regret this, hope she hasn't screwed her life up too much before then.

[km gresham]

I don't know - I felt bad for her because she is young and making a stupid decision, but I felt worse for the judge who kept trying to get her to change her mind. He talked with her for a long time at the end of court.

He was a good judge. He gave everybody as much leeway as he could - even those who had been in front of him before and were scheduled to reappear in a couple of weeks.

Pit bull man looked like somebody who would want pit bulls because they're intimidating. He was big and burly and dirty.(most people tried to at least look clean) The dogs had killed 2 animals and he claimed a 3 year old child had opened the door and let them out of the house. My hair stood on end - he has dogs that are killing and he has them in close proximity to a little child!

[Katherine]

Karen, sounds like those dogs need to be destroyed before they attack another animal ore worse yet, a human. If they're already killing, they're past the point of redemption.

[km gresham]

On a little lighter note, a little old lady was charged in a wreck. The other party wasn't there so the judge explained to her that she could plead innocent and avoid the charges from the ticket. She was determined to do the right thing and plead guilty.

The judge patiently explained to her that she had insurance and the other party's damages had been taken care of and that it was perfectly alright for her to plead innocent. It took a bit of talking, but he finally assuaged her conscience enough to convince her to plead innocent.

He didn't have any trouble with those who came after her with the same situation - they quickly pled innocent. smile.gif

[LeeG]

you appear to be closer to the information than any of us here. Who's to blame?

[brad9798]

It's nice to hear of a compassionate judge ...

He MUST be appointed ... as most elected judges certainly are concerned more with conviction rates than doing the right thing with the spirit of the law (versus the letter of the law).

Brad

[km gresham]

I know the town made a lot of money last night. Some of the fines are pretty steep. :eek:

He was a compassionate judge. All of the ones I've seen (4 or 5) in action were. One of the best was a South Carolina Judge who ran for Senate. He's a DEMOCRAT. Alex Sanders. Very nice, classy man. smile.gif

[John of Phoenix]

Poor dumb girl. Trying to prove what??

Speaking of compassion, last year my mother-in-law hit a van that was parked in a no parking zone. It was that time of dusk where it's hard to see even with younger eyes, and she hit it doing about 25 mph. Thankfully she was only bruised a little. She gave the cop her cell phone to call us because she was pretty shaken up. When we got there the cop was still pondering how to write things up. She wound up giving the van a parking ticket and mom got cited for doing 25 in a zero zone. :D

No fine, no points, but at age 85, mom got the idea and hung up her car keys.

[km gresham]

smile.gif Good thing she wasn't seriously hurt!

[George.]

Originally posted by km gresham:
I felt bad for her because she is young and making a stupid decision... I thought youth was no excuse for criminal behaviour! ;)

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

People are usually logical according to their lights even when they are being very stupid.

I presume the girl did not want the intrusion into her privacy that the counselling would have involved. Conceivably her parents were unaware of the charge, or conceivably she was living with weaselman in a squat or suchlike.

[km gresham]

Let's see - loss of a little privacy or criminal drug conviction for the rest of your life? She was very young and very foolish.

George, she didn't torture and murder anyone. But yes I even feel bad for young people who go so wrong - but there is a price to be paid especially when your deeds cost people their lives.

We who have children just pray that the foolish things done by our children won't negatively impact their lives (or anyone else's) forever.

[ 03-11-2005, 07:29 AM: Message edited by: km gresham ]

[George.]

Originally posted by km gresham:
George, she didn't torture and murder anyone. Yet. Let her off with a slap on the wrist, and she may escalate. Remember our discussion the other day about nipping criminal behavior in the bud?

[km gresham]

This girl chose to serve time. Youthful offenders get one shot at pre-trial intervention. I think that's a good thing. It works for many. For some it doesn't work at all. I think the theory is that young people should get one chance to screw up without it costing them for the rest of their lives.

I don't have any problem with that. For anyone.

[brad9798]

Good try George. :rolleyes: but the two issues are not mutually exclusive ...

Just because someone is young is not an excuse ... we may still choose to feel compassion for them however.

[John Gearing]

She chose jail because the marginal utility of the intervention was less than the marginal utility of jail.

[Mrleft8]

Originally posted by Katherine:
Stupid, Stupid, STUPID girl. Does she think this man loves her or something? She needs to get a clue before her whole life is ruined. What's next for her, prostitution?A prostitute in IRMO!!!???? :D I'd pay $ to see the headlines in the "Irmo gazette" the day that happens!
:D

[km gresham]

I've not seen any, Lefty. I'm surprised that it's still a lucrative profession - there seems to be no end to women willing to engage in promiscuous behavior at no charge.

If there were any in Irmo, I wouldn't likely see them anyway - I'm in the house by dark and I assume they keep later hours than that. smile.gif

Now I have seen many young girls who dress like prostitutes (or Brittany Spears), I assume in many cases it's false advertising, since I think they are mostly guilty of being slaves to fashion and having lenient parents.

[ 03-11-2005, 09:18 AM: Message edited by: km gresham ]

[Wild Dingo]

Originally posted by km gresham:
Now I have seen many young girls who dress like prostitutes (or Brittany Spears) Same thing isnt it? :rolleyes: :D

Still I guess the judge gave her her chances {3 times in the first time? :eek: Now thats a cool judge} so she chose do the time :rolleyes:

Sometimes it actually does some good for a immature young fool to see the results of their stupidity for this girl maybe just maybe she will be so shocked and "impressed" by what she sees and experiences in gaol she will make a better choice for her future... sometimes... yes just sometimes that first bravado bull****e attitude of "who cares so send me to gaol then" is so surprised shocked and disgusted by what they experience inside that they decide NEVER EVER to do anything that will get them back there... and they come out to change their lives around... sometimes

for this kids sake I hope shes one of them... if not well saylagare {however the heck you say it! tongue.gif }

[km gresham]

I hope it is of some benefit to her. It was so strange - she wasn't belligerent or hostile - she smiled and was polite and insisted on going to jail and having a record. :confused:

[George.]

I tend to agree with this:


Sometimes it actually does some good for a immature young fool to see the results of their stupidity for this girl maybe just maybe she will be so shocked and "impressed" by what she sees and experiences in gaol she will make a better choice for her future... HOWEVER not in this case. She was arrested for "possession." That should not be a crime at all. Putting people in a cell with real criminals because they had a joint in their purse is one of the stupidest things Western countries do on a regular basis. Best way to make a criminal out of someone who is not.

[km gresham]

She didn't have anything in her purse. It was in the glove box of the guy's car. She took it out and gave it to the policeman and claimed it was hers. It was a bag of marijuana and drug paraphanalia.

See, it gets even stranger. She didn't have anything on her, but claimed that what was in his car was hers. Maybe it was, I don't know about that.

[ 03-11-2005, 01:09 PM: Message edited by: km gresham ]

[George.]

I see. She was trying to take the fall for him. Love's beautiful... :rolleyes:

[km gresham]

She was so pretty and young and he looked just like a weasel and had a criminal record. The perfect man! :rolleyes: I guess love really is blind.

[Katherine]

Love isn't only blind, it's deaf and dumb as well. If that girl gets any dumber, she'll be a potted plant.

[LeeG]

love is a word,,what she calls love and what you call love might be as different as a cactus is from an orange.