| Accessory to a Crime or Not? |
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The judicial system is failing and is being abused at all levels. Did you know that the United States, with Michigan being one of the top 10, have more people incarcerated than anywhere else in the world? In today’s world, you can easily be accused, tried, sentenced and incarcerated for something you didn't do, often through coercion into accepting a lesser charge. We have all heard the terrible stories, where innocent people have been sentenced and incarcerated for several years, ultimately finding out this individual was never guilty of the crime in the first place. The sad thing is there are a lot more people than you know sitting in our jails and prisons, loosing everything they have ever worked for and costing tax payers millions of dollars each year. The fact is, many of these people should have never seen the court room to begin with. Our legal system requires two very important elements that must be met to determine if a person should be incarcerated… one, that they are truly guilty based on credible evidence and, two, that they were aware of and understood what they were involved in. The problem today is that our officers, detectives and state prosecutors have lost touch with how to correctly acquire these elements in order for our system to work fairly and properly. Our legal system can still work, but it requires returning to the original rules, using true, honest, unaltered evidence and facts to prove someone’s guilt as well as establishing the accused intentions to commit a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Arresting someone with no credible proof or altering the facts based on a hunch or feeling is not the way the system was set up to work. The only way our system will work correctly is assuming an individual is innocent first, until they are proven guilty. An officer or detective can question someone and investigate every detail but must not ever add, alter, lie or coerce an individual into admitting guilt. They should not be able to hold or question someone for any amount of time without an attorney present other than during initial questioning and to gather personal information to verify an individual’s identity. The two key elements mentioned above are supposed to be reviewed and challenged in our courts by the both the prosecution and the defense attorney. This is called a preliminary hearing. This hearing is designed to determine if a case should be dropped, continued or investigated further, such as medical examinations, more evidence, and so on. Everyone involved is supposed to take all of the information collected by police and investigators, less their opinions or hunches, along with the information provided by any witnesses and the person(s) involved and determine if someone should be charged with a crime. This used to work very well many years ago but today our judicial system has failed thousands of people, giving them wrongful sentences, from probation to several years in prison. This shift in the method we have used in the past has been caused by a system that is stressed, understaffed and abused by our police officers, investigators, prosecutors and probation officers. There are many cases where verbal and threatening abuse have been used in an attempt to coerce an individual into admitting to a crime or telling the individual pertinent information about the case that would later be used against them in a court of law by the prosecution. In addition, there are tens of thousands of people that are on probation who are guaranteed to end up in jail or prison simply because the terms of thier probation cannot be met. Terms of probation vary but they all have one thing in common, if you do not comply, you go to jail...makes perfect sense unless the requirements conflict with each other or require someone to depend on others to help them. The following is an actual account of bond conditions (these are the conditions that are set by the Judge as an alternative to being incarcerated throughout your judicial process) that are given to an individual of any age who has been charged with a crime and is a awaiting court hearing and/or trial to determine innocence or guilt. This is the area of the system where the majority of innocent people end up in jail and become caught up in a true nightmare that will cost them and you, as a tax payer, tens of thousands of dollars. This process can be abused as it appears that it does not matter what you’re charged with. Conditions that are often blanketly given are requirements such as no alcohol or drug use, possess no weapons, random urine and alcohol tests, usually 2 to 4 times a week to start, at $ 15.00 or more each time, AA/NA meetings twice a week, obtain or maintain a job, if you have not graduated high school, obtain a GED, which means sign up for and attend classes and attend any mental health and/or substance abuse treatment every week. And, by the way, accomplish all of these requirements without a driver’s license. Here’s where friends and family come in, or at least try to help, until it starts to interfere with their ability to live. An individual’s ability to fulfill all of these court orders is virtually impossible. Due to the time and travel conflicts, an individual will most likely miss some requirements, which means going back in front of a Judge for a violation of bond conditions. At that time, the bond amount can be increased or revoked and a person in this situation could very well end of up in jail until the court process is complete. Remember, even if they are innocent and have only been charged, they will still spend time in jail. Today, bond/probation conditions and practices have improved somewhat due to the efforts of one of our officers and the probation departments. It has taken them to realize that the system, as it has been running, is having an unnecessary negative impact and financial strain on individuals, families, courts and our jails/prisons and is simply not working. However, we still have a long way to go to protect all of us from becoming victims of a crime we have not committed. Accusing an innocent person of a crime has a ripple effect that causes costly results to everyone. This happens all because of a decision made by a police officer, the requirements set by our laws to make the arrest and a prosecutor/Judge who decide to charge you with a crime, using only the information given to them by that arresting police officer. If it gets to this point, the cost to you and all other tax payers will quickly grow into thousands of dollars or more, depending on the charge. If you are unable to afford an attorney and need use a court appointed defense attorney, they primarily use information given to them by the police and investigators, as does the Judge on that case. Court appointed attorneys do little or no investigation of their own because they have no financial incentive to do so. Using the information given to them, they negotiate with the prosecutor for a lesser charge because the case, at best, is often questionable and if taken to trial, would probably not have grounds for a conviction. The court appointed attorney, as well as the prosecutor, don't want to go to trial as it is unpaid time that will not likely be productive in terms of a conviction. Therefore, the prosecutor and Judge usually agree to accept a lesser charge along with a lesser sentence in an effort to avoid a trial and to obtain a conviction. If you are completely innocent of the crime but agree to the lesser charge, you will be asked by the Judge in court, on tape, “Did you, in fact, commit this crime and you have not been instructed or forced by anyone to plead guilty to this charge?” When you say, “Yes,” to committing the crime and, “No,” to being forced to the admission, you are now 100% guilty, you will be convicted and it will go on your record. Are you wondering why anyone would admit to a crime they did not commit? It is because of what we would call scare tactics. This is used everyday. Your court appointed attorney and prosecutor want this over. Scare tactics come into play by telling you that if you do not plead to a lesser charge and end up taking it to trial; you face must more serious consequences than you otherwise would. Most people will take the deal. They already know, at this point, the altered, misconstrued facts of the case and that the court appointed attorney has no reason to actually help prove the truth, so getting you so scared you plead guilty is the easiest way to solve that case for both you and them. Today, there are thousands of these people that should have not spent one day on probation or in jail. Because of these practices, we have overcrowded jails and prisons. The real criminal will be released early to allow room for newly convicted, innocent or mentally challenged person to take their place. The ultimate effect of this is that of turning innocent people into bitter, legal system hating, high strung, aggressive individual who hate the world, or in other words, the perfect training for becoming a hard core criminal, just to survive in jail and continue when released. Among the individuals who should not be in jail or prison are those people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, were unaware of the surrounding dangers and become part of someone else’s crime and those who decided to help someone and became caught up in a bad situation. This brings us to this next story that will open everyone’s eyes because this happens more than you would think. This story begins with a young man, who we will call Bob. Bob is 24 years old, has a fiancée and two children and has had problems with the law in the past, but nothing close to what he would find himself caught up in on this day, all because he gave an acquaintance, who we will call Dave, and his friend a ride. One afternoon Dave called Bob, asking if he would give him a ride to his sister’s house and even offered Bob some money for gas. Bob explained that he had plans with his family and would not be able to drive him. Dave called again, two additional times, and each time Bob told him he was not going out and had plans to spend the day and evening with his family. Later that night, around 10: 00 pm, Dave showed up at Bob's house with another guy, who we will call Sam. Dave, again, began begging for a ride. Bob didn't want them hanging around, so he decided to drive them to his sister’s as requested. Bob drove them all the way to his “so called” sister’s home, where Dave ran in, leaving Sam in the car. Bob asked Sam, “What’s he doing? Sam replied, "I'm not sure.” About ten minutes later, Dave came out and said to just take them home. Bob figured his sister didn't want him to stay so they headed back to Bob’s house. On the way, Sam asked to stop at a store so he could buy a pop. Bob pulled in and Dave and Sam got out of the car and went into the store. Bob stayed in the car. A few minutes later, Dave came back to the car and Sam was still in the store. Another ten more minutes passed, when several police cars surrounded Bob’s car and he and Dave were arrested. Bob asked why they were being arrested. The detective entered Bob’s car and under the passenger seat was a large amount of cocaine, enough cocaine to send them both to prison for 15 years. You may wonder what happened to Sam. He was an informant who had been arrested months before for selling drugs. Sam was told that if he helped the detectives set up other people for drug busts, they would go easy on him and ask the Judge to give him a lesser sentence, which, by the way, they don't do. Sam was setting up Dave. Bob became entangled in this mess by giving them a ride. Even though Sam told the police and prosecutors that Bob had no idea what was going on, they continued to prosecute him anyway. This whole nightmare took two years of going in and out of the court, complying with multiple bond conditions, a loss of thousands of dollars in work, all in order for Bob to stay out of jail until sentencing. A lot of research went into this case, by both Bob and his family, trying to find out how and why this was happening and what could be done to correct this terrible injustice. Dave skipped bail and disappeared. Bob continued to go to court and complied with all the bond requirements, to the best of his ability, while his case was being looked into by yet another person, who we will call Paul. Paul found that the drug enforcement detectives used had previously arrested people with promises to help and go easy on them if they arranged drug deals or criminal acts with other people, all while informing them as to where and when these events will happen. Through this method, they would have knowledge of an illegal situation and could be there to catch and arrest those people and, in several cases, innocent people who now become victims of our failing, heartless and carefree legal system. Paul also found that many innocent people ended up going to jail, or even prison, just because they were present during an arrest. Paul felt that it would be important to contact Bob’s case manager, who was monitoring his bond conditions, to see what she thought about the case and if she knew of any assistance that could help Bob prove his innocence. The case manager was confident that Bob would just be given a probation term. She had no idea what was really going on. After the case manager did some research, she found that Bob was a number, not a person, who was in wrongful trouble with the law. The case manager was horrified that what Paul had said was true. She became more involved and wrote up reports for the Judge and had several talks with the prosecutor indicating this was a case that needed to be looked at and reconsidered. To make this long story shorter, Bob didn't go to jail or prison, but he was given 5 years probation, a felony on his record, not to mention the mental anguish, money and time spent unnecessarily. Thousands of our tax dollars were wasted on a case that should have never begun in the first place. Should Bob be put in prison for driving them? Should he be on probation? Was it clearly wrong that Bob was even arrested? Should he have his record cleared and released from probation? What do you think? |
