The Cost of Justice

So I am, once again, a free citizen. Have been for some time now… I’ve got a court date scheduled for early October for what I believe is being called my “pre-trial” hearing; however I have shelled out the money for a retainer and have successfully hired private legal counsel. There’s a lot to be said for private legal counsel – not only will it allow me to not attend my pre-trial hearing (my lawyer will be my legal representative making a trip back from California by me unnecessary) but I quickly grasped the usefulness the day after I got released from jail…

I rose early that day (heck, I actually got no sleep at all) and quickly jumped into my next task. I needed to get a lawyer. My flight was scheduled to be departing for LAX the next day at 3:15 in the afternoon and I had just been informed the day before that my bail restrictions forbade my leaving the state of Colorado. It was never clearly explained to me how long I needed to stay in the state; I just assumed that “until my pre-trial was completed” was a pretty safe guess at a minimum. There were also stipulations in which I needed to contact a specific substance abuse counseling center within 24 hours of being released from jail as well as sign up for substance abuse (alcohol) monitoring. This was all assuming that I stayed in Colorado as the court only had jurisdiction in that state. If you recall from my earlier story, this was a bit of a problem – I lived (and currently still reside) in California.

At the time it seemed a bit strange that the fact that I lived in California seemed to be unknown (or at least not a concern) to the court. I didn’t discover why this was until I actually received and was able to inspect my arrest summons. I got this along with my other personal possessions upon getting bailed out of jail the night before. The funny thing about this was that the address written on it was the address to my house in Longmont, Colorado. The somewhat more puzzling thing was that my Colorado driver’s license number (with the “state” blank marked “CO”) was also written on the summons. My Colorado driver’s license (with the newly-punched hole made by the California DMV office), however, was sitting in a drawer of a dresser located in my room at my current home in Thousand Oaks, California! The license that was in my wallet (and therefore on my possession at the time I was booked) was in fact my California license. Why this perfectly valid license was ignored and personal information for me was retrieved from “the system” is still a bit of a mystery to me … was this possibly easier…?

As a side note here, I didn’t notice the Colorado information on my summons until I had left the jail. The result of this was that, when I was asked to sign out with my signature and address, I wrote my current California address. It probably means nothing; however the addresses on the summons and my jail release do not match. I’m rather interested to find out why my California license was ignored; however that’s just one of those things (and there are quite a few of those “things”) that I will probably never know…

But I digress … back to the morning. I needed a lawyer – and fast! I gave up on any attempts at actually getting sleep that night somewhere around 7:00 in the morning and switched on my laptop. Luckily for me, the Radisson provided wi-fi access free of charge thus giving me a rather easy task to accomplish. I did a search for attorneys in Boulder, Colorado and was quickly presented with a plethora of lawyers to choose from. I found one that, according to his webpage, specialized in “Criminal Defense & DUI Since 1992”. Now granted I did not get arrested on a DUI (I’m still a bit shaky on exactly why I was arrested…); however I needed criminal defense and alcohol was a major factor in my case as well. I called the office…

I was told that the attorney, as he apparently does each week as standard business practice, was visiting the CU campus that day and wasn’t currently in the office. It was then requested that I give a brief summary of my needs so that they could be relayed to the lawyer by phone. After explaining my plight, I was told to be expecting a call back from the lawyer shortly. It was less than a half hour later when the call was returned.

I felt somewhat more at ease after speaking with the attorney. He gave me the impression that he would be able to contact the correct people necessary to get the bail restrictions (not only the travel restrictions, but all of them) removed allowing me to legally fly home the next day. We had several conversations that morning – each one with the plan changing slightly. At one point I was planning on heading down to his office in Boulder to drop off his retainer (one thousand dollars) then possibly needing to head over to the Boulder Courthouse at (if memory serves me correctly) 6th and Canyon to perhaps sign some paperwork. This changed to possibly needing to meet up with somebody in Longmont who was supposed to have the authority to legally help me out although that was still in an unknown state of readiness. The final plan was to meet up with my attorney back at the Boulder County Jail at 2:00 in the afternoon where he had successfully arranged a hearing with the same judge I was in front of the day before. We were to request that the bail restrictions be removed based mainly on the fact that I lived in California. I was a bit skeptical as the same argument was made by me the day before and seemed to fall on deaf ears; however this time I had much better ammunition – private counsel…

It was requested (by my lawyer, of course) that I bring evidence showing current residence in California as well as my plane tickets for the flight leaving to LAX the next day. No problem – I had a valid California driver’s license (which, mind you, the jail also “had” two nights before but chose to ignore), my Travelocity itinerary clearly showing my scheduled flight, a business card for my job with an address in Westlake Village, California and even a pay stub from said employer made out to my name at my Thousand Oaks address. I gathered said items, wrote out a check for a thousand dollars (retainer, remember?) and headed back to jail with ample time to arrive well before 2:00 – I most definitely was not missing this appointment!

After arriving at the jail, I noticed a posting of the 2:00 docket – my name was not on this list. I inquired with one of the guards about this absence and was informed that I was most likely an addendum. She said she believed there was one addendum to the cases posted – that was probably me. This sounded about right – I still don’t know exactly how my lawyer was able to secure this hearing. When I wasn’t armed with private counsel, I would never have been able to accomplish this. The task now became finding my lawyer. Remember, I had never actually met this guy and actually had no idea what he looked like. I wasn’t too concerned though … there was a thousand dollars in it for him to find me…

Sure enough, a few minutes before the session started, my lawyer found me. I introduced myself by presenting him with the retainer check and quickly gave him a rundown of the documentation I had brought. He needed to speak with another person he was defending during that same session so we parted ways. I headed into the courtroom (this time I was on the much larger glassed in area where I had a view of the two-bench area I was sitting in – immobilized by chains and cuffs – the day before) and took a seat. We were all asked to rise as the judge entered the main chamber – it was not the same judge as the day before…

It was interesting to once again see the flurry of activity that was the arraignment process. This time, however, I saw things more clearly. I was quite exhausted and hadn’t had any sleep for well over 24 hours, however this time I wasn’t dealing with the shock of seeing it in chains and cuffs dressed in a prison jumpsuit. I was somewhat concerned with how our request for freedom was going to be addressed by the court but this was based on the results I got the day before – before I hired private counsel…

A short while into the proceedings I was joined by my attorney and we quietly discussed our plan. I told him that I was hoping to take full advantage of my right to remain silent. I had absolutely no sleep the night before and was a little worried about the whole “open mouth, insert foot” scenario. He said he would do his best but that the judge might want to hear from me. He then told me some interesting discoveries that he had made earlier in the day.

First off, there was absolutely no public record on my being arrested and taken to the ARC (the “drunk tank”). Since I was technically arrested whilst already at the ARC, the lack of any previous record of arrest wasn’t too surprising; however the complete lack of any record on my getting transported to the ARC still seems a bit strange to me. But I do not claim to be any sort of expert on law enforcement procedures, so maybe this is commonplace…? I don’t know…

The other piece of information that he told me was that I had a 0.227 blood alcohol content at the time of my arrest. Whether this was from a breathalyzer or – from the needle marks on my right arm – possibly a blood test, I do not know. Bottom line was that I was seriously drunk. Not much of a shocker to me considering that I remembered nothing of the night since arriving at the Fusion bar; however this was actually good news for our case. The way my lawyer put it, “I was acting like somebody that blew a 0.227.” This supported the argument that I was not a habitual drinker…

I think somewhere around a half hour passed before my case was called (oh yeah, one more thing about the advantages of private counsel – cases with private counsel are prioritized before those without … probably as a way to minimize the cost for defendants paying lawyers by the hour; however I believe this useful information if you’ve got the funds…). My lawyer did an excellent job explaining the circumstances of my case. I said absolutely nothing. All the bail restrictions were removed. Sweet!

After we left the jail, my attorney suggested that I consider taking an alcohol counseling class back in California as a “good will” gesture. That should pretty much guarantee the charges get dropped. I’m currently in the process of accomplishing this although things seem to be quite different in California. I’m actually getting the impression that somebody choosing to take part in alcohol counseling on their own accord is something that they don’t allow here. I found a place that offers the course; however I can’t take it until I can come up with some sort of paperwork from the court in Boulder saying that I need it. How stupid is that? Sure, we’ll help those looking for help if – and only if – it is mandated by a court of law … seems a bit counterproductive to me. Oh well, I’ve signed the "release of information" form required for my lawyer to contact the program director. Maybe he can talk some sense into her…?

All this has got me to wondering … what if I didn’t have the means to afford private counsel? I guess it’s just one more example of capitalism at work…

bis später,

Coriolis