Other Criminal Charges & Offenses What kind of situation is my uncle facing from this?

[jmr106]

One of his company paychecks from the job arrived today and his friend is adding that to funding for a criminal defense lawyer per his request. So we'll see how that goes.

 

[jmr106]

What gets me is how so many people seem to get out very quickly after some pretty serious charges and things like this happen and somebody gets stuck in the system. Years ago, I was working at a company when another coworker came in looking for a coworker in another department because that guy was going with his girlfriend that he had a couple of kids with already. He found him and they fought all over the workplace, with both ending up in a bloody mess. He was arrested in the parking lot after threatening and assaulting his girlfriend, who also worked at the same workplace where he attacked the other guy. He was out of jail the next day after a brutal physical assault cause on dozens of cameras. Our justice system seems massively imbalanced.

 

[army judge]

What gets me is how so many people seem to get out very quickly after some pretty serious charges and things like this happen and somebody gets stuck in the system.

Each case has its own evidence and fact pattern.
No two cases should be judged the same, except that all of us are innocent until proven guilty.

You don;t have all the facts, just your uncle's assertions.

As I suggested, call a bail binding company.

Ask what it would cost to bail your uncle out of jail, and what is he charged with doing?

Once you learn that, it might help you better understand things.

People often get charged for one thing, while being investigated for other things.

People get arrested for one thing and learn there are six, seven, or more warrants out for their apprehension.

That can also complicate matters.

 

[jmr106]

Ask what it would cost to bail your uncle out of jail, and what is he charged with doing?

I don't understand how a bail bond company would be able to find out something else that would be different from the arrest charges listing online with that county's sheriff's department at the dept of corrections where he's in jail. That's supposed to be his full record, so if they're not listing other charges there, I don't even see how they could even apply in the situation. They can't throw them in at the last minute. The charges that he wrote down to me in the letter (the two - obstruction of an officer and verbal terroristic threats) match exactly with the online charges showing against him. His name, inmate number and all of that are right there with all of that info, so no reason to believe that they left anything off that he was charged with.

I can call and see, but they're probably going to tell me those charges. They might also tell me that they "aren't use what his bail is yet because it isn't available'...because he hasn't been before a judge for some unknown reason. Maybe it is tomorrow, not sure.

 

[mightymoose]

Do yourself a favor and call the bail company. It seems many of the difficulties faced here is a result of being unfamiliar with the system. You need legal assistance from someone who understands how things work.
It is also possible that the hold on him has something to do with his previous conviction. I know you say it is old and everything has run its course, but I suspect there is probably something that came up.

 

[army judge]

I don't understand how a bail bond company would be able to find out something else that would be different from the arrest charges listing online with that county's sheriff's department at the dept of corrections where he's in jail.

Give me the date, the county, the city, the address, the arresting agency, the county jail where he is housed; I'll tell you exactly what is happening and why!

 

[jmr106]

I called a local bail bond agency near that city and the bail bond guy said, "Let me check" and went to the county website to pull up his info in the same way that I did an inmate search. He noted, "It says no bail, so no bail." Yet they took him downstairs in the jail for the video conference hearing yesterday and took him back. He has now been in jail for 22 days.

We received a letter from him yesterday. He noted to call the Circuit Defenders Office and included the phone number. I called them and they claimed to have spoken with him on October 10th and said he wouldn't answer any of their questions. I'm not sure if he got confused and thought it might be hurtful to him (maybe they didn't identify themselves to him) to answer/sign any documents. I talked to the lady at the Defenders Office and she said he needs to fill out a yellow form available to inmates before they can interview him and she also noted that he was in the system as "having a hearing yesterday" and yet they didn't input anything from it. Which, of course, he didn't have. I called the "jail commander" listed in the info and they stated that they simply take the inmates down whenever they are given a time/date to take them and do not know anything that the court does. So that's an issue. Possible reasons are that the court does not have their paperwork together, the judge didn't have enough time to do all of the cases and they rescheduled for an unknown time, etc.

 

[mightymoose]

22 days? By now your uncle should have legal counsel. There is no reason for HIM to not know what is going on.
YOU might not have access to certain information and be left in the dark.
The best thing you can do for him is obtain legal counsel. Just know that an attorney you hire for him can not necessarily discuss the details with YOU.

 

[army judge]

Yet they took him downstairs in the jail for the video conference hearing yesterday and took him back. He has now been in jail for 22 days.

You only know what he is telling you.
That happens more than I can count.
People housed in jail are often too embarrassed by their charges to reveal EVERYTHING to their loved ones.

Regardless of what you know, what he might not be telling you, once he obtains counsel; a bond hearing will be held in an attempt to lower the bond.

For the moment all you can do is wait and send good thoughts.

 

[jmr106]

How can he be charged with more than what he is telling me when I'm seeing what he was arrested for in his charges that are available to everyone on the website? While I don't know a lot about the legal system, I do not see how he could have 2 pending charges specifically listed as "unindicted" by each one and yet have any more added in at the last minute.

The defenders office said there was no input after his scheduled bond hearing, so they saw where it was scheduled and nobody saw him or added anything new to the system.

 

[jmr106]

Also, the situation is odd that the circuit defenders office claimed that they "talked to him on the 10th of the month and he wouldn't talk to them"...but I have a letter from him stating to specifically call the circuit defenders at x address and x phone number to give them his name, inmate number, etc. He put everything in the letter. So something here is screwy. They're claiming he wouldn't talk to them and he sent me a letter TO talk to them. So they were telling me that there's some kind of "yellow form" that they called an "interview form" or something, claiming that he has to fill that out first before the circuit defenders office will talk to him or me. I also have concerns that they don't seem to want him to have reading glasses in there (they were in his car when he was arrested) and the worthless friend/roommate that he has communicated with (who was the only one with a landline, his family all has cell phones) keeps saying dumb stuff like, "Wellllll, I think after 30 days they would just drop all charges." Then the roommate's story changed the other day and he claimed that he said "that he would just stay in there and serve his time." He doesn't have any time yet per their system and every person that I have talked to. He hasn't even gotten his hearing yet and I suspect that the roommate has been dragging his feet and may have been told to contact the circuit defenders office and hasn't. So since there is no lawyer or defender listed, I'm wondering if that isn't why they put the hearing on hold. I have taken over as much contact as possibly because that roommmate waited until the 28th to even contact his family and he was arrested on the 9th. So clearly the roommate seems to have it out for him and I'm working on setting up a prepaid account so that he can call his family directly, instead.

I have concerns that he doesn't have reading glasses and it seems that they won't allow him to have them based on the rules that I have been reading on their website. I can't mail them to him because it says no packages. If he did refuse to fill out the form on the 10th, it is because they didn't identify themselves and he couldn't read everything on the paper to know what he was filling out. In his letter, I saw odd things like the family last name on the envelope spelled with three b's instead of two in it, various words having an extra letter or two and that sort of thing. That's not typically him and he knows how to spell all of that stuff. I think he couldn't see what he was writing, so the 2-page letter that I sent him had larger text so that he could read it. Wouldn't that be illegal for them to refuse him reading glasses?

 

[army judge]

Wouldn't that be illegal for them to refuse him reading glasses?

Unless he has a lawyer, or until he makes bond, you'll never know the answers to the questions you're asking.

There is nothing that anyone here can do to help your uncle, even those of us that are lawyers and licensed to practice in Georgia.

 

[mightymoose]

I do not see how he could have 2 pending charges specifically listed as "unindicted" by each one and yet have any more added in at the last minute.

It is not uncommon to be arrested for a particular offense and have additional charges filed later after the prosecutor has had opportunity to review the case and figure out exactly what charges apply and what evidence there is to support them.

 

[jmr106]

It is not uncommon to be arrested for a particular offense and have additional charges filed later after the prosecutor has had opportunity to review the case and figure out exactly what charges apply and what evidence there is to support them.

Well then, that evidence would be zero. I have finally found out that the manager himself called police because a coworker "thought he heard" my uncle say something. In which case, I presume that (if it goes to trial) they would require both that manager and said coworker to appear in court and show proof of that. Which they basically don't have any proof of. Just words. If such is the case and bond is granted for my uncle, that manager may not able to make it to a future trial to testify because he may be in jail, himself. If we're going on words alone in a courtroom (if they simply allow a he-said, he-said situation in court as "evidence") and this ends up in a harassment lawsuit against the manager and company, I will certainly take the stand and let them know that my uncle has told me for a long time that he was under a lot of stress at work and that his manager was messing with his hours and pay and continually harassing him and making hateful comments to him all day. Which he was. I won't testify about anything that I can't vouch for. When the DOL and DOC and any corporate rep from the company do an audit of the computer time system and see all of the approvals and edits that the manager has done, specific employees that he didn't like whose hours he cut each week/didn't pay them for, etc., he's going to have a lot to account for. Given that at least one other employee by name has had this happen with missing pay/hours, that's an even stronger defense for discrimination of certain people.

I'm waiting on the word from my uncle to contact the Department of Labor/Department of Commerce and also the corporate office of the company to inform them of what is going on. I don't think the friend who claimed to send the letters is actually doing anything and he has been totally complacent when I talked to him. He's the one that my uncle calls for communication, so I think some of the bottleneck may also be that guy. Of course, my uncle can do his own stuff in there and make his own decisions for a public defender and such.

I'm focused on helping my uncle and I have sent him all of the info that he needs for the time being and I can't do anything else to help until he responds to me again. I'll be setting up visitation soon. I'm very confident that his friend screwed him over and told him right after he was arrested that he would "contact us" and the friend didn't call me until the 28th to tell me that my uncle was in jail. Given that he was arrested on the 9th, that's a freaking long time to wait to call a relative for him. So I'm working on a new line of communication so that my uncle doesn't have to call that friend because he clearly isn't trying to help him.

 

[army judge]

I'll be setting up visitation soon.

When you visit, understand that all communication between you and uncle isn't privileged.
If anything is discussed about his case, or other legal matters, it can and WILL be used against him in a court of law.

It is safe to discuss Aunt Susie's chocolate chip recipe, how cousin Bobby won a prize at school, how grandmother's bursitis is improving, and that Uncle Timmy won $5,000 in a scratch off lottery ticket.

Be careful what you say when you visit and what you write in letters.

Big Brother Police, Sheriff, and prosecutor are watching.

 

[jmr106]

When you visit, understand that all communication between you and uncle isn't privileged.
If anything is discussed about his case, or other legal matters, it can and WILL be used against him in a court of law.

I'm not sure about incoming letters, but curiously, they don't read his outgoing letters and they stamp the envelope with a little stamp that says "Sheriff's Office Adult Detention Center - This letter is being mailed by an inmate of this facility. The Administration has not reviewed the contents."

Though I'm not sure that they can actually do anything about his case vs potential violations concerning his former employer/manager breaking the law. If the manager is breaking the law, he is breaking the law and they cannot retaliate against my uncle for wanting someone to forward the information to start an investigation. I'm sure a lawsuit could be easily filed against the county if they even attempted to use any reference of an investigation into his former manager against him. If the manager is breaking the law, that guy is going to be held accountable and may eventually get his own number. That may not help the current situation while he's in jail, but I'm looking ahead at discrimination/harassment lawsuit options for him to file later on if he desires. As a matter of fact, my uncle would probably love for that to come up in court. If the manager has been harassing him for all of this time, cutting his hours, not paying him for hours worked, etc...the judge probably wouldn't have very good words to say against the manager who will have to show up in court to defend his actions for calling the police. Obviously, that's a civil matter and probably should just be left to a lawyer outside of court and I'm sure my uncle knows that. However, those things also a major contributing factor to why my uncle got into the argument with the manager to begin with.

The visitation area seems to be a bunch of video "pods" (maybe 30-40 or more) in one room and separated with some space from one another. A phone and screen is on each pod.

 

[jmr106]

His charges are the same as the ones documented. However, his verbal threat does not warrant the "felony" label that they slap on every "terroristic threats and acts" charge. That will likely be downgraded to a misdemeanor. The felony is supposed to be for acts carried out and he didn't have any.

The next day after he was arrested, someone apparently called him on the phone and he couldn't see anyone on video to see who they were. They did not identify themselves, but they were from the public defender's office. They wanted bank account info, the type of car he drives, address, etc. That's the reason why he declined to speak to them. Nobody told him to fill out a yellow form, either. The whole jail is just one big cluster of confusion. Even the people at the front desk, when we came for the visitation, didn't tell us anything regarding the visit. They had one chair in front of each screen/phone pod and there were two of us. Per the rules that we read on the sheet on the pod itself while visiting, it states that they can cut the visit short "if you're standing"...jail staff said nada about standing. They didn't cut it short, but they basically want you to steal a chair from a nearby pod and then that person doesn't have a chair to sit in and is violating visitation rules. Quite ridiculous.

He is going to fill out the yellow interview form for a public defender and submit that today. I will be calling them on Monday to see if he can get another bond hearing set up so that we can get him out.

He also gave the go-ahead for me to contact the corporate office of the company. The events were as stated in his letter. He mumbled to a coworker that he would "shoot the manager in the butt with a paintball gun" after a dispute about hours/pay. The coworker told the manager that he threatened to shoot him with a gun. The manager called police based off from that alone and falsified a police report. Lots of time shortages going on at the company and I'll be on the phone with that corporate office Monday. Highly likely that the manager is about to get terminated from the job, himself. Blatant discrimination, cover-ups of time worked, hours cut short for employees that the manager didn't like, etc. When we get my uncle out on bond, we're going to help him legally all that we can for the upcoming trial. I'm also going to help him get a discrimination lawyer. When falsified times are found, the department of labor may very well fine/sue the company, as well.