I have a story you might find interesting(long post)

[Champ]

Ok let me jump 3 years ago, I was caught on school campus with a resinated tin foil pipe. I went to trial and took a plea pargain, they would reduce the sentance from a felony to a misdameaner if I pleaded guilty and I would have my license suspended til I was 18(15 at the time). I realized I was going to do my best to stay out of trouble because my mom ended up paying over 100 dollars in court fees, probation fees, etc for a piece of tin foil.

Ok 3 years later on January 7th(2004). Let me give a little more background. There was this kid I met about a week before the given date above, he told me he was 17, had a driver's license, etc. I started kicking it with him a little more, He lived in the same apartments my best friend does. Well 3 days before he has this friend that would lend him the keys so he can listen music in his broke down van. It didn't move but could play music. Now it's January 7th, I leave my other friend's house because she had to go her to her aunt's and then I seen the kid I was talking about earlier(well just call John Smith) in the parking lot. He asks me to watch the van because he said he was going to park the guy's(who also owns the van) white towncar on the other side where it is usually parked. So I am sitting there and notice he drives towards the front of the apartments(I was at the very back). Next thing I notice I hear the guy's girlfriend screaming at "John Smith" to get out of the car, so I step out of the van and he said "You want to go?" I said something along the lines of 'ok'. So we walk to the front of the apartments and this guy in the red shirt looks at "John" at says "Were you the one driving that car?" he said "I wasn't driving no car", me I didn't say anything. Well when we were one block down we see this cop car with the spot light looking for someone, I didn't think it was us. "John" hands me a pack of Camel cigarettes with 3 in there and he says hold these, I don't know why and don't ask me why I said ok. Well the cop car stops in front of us and asks "John" "Are you (real name)?" he said yes. He asks him some questions and then he asked me questions such as name, address, social security, etc. Then asked me if I was in the car I said "No". Two more cop cars come and they are discussing and then the cop come overs to me again and asks "I'll give you one more chance, were you in the White Towncar?" I said as honestly as I could "No". He then asks me to stand up and put my hands behind my back and I then asked him "What for." He said "being a passenger in the car is not illegal but lying to police officers is." I was like wtf, I was pissed. So he places me in back of the police car and drives me to the apartments in the same area I was watching the van at. It turns out when he was driving the town car he back up into the guy with the red shirt's truck and then backed up into an apartment building a put a hole in the wall. I kept telling the cop my story but he says that "John" and the guy in the red shirt said I was a passenger in the car. Everytime I told them my story they kept cussing at me, calling me "dumbass", etc. While I was sitting back there I overheard two cops talking about "John Smith" and found out he was actually 15 and he had a suspended license. Then when his grandma came out frantically panicking the cop tells her don't worry "You should be proud of your son, he was telling the truth and was coroperative the whole time unlike the other guy." Well later on the cop asks me "Whose cigarettes are those(they found those when they searched me)" I'm not a snitch or anything so I said those are mine(even though the kid deserved to take the blame for them). He then tells me those cigarettes were actually on the guy's (who own the Towncar and the van) nightstand and then told me I was facing One count auto theft, one count breaking and entering, one count burglary. The cop walked away for a minute I thought to myself I am not saying anything more. He then came up and read me rights and asked me if I wanted to say anything, I said "no". He then asks me to step out of the car and takes the handcuffs off me and tells me the guy decided not to press charges on all counts(I felt so relived). But he does give me a ticket to appear in court for "minor tobacco possession of tobacco products." Well afterwards the guy(minivan,car) wanted to have a talk with me and he was pissed. He asked me when I got the cigarettes off the nightstand. I kept telling him my side of the story then his girlfriend steps out and says I was in the van while the other kid was in the towncar. He then apologized and told me he was about an inch close to pressing charges because he wanted anyone that was going to be a negative influence on "John's" life to go away for a long time.

April 13, 2004(the court date) Well I get there and I have a talk with the public defender she says if I admit guilt I would likely have to show up to one class and if I successfully pass that the charges will be dismissed. Well when I am in the court room the judge says that what the public defender's requests sound reasonable. The judge then asks me what school I am going to? I tell her that I have my GED. She then asks me what I do all day and I tell you that I am studying for the SAT and plan to enroll in college this fall(1 year ahead of most students my age). She says she doesn't buy that I study for the SAT all day and she requests that I get a job by June 14th(in this difficult job market) and complete the class by then to. If I don't, I get one year probation for three f'ing cigarettes. That part didn't pissed me off, it was how they downtalked me and told me that my mom can't bail me out all the time. No shit, which is why I did my absolute best to stay out of trouble but yet that didn't work. Oh well, I am going to look for a job and complete the class and hopefully get this thing behind me.

Well it felt good letting that out of my system. :)

[seventhson]

1. Don't blow the judge off

get a job, ANY job. Make sure you fill out at least two dozen applications between now and the next court date and bring the names and copies, if possible, to court.


Judges have very little clue usually. But you got yourself into this mess by lying to the cops to cover for an idiot and not being cool enough or smart enough to walk away before this idiot screwed up your life. Judges, however, show up every day and work pretty hard and expect others to as well - so they have a low tolerance for bullshit or excuses. THEY come and deal with the stupid bullshit every day and the least you can do is TRY to get a job-- otherwise you are offending their worldview and values (work, honesty, dedication, etc.) even if WE knpw they are earning ten times what you could earn for a pretty easy sit on your ass and philoisophize while screwing up other peoples' lives judicial existence. Recognize that and give them what they want.

You COULD try to claim innocence -- but since you lied to the cops no one will probably believe you. Tell your lawyer the truth though and let them walk you through the motions of claiming innocence if you can. But the public defender does not wanty to place you at risk by NOT pleading you out. Make sure it is not a violation of your probation, though, to plead out on this.

I deal with this kind of stuff every day. Don't let it make you crazy or try to resist it. Just be smarter than they are and give them what they want in order to get what you need (out of the stupid system) as quickly as possible)

[Champ]

2. Don't worry about it

I am going to get a job. I don't want to serve 1 year probation. How did I lie to the cops? I did admit the cigarettes were in my possession(which is all it comes down to) and I couldn't just walk away, I had no idea what was going til the cops stopped us and I couldn't walk away when that happen. This is good advice right here, thank you. Make sure you fill out at least two dozen applications between now and the next court date and bring the names and copies, if possible, to court.

[Another Bill C.]

3. And whatever you do.

Don't go near "John Smith" again. Don't even talk to him. That guy is pure poison and he won't hesitate to put you in tha same position again.

[Champ]

4. I don't

I know better now.

[dutchdemocrat]

5. Here in Holland

I get a seventeen year old kid who delivers my pot to the door (on his bike) when I order it from a coffeeshop out of the City Yellowpages.

BTW.

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In the Netherlands, marijuana can be purchased and used at licensed establishments run like the local bar. The fact that marijuana is so readily available has also proven the fallacy of marijuana being just a gateway drug to harder substances. This openness has, instead, shown this well reported fallacy to be just another invented “fact” courtesy of your very own government. In fact, research has shown that for every 104 people who use marijuana, there is only one regular user of cocaine and less than one regular user of heroin. ( 1 )

Comparing usage of all kinds also shows that the Netherlands public health approach towards drug use is far more effective than the Right’s nasty and punitive “criminal” approaches which are so obviously failing (actually maybe not - prisons are a business). The level of usage between a nation which allows recreational use of marijuana and does not arrest those distributing small amounts of other drugs and a nation which has allowed itself to decline into a fascist state that would rather refuse to face reality and proclaims “Zero Tolerance” over any truly intelligent options can be clearly seen when facts are considered and such silly little programs as “DARE” is ignored.

Consider these figures;
1. Percentage of people who have ever used marijuana, 32.9% of Americans have used it as opposed to 15.6% in the Netherlands.

2. When looking at cocaine usage, 10.5% of Americans have tried it while only 2.1% of the citizens of the Netherlands have.

3. When just looking at the past year, America had 9% of its population using marijuana while only 4.5% of the citizens of the Netherlands have done so.

more...

http://www.anotherperspective.org/advoc360.html