Families of Prisoners Support Group
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My son has been in jail in Florida since March 4th 2013. He still has not been formally arraigned yet. He has seen his public pretender 3 times for a total of 45 meaningless minutes. He hasn't even been able to see all of his discovery let alone tell his side of the story to his attorney despite many requests by both myself and him.
Today was one more confusing waste of time for the most part. the judge didn't know what was going on so he asked the special prosecuter what he knew, he said I'm just a substitute stand in and don't know. then he asked the state attorney who also knew nothing. finally the pub pretender who shuffled a few papers and has still in over six months not really looked at the case shrugged his shoulders. Postponed another six weeks.
however through a glass window the attorney showed my son a piece of paper that had notations of things that he is accused of that added up to
" 28 points "! Whatever that means, but I think it has something to do with
sentencing guidelines. Mind you he hasn't even said not guilty yet it is just their wish list!!
So when the atty shows him this he says " they are asking you to plead guilty and take 5 years in and 5 years probation, (maybe 3), and not use a computer again. I'm going out on a limb here but I assume your answer is NO, RIGHT!?
Well duh, you got that right, but he's accused of a white collar crime and as far as working in the future computers are essential.
He has a co defendant that is guilty and blamed him for all sorts of things to reduce his exposure, there are big mistakes so far in what little discovery we have seen, and the co defendant was able to originally avoid jail but subsequently was arrested and jailed without bond in June.
So anyway I am trying to help my son understand what he is likely to face as possible fair consequences. I believe he was well overcharged to begin with, so if we understood the 28 point value we could begin to answer with a counter offer.
Does anyone have a clue as to what I'm talking about because I sure DON'T !! LOL (sort of) only other choice is to cry out loud. Anyway this next month might begin some action and maybe his atty will keep his promise and actually see him and listen to his side of the story and what proof he has of his innocence. We can all hope anyway.
Any insight or advice as to where to research would be helpful. Thanks in advance everyone!
Cindy
Today was one more confusing waste of time for the most part. the judge didn't know what was going on so he asked the special prosecuter what he knew, he said I'm just a substitute stand in and don't know. then he asked the state attorney who also knew nothing. finally the pub pretender who shuffled a few papers and has still in over six months not really looked at the case shrugged his shoulders. Postponed another six weeks.
however through a glass window the attorney showed my son a piece of paper that had notations of things that he is accused of that added up to
" 28 points "! Whatever that means, but I think it has something to do with
sentencing guidelines. Mind you he hasn't even said not guilty yet it is just their wish list!!
So when the atty shows him this he says " they are asking you to plead guilty and take 5 years in and 5 years probation, (maybe 3), and not use a computer again. I'm going out on a limb here but I assume your answer is NO, RIGHT!?
Well duh, you got that right, but he's accused of a white collar crime and as far as working in the future computers are essential.
He has a co defendant that is guilty and blamed him for all sorts of things to reduce his exposure, there are big mistakes so far in what little discovery we have seen, and the co defendant was able to originally avoid jail but subsequently was arrested and jailed without bond in June.
So anyway I am trying to help my son understand what he is likely to face as possible fair consequences. I believe he was well overcharged to begin with, so if we understood the 28 point value we could begin to answer with a counter offer.
Does anyone have a clue as to what I'm talking about because I sure DON'T !! LOL (sort of) only other choice is to cry out loud. Anyway this next month might begin some action and maybe his atty will keep his promise and actually see him and listen to his side of the story and what proof he has of his innocence. We can all hope anyway.
Any insight or advice as to where to research would be helpful. Thanks in advance everyone!
Cindy
One good thing to them taking so long and no one seems to know what is going on, it seems like when they take so long, papers and evidence get lost, meaning they will give a better deal if his public pretender would bother to look at the case, I am thinking this may be a good possiblity.
My brother was facing 30 years and ALOT of restitution. He ended up with 27 months and zero restitution. They are saying that high of an amount of points to scare him into pleading out. It may be the way to go in the end, but not taking 5 yrs, He has been in almost 7, try for time served and probation.
Oh, and believe me, I know all about codefendents pointing the finger to save themself. My brother was the last one in the group of 6 that they spoke to and of course they all were trying to blame each other and than all on my brother when they realized he was the one they had not spoke to.
I still do not understand why the lock up white collar, it is 100% a non violent crime!!
Good luck.\
BTW where in Florida are you? I am in the process of buying a condo in Clearwater and will be there at the end of the month.
Hopemagnet the reason he hasn't been arraigned yet is because the co-defendant, who lives in clearwater and was the one being watched and investigated was interviewed first while my son was in CA. He made a deal by pointing the finger at my son, and then trapped him. He then a free man at the time came into court as a co-defendant and waived his right to a speedy trial. That affects my son too! crappy break but we believe in making lemonade out of lemons...so, my son is in a clean and fairly safe, new airconditioned facility with 80 other men in his pod. In 7 months hes managed to walk seven souls into relationship with God. He has truly repented for his life choices that led him into this situation. He has gotten respect back for himself, he has the top trustee job where he is at, and 4 people on the outside make sure he has money on his books, mail him lots of reading material, mostly Christian, but some novels, he has the ability to call home at least once a day. He also has one sponsor buy him $100 worth of commissary foods and items online and sent to him. He uses all his blessings to bless himself obviously, but also lots of other men in there too. He goes to Bible studies every day and encourages the others to go as well, and they do by a large part.
In the end like Stacy says a lot of his time will already been served there, rather than prison.
I also did some research last night by googling and I think with only 28 points which is the worst case scenario in a very flawed case I might add. He cannot be sent to a prison facility and by the time this wraps up he may be out with time served.
Meanwhile the other guy lost his daughter in June, got evicted from his home, lost his attorney and now has a pretender himself, was living in his truck and was re arrested for retail stealing on camera and arrested on the spot. This crime was separate from the others but his third arrest on that alone. He is now also incarcerated in a different part of the jail, and I watch his books and he has had no money for anything since he was booked in late June. This guy was a drug dealer to my son for years and had a significant hold on him. Now my son is drug free, nicoteen free and following God.
Thanks for listening to me ramble.
Cindy
I checked that out. that is an interesting site and helpful too.
Cindy
I was just reading all of these posts. Seems you sort of figured it out. Just keep digging, and usually you can. And bug the hell out of the PD until you get answers.