In the course of dealing with hundreds of people each month, we hear many horror stories about how the criminal justice system has failed people. The stories often involve lying witnesses, ineffective counsel, deceptive district attorneys, corrupt police and arrogant judges.
This section is for clients who want to anonymously or publicly tell their story by adding comments.
The purpose of this is to
1. Shed light on the problems in the criminal justice system.
2. Provide a record of past abuse that may help other people in the same situation
3. Possibly prove a pattern of abuse
4. Let people vent
5. Provide us with information we can use as we continue to advocate for change in the laws
So, if you have a story, please post it here for us and all of the world to read. Use the Post Comment link to start.
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10 comments:
I have lost all faith in the justice system as it stands today. To make a rather long story short, I was engaged in an argument with my then girlfriend and the outcome was not a road any man should travel. Suffering physical abuse more than once during the course of our relationship, I was not surprised when she started kicking, punching, spitting, etc. during said argument. After about ten minutes of this, I grabbed on to her hair in an attempt to get her to stop punching me in the face . . . it worked. I left an emotional wreck. Well, it turns out that she called the police and reported that I sadistically attacked an innocent female who never laid a hand on me. I was arrested an charged with domestic assault (yes in Minnesota all you have to do is sleep with the person and it is included under the formal label "domestic"). The ensuing legal process took a year to evolve and is still affecting me today. The witnesses told conflicting stories, hell, even she couldn't keep her story on cue with her initial report. In fact, a private investigator re-interviewed one of these witnesses and he told a completely different story than that of his original one! And if you think law enforcement can remain objective, forget that notion right now. Despite her having no injury to her body (after I sadistically beat her, mind you) and the giant welt under my eye, this cop was convinced that she was a victim in the purest sense of the word. Now this was a cop that had never interviewed me nor even seen my face until the trial. Bias is still alive and well. Unfortunately for me, under the leaning of my lawyer, I chose to wave a jury and proceed with a bench trial fooling myself to believe that a judge certainly has to be fair and impartial. I believe that his mind was set before the trial even started and here is why. In Minnesota, to receive a charge of domestic assault one only has to create an atmosphere of fear. That's right, you don't even have to touch the opposing party. With that, all one has to do is call the police and say that he or she is scared of you and there is no way to prove otherwise. So while the aura of the burden resting on the State remain intact, it is in fact the other way around and the law has it set up so that there is no way out. My other mistake was making a statement to police. They are not your friend and they are certainly not there to help . . . especially if it is a woman making the complaint. They get the waterworks running and they are instantly a victim. So now that the hair pulling was on record, my fate was sealed and now I have a domestic assault conviction on my record for pulling someone's hair; a violent someone at that. The worst of it is that on top of the ridiculous two year probation term I have essentially had a life sentence handed down to me as I cannot find work anywhere because of this. I have trained to be a pilot my entire life and in the blink of an eye my dream is gone. I can't even work around aircraft because this specific misdemeanor is a "disqualifying" offense. Oh and did I mention I am a violent offender? That's right, someone with 3 DUI's can carry a firearm (not that they don't use their car as a lethal weapon) and a stoner with minor possessions under their belt will have no problem getting a gun, but my right to own one is gone forever. I have served my country in the United States military and carried a slew of weapons during the course of my service, but now that I am a hair puller society should fear me. Thanks for the payback America; glad I could serve. And yes, I cannot return to service either. My options are to either bag groceries or become a politician. If anything can be learned from this is is as follows: a) never say a word to any policeman, b) count on your peers to judge you, not some by-the-book no common sense judge who apparently has never wronged any situation in their life, and c) really know who you are having a relationship with. Avoid the power of emotion and confront yourself with the facts. Drama is a disease and has no place in the dating agenda. From me to you, I am scared and feel trapped in a never-ending maze through hell.
I too have little or no belief in the justice system in Arizona. Long story short; I am in my early 40"s. My father had just passed away just to have my husband get cancer and die within a year after. Here I am a single mom of two school age kids angry with me for their father just passed away. I in-turn meet "the wrong people" who introduce me to something that will "take away my pain". Needless to say I am in need of funds and so me being a "social butterfly" now meet more people who introduce me unknowlingly to "undercover police". Now I am befrended big time by one named "Kevin" who knows I need money and says I can make $400 a car by stealing it and delivering it to him. He went as far as to actually show me how to crack a stearing column. Also offered me money if I brought my friends to him if they had merchandise to sell, stolen or not and I could make money. The only thing I sold him was my personal radio, but I had friends in need as well and they would sell their stuff (I thought) to him and I did not collect money for this. Then aonther person started coming around befriending me wanting me to get him some drugs. Now I was not into sales for I just did personal "to ease my pain" but this person was so insistent that I sold him my personal for $20 and he opened the door to let his buddy know he'd be right out and I found out later that is how they identified me. I had a job at Home Depot where Kevin showed up in my cash isle after months of not seeing him for I had nothing to sell and would not steal cars and wasn't sending him people. He was wanting to have me let him through my cash isle without paying for items like tools ect. Well, I did not and my postion which was Xmas help ended. This is over a period of 6-8 months. Once my job ended, that Friday morning after my kids left for school, there is a bang on the door and it is two detectives who arrest me for 4 counts of Trafficing stolen property a class 3 indictment. My mom bailed me out ($2100.00)in the meantime my kids are a reck to come home and
mom is in jail. Welll I am out Saturday and come Monday morning a Swat team shows up and arrests me again for 2 counts of sales of a dangerous narcotic, a class 2 felony. I was then indicted for the charges and my bond is now 24000.00 and my mom put up her house to a bail bondsman to get me out. Between public pretenders and pro bono attorneys, I am talked into accepting a plea and got a year flat in jail and 5 years intensive probation for 2 convictions; one for trafficing stolen property and one for sales of a dangerous narcotic. MIND YOU THIS IS MY FIRST OFFENCE EVER; NOT EVEN A TRAFFIC TICKET! 2 KIDS 12 & 9 WHO LOST THEIR DAD AND NOW THEIR MOM. Never once offered rehabilitation or possibly help to see why I might of gone off the deep end. Yes I did wrong knowingly and unknowingly. There is no such thing as entrapment in AZ so I did my punishment,paid my fines, and completed "5" years intensive probation. Now all this was in 1997. I have since my time of bad choices been a law abidding citizen who works and provides for herself and family. Then like so many of us I got layed off and now unemployed. Cannot get food stamps for I was convicted of a drug offense in November, now if I had been convicted in September of that year then I could get food assistance. This was Reagans doing. And Getting a job was next to impossible with 2 felonies. So I filed to have my judments vacated. It had been 12 years and I am the person I was before all this. Well the judge granted the setting aside of my felony on the class 3 but denied granting me this on my felony 2 with an explaination " It is not appropriate to dismiss a felony 2" Well I have already filed for a reconsideration and will every time it is denied and draw on my unemployment until it runs out or I get a job which doesn't seem likely. I was also told that I my case was used to set an example that it doesn't matter who you are you are doomed. There is alot more to this but Ends up as YES YOU CAN DANGLE A CARROT INFRONT OF A HUNGRY HORSE TO GET YOUR CONVICTION, YOU CAN TEACH PEOPLE IN A HARD WAY HOW TO DO THINGS LIKE BREAK INTO CARS AND STEAL THEM TO GET $ THAT MAY BE THEY NEED FOR THEIR FAMLIES. yOU CAN DO YOUR TIME, PAY YOUR DUES BUT YOU ARE SCREWED JUST THE SAME AND ALL YOU WANT TO DO IS TO BE ABLE TO WORK AND PROVIDE AND LIVE YOUR LIFE TO THE BEST YOU CAN AND TRY TO PUT THIS PART OF YOUR LIFE BEHIND YOU. UNFORGIVING STATE!! No wonder the jails have relvolving doors for so many. 12 years and yes I am still being messed with and get treated as a less than citizen with the comments burned in my memory from the procecuting atty: " Your honor, this woman is a MENACE TO SOCIETY!"
Dear C. Parts of your comment are very common. The law as it pertains to domestic violence has become so politicized that is completely irrational. Further complicating the situation is not only is the law irrational, district attorneys are less likely to dismiss weak cases when the charge involves DV. Do defendants are offered plea deals that are too tempting to turndown at the time. However, the defendant rarely understand the lifelong consequences of the deal.
Dear J.
I am glad you keep petitioning the court. Do not give up. Also, there have been a few bills in the AZ legislature that might provide a clearly defined standard as to when a judge should or can granted record clearing relief. I will try to write about those in the future as they could help you if they are ever enacted.
In 1986 I pled guilty to a felony charge of distibution of a controlled substance in the State of Texas.The sentence was suspended and I served 8 years of probation.After completing the probation and paying any fines and fees a motion for a new trial was entered.The motion was granted and the ruling of the judge was that the conviction was set aside, the indictment was dismissed and I was released from all hardships and penalties.
To me this meant that I had no felony conviction..
Fast forward to 2004. I took a job as an IT support specialist for a major bank.I went through the required background check which I had no fear of since earlier when doing support for an airline I had my prints sent to the FBI to get me access to secure locations in the airport.I also had a passort and had a temp visa to mainland China for work.
So while working at the bank though hard work,professionalism and competence I was noticed by the banks internalIT manager.This was over the course of almost 4 years as a contractor.He wanted to hire me as a full time employee in his group at a salary increase of almost 20k.I accepted th offer and the bank verified my employment history and education.Then they took my fingerprints and sent them to a third party outfit that does criminal background checks.Again I was unconcerned.
Then I got the call that during the background check the conviction in 1986 was on my record and they would have to rescind the offer of employment.Since I was showing a felony conviction I was also not even allowed to remain in my capacity as a contractor. I appealed to company that reported the conviction and did the background check.I sent them official copies of the court order that set aside the convition and dismissed the indictment. They told me that the only appeals they allow is not if the information from law enforcment is accurate but that they had reported accuratly what was showing in the report. So because they accuratly reported the inaccurate information they had done their jobs correctly and I was disallowed from employment at the bank.
Ultimatly I found that the court clerk did not send the courts order to the Texas Department of Public Safty who would have updated my record and the new information would have been processed by the FBI and the conviction would not have shown up as it had been set aside.So basically after making a mistake years ago I made the most of a second chance and put myself in line for a very comfortable living.Instead a court clerk did not do their job and I became unemployed with no recourse.
Had I known that my indecretion would have come back to haunt me I would have taken steps to have it removed.Due to many previous background checks and the wording of the court order I had not given it a second thought.Come to find out that most employers do background checks going back 10 years but the bank goes back as far as possible.
I started the process of having this case expunged with Record Gone and sent in my payment in August.I was notified that my hearing is set in April so my fingers are crossed that I can put this behind me once and for all.Hopefully since the case is over 20 years ago and I have not been in trouble since along with the conviction being set aside the expungment will happen..
Talk about being screwed over.Sure wish i could have sued the state for causing me this financial hardship.
Back in the mid 90's, I plead guilty to some cable theft charges that ending up being felonies. My stupid public defender never told me what to do after I served my probation(early release) and paid my fines, neither did my prob officer. So for 15 yrs I have been waltzing about with this stupid felony on my record. I called Recordgone.com paid my fees and they took over! They kept me up to date on every step and I received my order to vacate judgement and my gun/civil rights returned to me. AWESOME!!!! If you can hire them in your state, you better call them now!!!!!
Back in my twenties, I had the most unfortunate luck to fall in love with the daughter of a local policeman. She was fantastic – her father was a demon. At every turn, I was harassed by the same local police.
I was even arrested, at the insistence of my girlfriend’s father, for ATTEMPTED FIRST DEGREE MURDER for legally defending myself against a knife wielding attacker (who was subsequently convicted and is still in prison), in my own home.
The arrest was so bogus that, although arrested, I never saw the inside of a jail. In fact, another fellow police officer (now an Assistant District Attorney), knowing that I was being persecuted by my girlfriend’s cop father, had ALL of the Police Department records destroyed.
I went on with my life and eventually stopped drinking and got my life together. I returned to school finished my degrees and passed the CPA exam. I joyously anticipated finally being able to realize my dream of a “normal” good life.
However, when I returned to the job market this year, I found to my horror that employers often asked about ANY CONVICTIONS OR ARRESTS not just felony convictions.
This year, I commenced my campaign for a position with a CPA firm. I got no responses. Even in this depressed job market with scant employment opportunities, NO responses was considered a bit unusual.
So just to be sure, I ran an internet background check on myself. I found to my relief that NO convictions were reported.
However, there was an option, for an additional five dollars, offered by this widely used background search service to provide any available arrest records. Just out of idle curiosity I paid the five bucks and to my total horror found that above mentioned 1979 arrest for ATTEMPTED FIRST DEGREE MURDER was listed.
I immediately realized that NOBODY was going to hire me, especially working in a position of high trust, as that of a CPA with an arrest for such a violent felony as ATTEMPTED FIRST DEGREE MURDER. To be candid, I would not hire me knowing that information.
This situation gets worse. I discovered that the record of the arrest even after expungement will exist forever on these internet background services. Furthermore, they are under no obligation to remove the expunged arrest, though many will upon request.
After recently reading a book, “Arrest-Proof Yourself” by Dale C. Carson (a former FBI agent), I agree that “innocent until proven guilty” is one of the biggest lies fostered upon the citzens of the United States. We, who have have been arrested are now and forever 21st century slaves on the “electroinc plantation”.
And yes, having realized the truth of my situation, I have considered carefully and logically weighed the options of suicide; but that truly is the lazy coward’s way out and would only provide this perverted system of justice with its ultimate goal – the permanent eradication of the criminal (actual or alleged) element from society.
I now believe without any doubt that, because of a false arrest, motivated by pure malice, I will always be branded a violent criminal and accordingly society wants me dead.
Now I have been off of alcohol and drugs for decades. Returned to the universities and prepared myself to earn the good life; but society will not let me survive as a law abiding citizen. In the dramatic closing scene of the classic 1932 movie “I was a Fugitive from a Chain Gang”, the innocent fugitive, when asked how by his love interest how he will survive desperately states “I will steal”.
I, myself, now understand on a gut level, the truth of this harsh reality, that the only way I can survive, after even just an arrest, is through criminal activities. I have not yet figured out what these activities will be, but as a CPA there are many ways to steal.
In conclusion, avoid at all cost being arrested especially in the USA, because once you have been arrested and that fact recorded, your life will be over.
I have an almost the identical problem as the above post.
Suffice it to say, that I cannot get a job in my field of twenty-five years, due to a minor official in Louisiana who sold my arrest information for an embezzlement charge brought by a vindictive boss. The charges were not pursued because they were 100% false. In fact, we turned the situation around and had my ex-employer arrested for knowingly filing a false police report. He was convicted of the charge. We then sued him personally and his corporation for a number of factors. We settled out of court for over $100K.
The arrest was never reported on any of my background searches over the last twenty years. This year when under consideration for promotion with a company I had worked at for the last fifteen years, a new background check was run. I was informed by my boss that the background check reported the arrest from 1986. He then told me that the promotion was given to another employee and that my position was being eliminated. It was emphasized that the arrest for embezzlement had nothing to do with the termination.
I’ve been unemployed since then for the first time in my life.
I have discussed my case with several prominent criminal defense attorneys in New Orleans, with a hotshot attorney in Baton Rouge who specializes in expungement work and even an attorney in Florida (an ex-FBI agent and author of a book “Arrest-Proof Yourself”. They all expressed interest, and then either flaked out, or in the case of the Baton Rouge attorney flat out lied to me about the expungement process for arrests in Louisiana. This I found particularly odd, because I was willing to pay fees ranging from $1,200 - $8,000, yet none of these attorney’s would return my calls after the first consultation.
So I can’t get a job with a bank or similar financial institution because of a false embezzlement arrest from back in 1986. I found out, on my own, as none of the good attorney’s consulted, that this arrest information is now all over the internet for anybody to find.
As a result, I have been divorced by my wife of twenty years who on finding out about my arrest could no longer stand to be married to me. I live in a single room in a flophouse in a high crime area of New Orleans. Having no money, no family and no hope of getting one I attempted suicide two times. Unfortunately I lived.
I see no other alternative, because my clean reputation was marred by having a false arrest listed on my criminal history.
I am ruined, destitute, and one step away from the street. I have no other choice and the next time I will make sure I succeed.
It used to be surprising to me that one could be so totally innocent and yet, by the laws of the United States be condemned to death. Hopefully you will find some relief for your problem; but for me, I am totally destroyed financially, physically and spiritually. I can’t get food, nor pay for heat or even bus fare.
Maybe after enough of us die, the lawmakers will consider changing the law. But I doubt it. It is easier to ignore this injustice and hope the criminals just go off and die.
people make mistakes everyday and the justice system is not above that by any means. In 1985 I went to court with a public defender. I was facing a felony charge. At that time I was in the military. I accepted the pd's advice and plead no contest> It got me a felony conviction, 60 days in a work furlough program and five years probation. Well, I couldn't stay in the military with a felony conviction so I asked to go back and have the charges reduced to a misdemeanor. Three months later that's exactly what happened with one exception: the reduction to a misdemeanor never made it to the records section. Some court clerk didn't do their job and I still have the felony conviction showing on my record. I recently found this out when my company had background checks done on every employee. I was called in to the security department and asked to explain about the conviction. Fortunately the HR department said that I wouldn't lose my job, but I believe that they didn't hold up to their confidentiality policy either. Many of my coworkers now treat me with a cold shoulder but don't explain why. Just gotta love it when people do their job!
After being in relationship with Benson for five years,he broke up with me, I did everything possible to bring him back but all was in vain, I wanted him back so much because of the love I have for him, I begged him with everything, I made promises but he refused. I explained my problem to someone online and she suggested that I should rather contact a spell caster that could help me cast a spell to bring him back but I am the type that never believed in spell, I had no choice than to try it, I mailed the Madurai, and he told me there was no problem that everything will be okay before three days, that my ex will return to me before two days, he cast the spell and surprisingly in the second day, it was around 4pm. My ex called me, I was so surprised, I answered the call and all he said was that he was so sorry for everything that happened, that he wanted me to return to him, that he loves me so much. I was so happy and went to him, that was how we started living together happily again. Since then, I have made promise that anybody I know that have a relationship problem, I would be of help to such person by referring him or her to the only real and powerful Dr Madurai who helped me with my own problem and who is different from all the fake ones out there. Anybody could need the help of the Dr Madurai, his email maduraitemple@yahoo.com) you can email him if you need his assistance in your relationship or anything.
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