Bad lady = no-show

Well, I showed up for the court date -- but the defendant didn't! Possibly because it was her first offense, or maybe because she had two children, but she had been assessed as a "low flight-risk" and released without bail.

But, this is the second court date she's missed -- even though the (pubic aid) defense attorney wrote her a few weeks ago, and left reminder messages on her answering machine almost every day this week. So, now she's officially violated a court order, so the magistrate issued an arrest for her warrant. Not sure whether they'll make her post bail (which she probably can't afford!) for the next go-around, or whether they'll just arrest her and hold her in custody (and who knows what'll happen to her two kids). Either way, she's just making it harder for herself: as a first offense, if she'd have played nice she probably would've got off with a suspended sentence, or maybe some community service. But now she has the inital burglary (reduced to "trafficking in/posession of stolen goods"), and the FTA (failure to appear). Smooth.

The public defense attorney said that most of her clients are like that: they lead really disorganized lives. They tend to miss court appearances. Except for the ones in custody: they show up!


On my way out, they asked me to fill out an expense form. I could've claimed for lost wages, but I figured that wasn't quite right: I was already planning on just making up the hours on Monday (since I only work four days a week). But I did claim for mileage! Woo-hoo!!!


--GG