Friday, April 20, 2007

Day in Court

Nothing too exciting happened in court. I told the judge that the County Clerk's office recommended that I request a dismissal of the charges. I told the judge about the errors, and how the check had been sent 10 days in advance and asked for the charge to be dismissed.

She told me to hand all my evidence over the to prosecutor, and that the "state" would look it over and mail me something if they decide to dismiss it. If I don't receive a dismissal by mail, she told me to appear at the county courthouse downtown at 9AM on May 1st or a warrant will be issued for my arrest. One more day of missed work if they don't decide to dismiss it.

I was not allowed to point out any specific errors on the documents. I was told that the state would figure out of there were any errors. Let's hope that whoever looks it over is more diligent than the person(s) that made all the errors in the first place.

Next post: The Wrong Man / Fourth of July

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there. I read your sig on /. & thought I'd come take a look. I also live near Jax & can agree that the JSO is about as incompetent as they come. I hope you get all this sorted out soon, have you considered the libel angle since you are being misrepresented on a public document?

Todd Fennell said...

I hadn't thought about that angle, but it's an interesting idea. I think for it to be considered libel it may have to be intentional, but I'm not a lawyer so I can't say for sure. Since they've already been informed that it's inaccurate and they still aren't doing anything about it, maybe there's a case to be made.

amb1545 said...

Saw a link to your story on slashdot today. Wanted to wish you the best of luck in dealing with the beauracracy. Also, if you are interested in taking donations I would like to send you some money towards your lawyer's fees for getting this all straightened out. Stay strong.

Todd Fennell said...

I sincerely appreciate your offer. A couple other people have also offered to help me out financially, and I'm really touched that people are willing to do that for me.

However, I've got something in the pipeline as far as business goes, and I think I'll be able to afford the attorney soon. I'd rather not take money from other people if I don't have to.

My hope is that this blog will help make people aware of what can happen and possibly get some protections put into place so this doesn't happen to others. And when it does happen to others, it would be nice if the government had some type of system to sort it out, rather than just leaving the victims to fend for themselves.

Thank you again for your offer, and your kind words.