Fleeing an Attempting to Elude: Dismissed

People have a belief that if they are not guilty of something, then the State will just dismiss the charge. Occasionally, this is true:

However, as you can see above, this is a nolle prosequi, not a no prosecution. What does that mean?

This means that someone had to fight to get the charge voluntarily dismissed. Evidence had to be collected, analyzed, and multiple negotiations were necessary to secure this dismissal. Specific to this case, a joint review with the ASA of the dash cam evidence.

People often still try to represent themselves and wonder why their case blows up in their face, but this Okaloosa County client wisely hired counsel early on, and months later, obtained a dismissal.

Okaloosa County's Mental Health Court

Okaloosa County has a unique diversion program: Mental Health Court.

Mental Health Court addresses a very serious and expensive problem: what do we do with people who have chronic mental health conditions and find themselves getting arrested because they cannot control their behavior?

The normal answer, lock them up in jail or send them for years to state prison, is increasing looked upon as a last resort. Frankly, a growing consensus is leaning towards a more damning indictment - stupid.

The target population is not deterred by incarceration. Probation equals violation. Jail becomes a revolving door. Here is a common example:

John Doe is arrested for trespass at a liquor store after he refuses to leave. Drunk and obnoxious, he is taken to jail and processed. Since he cannot make bond, he stays. Worse, he has to be kept in special housing because he is a management problem, requires expensive medical care including mental health medication, and he will ultimately be sentenced to time already served. He will be medically stable for a short time, but this is temporary. He will be penniless when he is released, run out of medication, and within a few weeks or months, get arrested again.

A normal inmate will cost around fifty dollars ($50) each and every day in jail. (Please spare me the 'make them pay' nonsense - stupid is not the new smart). However, John Doe will cost almost twice that amount and will be arrested twenty to thirty times in his lifetime.

Florida's Mental Health Court is a step in the right direction, however, there is little funding for proper diagnosis and virtually no funding to study the program's effectiveness. Brain imaging based diagnostics would be the most cost effective way to solve this problem, yet once again the powers that be prefer penny wise and pound foolish: the money for a proper diagnosis is never provided and another bandaid measure is the law of the State.

False Domestic Violence Charges should be dismissed before trial

So . . . ready for trial is announced on Final Plea Day (not to be confused with the erroneously labelled "Plea Day" in Okaloosa County which is actually arraignment court).

In this particular Domestic Violence case, the writing has been on the wall for some time: "[H]e did not hit me" in a written statement, confirmed in person by the State, is usually a sign that the prosecution has a real problem.

As in they will not even come close to proving the case. Yet here I am, loaded for bear, as one lawyer put it, right after court:

 

What is wrong with this picture taken after court this morning, besides having to wear a super serious Jury Selection suit, a cheesy smile and lower my hair? Is it the weekend spent preparing for trial, all for nothing? No. Not at all.

What's wrong with this picture is that my client was forced to risk jail time for a crime he did not commit. 

What's wrong with this picture is that the politically correct "plea bargain" the State wanted included fines, court costs, cost of supervision, and twenty-six (26) weeks of "domestic abuser" counseling for a crime they know he did not commit.

What's wrong with this picture is that I was even at the courthouse for this appearance to pick a jury on a trash case: there were over fifty (50) cases on the docket for a two (2) week trial calendar and there is no way fifty cases are going to get tried in a two week period. Jurors were called, their time set on fire, and case after case was dismissed.

What's really, really wrong with this picture is that Domestic Legal Violence against innocent people is out of control. Oh - and that I have another case, in the same courthouse with a similar fact pattern next week.

Domestic Violence is a serious social, legal, political, moral and criminal justice problem. False Domestic Violence charges are just as big of a problem, but we aren't hearing about it. False allegations of Domestic Violence are just not taken seriously by the criminal justice system. Lip service doesn't count. Especially when this man was wondering all weekend if something could go wrong, and a group of strangers might actually convict him, a judge might send him to jail, and because of the nature of a domestic violence conviction, if his military related career would be history before he was released.

Upon reviewing the facts of this case, a Nolle Prosequi dismissing this case should have been filed weeks ago. Instead, taxpayer money and people's most valuable asset - their time - was wasted. 

Note: not all prosecutors use this bullying tactic to crush a plea out of someone for a non-existent crime. I know several who do not. 

Yet far too many do.