Personal Rant! - Verdict is in!

[MPJ]

Well, court was a bit of a letdown. No resolution today because the Defense lawyer is totally in love with his own voice and is exceedingly passive agressive. What was originally supposed to be a half a day trial will not be finished until November 10th (I don\'t think OJ Simpson\'s trial lasted that long) next court date is now November 7th. They didn\'t even get through the prosecution witnesses today (hapily there were 4 witnesses besides myself when I was told there would be none). My wife nearly broke down crying upon hearing other peoples descriptions of the events as previously she had only heard mine.

On the plus side the prosceuter feels pretty good that there will be a conviction and jail time because it is considered a \'swarming\' attack and these are being dealt with harshly by the courts. It\'s hard waiting this long but at least my part in the courtroom is done and when I go back it\'s purely to watch the events, I don\'t have to go but there isnt\' much on this earth that could keep me from it.

I learned a few new things about the event today. Aparently there were no two guys who chased them off, only one who got out to help but was told to \'get back in and mind his own business\' so he did just that and left. Aparentlly (as described by the other witnesses) when I was unconscious laying out on the road one of them took a large piece of concrete (the same concrete that broke my ribs) and was holding it above my head ready to bring it down to finish me off when the police sirens were heard and they fled. FUN STUFF.

Last thing I learned... Aparentlly the fellows that swarmed me (all black) had just moments before been in an altercation with a number of white youths. I drove straight into a stirred up hornets nest. Wrong time, wrong place for me.

 

[Torn blue sky]

FUCKING ANIMALS!!!!
Jesus christ, bud you\'re lucky! If I learned what you just did I\'d be set on revenge! And My deepest sympathies, your wife must be going through hell by the sound of it too.
I hope these assholes get all they deserve! I\'d like to quote DR\'s sig.
\"I belive in karma, what you give you get returned\". And I hope to hell they do. Sorry, but that really gets to me.

 

[MPJ]

Originally posted by Torn blue sky
FUCKING ANIMALS!!!!
Jesus christ, bud you\'re lucky! If I learned what you just did I\'d be set on revenge! And My deepest sympathies, your wife must be going through hell by the sound of it too.
I hope these assholes get all they deserve! I\'d like to quote DR\'s sig.
\"I belive in karma, what you give you get returned\". And I hope to hell they do. Sorry, but that really gets to me.

Well it occured to me today that when the defense calls it\'s witnesses in November they will all be people that were there and therefore participants (even if it can\'t be proved by lack of identification), it is my intention to be bringing along a pen and paper to be making notes of defense witnesses. Parden the cussing, but \'Don\'t fuck with a roofer\' most of my employees/friends in the business come from the rough side of life if you catch my drift.

If only I had a whole roofing crew with me in the truck at the time there would have been a number of people going to the hospital that day and none of them would have been me. :drunk: Of course there are a lot of \'if onlys\' in the world.

 

[Torn blue sky]

If only! I would\'ve loved to have seen that! Hope it all goes as well as can be expected bud :beer:

 

[paintingploddy]

Except if they were like the one employee you did have.

 

[MPJ]

Court Day #2

Just a quick note before I walk out the door on my way to court...

Today is day two of court proceedings, should be police testimony and defense witnesses. Bringing a notepad to jot down the names of defense witnesses as anyone testifying on their behalf was either there (and therefore party to the assault) or is lying.

Should be fun... Really. :~(

 

[Hinton]

@MPJ: You\'re very lucky. It sounds like you could\'ve been killed, but <insert whatever you believe in here> stepped in.

I feel bad for you and your wife. What you went through was a traumatizing experience for both of you. Probably for a while after that (and perhaps even to this day) you felt uncomfortable around groups of people. You\'ll carry the scars of that day for a very long time, but they will heal eventually.

Yes, it was dumb to get out of the truck (sorry, but I have this thing about being honest) and you probably should have driven off; however, it sounds like it may not have made much of a difference. They surrounded your truck and started taunting you. If they were just coming from some other altercation, then they were probably still on an adrenaline rush and looking to hurt someone else.

Not everyone will stand around or stand back (or even run and hide). I still believe, even at my age, that people are inherently good; they just choose to do the wrong thing sometimes. If I had been there that day, I would called the police and tried to help out somehow.

I\'m not saying that I would have jumped in because I\'m a pacifist (and for a good reason), but I certainly wouldn\'t have stood there and watched you get beat.

I hope everything works out for you and that you\'ll be able to put this behind you some day.

All the best.

 

[Onis Lair]

Good luck today man. I hope the thugs get what they deserve, even if i have no faith in the Justice system.

 

[MPJ]

A somewhat interesting day in court today. Prosecution finished up with their witnesses and the first defense witness got called. Then I was just sitting down eating a late dinner when a big light bulb went off...

The defense case is being built around mistaken identity, that is evident now. I testified that the only one I could identify was wearing a red shirt and that I had said to him at one point just prior to the swarming \"Do you even speak english\". Every other prosecution witness stated that while they couldn\'t identify anyone specific to the assault the \'ringleader\' and the one who was about to smash my skull in with the piece of concrete was wearing a red shirt. Now, today the defense witness stated that he was with the defendant but they took no part except that I said to the defendant \"Do you even speak english\". Now I\'m fairly sure the prosecuter missed this point but tell me if I\'m wrong...

By saying that the defandant was the one I spoke to, he is effectivly confirming that the defendant was indeed the ringleader, for if I had made a mis-identification then I would have said that to someone else entirely. So the case should no longer be about mistaken identity but now comes down strictly to the word of me and several witnesses whom I don\'t know and the dirtbag in question and his best friends. Pretty much clearly (at least in my mind) making him guilty as sin.

Humm, I hope that wasn\'t to confusing. I\'d edit it and rewrite but quite frankly I\'m tired. I do plan on calling the prosecutor tomorrow morning to make sure he picked up on that bit of logic.

Suposidly the last court date should be Friday and I should expect to see a verdict then.

EDIT: Oh yes, I learned another interesting tidbit today. The defendant\'s older brother was recently killed in prison. He was convicted of assault for the murder of some guy who was celebrating his graduation. The assault conviction was aparently the best they could do because the forensics people were unable to determine if the severe beating or the bullet he was shot with killed the victim. It\'s nice to see that these real winners run in family groups.

 

[ebullition]

Its a cold world. You should have ran them over.

 

[vincegamer]

It\'s a little unclear. Sounds to me like you are saying that he admitted to the court that you spoke directly to him when trying to get them to leave. So you are saying common sense dictates you would speak to someone prominent in the group, the leader even, not just some guy who happened to be near by.
Hopefully the prosecutor will be able to get that across on closing argument.

 

[Torn blue sky]

O.k, If I\'m reading you right the defence said that the defendant told him you asked him if he speaks english?
If thats the case he\'s a pretty shit defence lawyer lol
In these cases the defendant prooly told the lawyer the facts to make a better defence. If the lawyer did indeed know this fact and stated it in court it means he seriously screwed up.
He possitively ID\'d the guy as one of your assailants It\'s up to your lawyer to pick up on it and cary the ball.

 

[MPJ]

OK, I\'m more awake now so maybe I can make it sound right...

To summarize: The first defense witness confirmed that the accused was the one I said \"Do you even speak english?\" to. Therefore, assuming my testimony is to be believed and the only issue was weather or not I identified the correct person, he has confirmed my ID of the accused as the \'rignleader\'. This occures because both our stories have one thing in common, that I spoke to the accused with that statement, if my lineup ID was a mistake then I would have said that to someone else.

I called the prosecuter this morning to bring this to his attention, he assured me that he had in fact caught that little piece of logic and will be adressing it during his sumation on Friday.

Previously the prosecuter\'s \'ace in the hole\' was that even though I was only 80% sure of my identification of the accused in a photo line-up, I stated that I recognized him immediatly when I saw him in the lobby of the courthouse (not in the courtroom itself where it can be argued that obviously I\'m going to select the black guy sitting next to the defense attorney as the assailant). Now he has this important point in common between my story and the defense witness story that also confirms the identity.

On a side note - If you can get past the fact that defense lawyers are possibly the greatest stallers in existance and that judges are quite likely the laziest buggers there are then court is quite interesting. Espically seeing how many subtally (and not so subtally) different was the same story can be told be different witnesses.

 

[MarkusTay]

Originally posted by MPJ
On a side note - If you can get past the fact that defense lawyers are possibly the greatest stallers in existance and that judges are quite likely the laziest buggers there are then court is quite interesting. Espically seeing how many subtally (and not so subtally) different was the same story can be told be different witnesses.

I couldn\'t tell you how many times I\'ve been a professional witness in cases AGAINST fellow contractors. I am a master of adjectives, and have NEVER lost a case for my client.

The Judge is supposed to stop testimony that is scewed, but they usually only will in criminal cases, so I\'m free to stick my opinions in wherever I see fit.

\"Your honor, it was obvious to me that a complete lack of knowledge in the area of structural integrity was evident. I\'m suprised someone didn\'t get killed....\"

lol

 

[MPJ]

Markus: Interesting that you mention that. I got subpoenaed today for the first time as an expert witness, as I too am a contractor (roofer) and am expected to go testify in court about some sub-par roofing. My first time so it should be fun.

 

[frenchkid]

Well my policy about stepping in is usually to step in hard and try to reason latter. The best way not to get hit in returne is to get the ashol down before he can realize sombody as just messed up his plans. Bad part about this is that you usually have the police looking hard at you afterwards But at least, of the two times I\'ve had to do this I didn\'t get hurt and managed to help someone. Plus added bonus, you\'re pretty sure you get to mess up the asshole pretty bad :twisted:

 

[Fizl]

Originally posted by Torn blue sky
Exept in the instance of jelly babies, everyone knows the green ones are superior to all the other babies!
Thats a shocking story though, Nasty...

What is wrong with green jelly babies?

I like em the best!

Shaz

 

[Hatewall]

In a situation like that, here\'s what I would have done:

Shoot each one;
Line them up side by side, face down;
Do a Bigfoot Monster Truck madness run across the whole bunch.

But that\'s just me.

 

[MPJ]

Verdict is in!

Well, finally got a verdict. They found the bugger guilty! Not only guilty of assault but also of being the \'ringleader\'. Bad part is we don\'t get a sentance until January 12 and I\'m told not to expect more than 30 to 90 days in prison at best. But at least it\'s a guilty verdict.

Now more waiting... Dum-de-dum. :drunk:

 

[paintingploddy]

Congratulations on getting the verdict. Was it jury trial? If so double well done, juries are strange strange things and frequently get it wrong.