Lilred's Rant of the Week-The Justice System

[Lilred]

I usually miss most of the news and news shows...but I try my best to keep up. All I've seen this past week is a screwed judicial/justice system. Here's 3 i seen just last night..that got my riled up somthin terrible.
Jessica Lunsford: Do I need to explain thatun? He got hired at the SCHOOL as a friggin janitor or somethin. How does a registered sex offender git hired at a SCHOOL???

On Americas Most wanted..that fool gang member that killed that lil boy..6 yrs old I think he was. They been chasin him ferever, they finally catch him, and due to a "clerical error" they let him loose the same day??? So, he gits to run fer another 4 er 5 yrs???
They wound up catchin him by the grace of God, but that aint the point.

Them 2 girls that lied about their father sexually abusin them..oh yeah..they admit they lied after the man's been in prison fer 10 yrs..oh...but they act like they did him a favor after tellin the truth 10 yrs later...now that he has no life!

And..on them notes..that point hits very hard closer to home.
Why does the courts allow visitation to a POS father?? Can anyone answer that? How can the child's "appointed lawyer" knowingly send a child in the midst of disaster fer 2 weeks outta the month? They do it to my child. Every other weekend. I could tell ya'll horror stories over that ..that would drop yer jaws. Ya'll wouldnt believe it.

This is insane..all of it. The kids of this country is sufferin..no wonder the whole dam worls is goin to hell in a handbasket. On this Easter Sunday, I pray that all the kids in these situations above are ok and happy, and dont have to endure such things much longer.

[gspsonny03]

Lilred I'm like you. I just don't understand how things like this are allowed to happen. And yes that's the correct word allowed to happened, because if these people were where they should have been, the things they did wouldn't have happened. And again like you, I'll also pray for those children who are in these situations through no fault of their own, because they are God's children and they deserve better.

[tooldummy]

I just don't know anymore. I feel like acting like an ostrich and sticking my head in the sand by not watching the news. Pretty depressing. You can't turn on the radio or tv anymore without hearing about some nut abusing children. I can't help but wonder if the whole world has went crazy. My state (Illinois) had a website to keep tabs on sex offenders and I encourage everyone I know to look at it if they have children. Surprisingly, I know several people on there.
And then there's the case of where they are starving a woman to death in Florida now. Not even letting her family wet her dry, cracked, bleeding lips. What the heck have we became? I watched CNN this morning and a preacher was comparing letting her die to sending troops into war, knowing they were going to get killed. And you know, I had never thought of it that way until now. I don't know if she knows what is going on or not. But I couldn't do that to an animal, little own a human. And if it was my child, God pitty the individual that kept me from wetting her lips. They would not only have to be a lot bigger than me, but wearing a bullet proof vest I'm afraid. But then I guess I wouldn't be any better than they were. I think I will thank God it isn't my child, and pray for those who's child she is.

[fabsroman]

Lilred and the rest of you,

I will essentially say that it is not the judicial system's fault for all of this, but society's fault. Sure we are all quick to point the finger at things, but I think we all need to look deep down inside and look at ourselves.

For instance, marriage used to be a lot more than it is nowadays. It used to be "Until Death Do Us Part" and children were raised by their biological parents. Not the second or third step-mother or step-father. This is one of the first problems that there is. As far as an attorney allowing a child to go to a POS father every two weeks out of the month, it isn't the attorney's fault. If it is anybody's fault, it would be the judge's. Attorneys have to zealously represent their client's wishes, regardless of what they think, unless they are aiding their client in a crime or they know that there client is going to lie on the stand. Now, the sticky situation for an attorney is what to do when he puts his client on the stand and the client ends up lying. There was a case about it here in Maryland, but I am getting off topic.

Regarding Jessica Lundsford, that guy just needs to be shot if he actually did it. There are all kinds of strange things in life. For instance, I saw a show on Dateline wherein two guys were wrongly convicted of a murder outside a New York nightclub about 15 years ago. One of the guys told his girlfriend that he shot the guy because he wanted to impress her. Well, that was used against him at trial. After seeing the show, I have no doubt that these guys are innocent. What is sad is that they were still in jail as of the date of the show. That is something that is wrong with the judicial system. Then, there was another show that I watched wherein 40 inmates were on death row in Illinois for rape/murder cases, but after the invention of DNA testing it was determined that they weren't guilty of rape and that they shouldn't have been on death row and that they might have actually been completely innocent. HOW THE HECK DID 40 GUYS GET ON DEATH ROW THAT WERE INNOCENT????????

Regarding Terri Schiavo, I think that is another mess. From what I have heard, Michael Schiavo no longer stands to gain any money from the passing of Terri. Maybe he was lying in the beginning of all this, but I doubt he is going through with it just for the heck of it now. Then again, maybe he is pissed at the parents for some reason and doing it to get back at them. See, trying to figure out what people are thinking will drive you insane.

I am just starting to learn that you cannot worry about what makes a person tick or why the do or don't do certain things. For instance, I have a brother and a couple of clients that can never pay their bills on time. They wait until their car insurance gets cancelled, their auto tags are suspended, their gas, water, and electric are shut off, and their home is foreclosed on before they pay their bills, while they have had enough money in the bank to pay them all the time. What is wrong with these people?

Getting back to Terri Schiavo, I think that everybody is overlooking the big picture. What the appeals courts hold in this case will be precedent for all time to come. Imagine how many people out there do not have a Living Will or Advance Health Care Directive. Now, imagine if we had to keep them all alive on machines until they passed away. How much would all that cost? I can also assure you that the wealthy people out there will more than likely have a Living Will or Advance Health Care Directive, so the people on life support would generally be the poor people who are on Medicaid. Hence, the rest of us will be paying for all this. Also, by denying the appeals, the appeals courts are making sure that people do not think that they can appeal this issue umpteen times before it gets resolved. Remember, we are paying for those appeals too. It all rests on whether Judge Greer made the right decision in Florida, and that decision was based on believing Terri's parents or Terri's husband. Tough call if you ask me and I wasn't there for the trial and testimony, so I cannot say Greer was right or wrong on his decision.

If this Schiavo matter wasn't as big an issue as it was, the parents would be allowed in and they would be allowed to provide her with water for her cracked lips. It has just gotten out of hand and cost the taxpayers a lot more than it should have.

So, my pet peeve is not the judicial system, but people in general. Now, does that mean that people shouldn't be given a second chance, who knows?

With that said, I have to get ready for Easter Sunday mass. Take care and Happy Easter to everybody.

[tooldummy]

Fabsroman, all I can say is your right. The costs are high. Both in keeping her alive, and letting her die. I would not want to live in the shape she is in. And her husband claims she told him she didn't want to be kept alive either. My problem is the way she is dieing. It just seems inhumane. I just wonder if she really said she didn't want to be kept alive artificially why they inserted a feeding tube in the first place.
I am going to get a living will made as soon as I can. I don't want to make my daughters make a decision I should have made myself.

[rubicon]

As for the scum bag that abducted and killed Jessica Lundsford, he admitted it- case over- no trial, no prison as that didnt work for him last time. Hang him on prime time and send a message to others like him. And whoever put him in the position in that school needs to be held accountable. I have mixed emotions about Schiavo but know I am getting a living will and power of attorney done immediately. And yes our legal system sucks (sorry Fabs) and our society is messed up too. But I will stay here in USA rather than moving to the next best country in the world- wherever that is.

[fabsroman]

Regarding Jessica Lundsford, I don't know if this scum bag confessed on a lie detector, but before we condemn him to death I would like to see all the facts. Executing people just because they confess to a muder isn't always the right thing. What if a father confesses to a murder performed by a son because the father wants to protect the son. Just an extreme example to make you guys think. This is a little more extreme than the other example I gave of a guy bragging to his girlfriend about killing a guy just to impress her. He has been locked up for some time now.

Now, let's not get me wrong here. I completely believe in the death penalty in certain circumstances, but I would want to be damn sure of the facts before I pulled the trigger.

Rubicon,

Since you live in Maryland, I can recommend that you get an Advance Health Care Directive drafted up in lieu of a Living Will. It allows you to express your wishes in more detail. The Terri Schiavo case has got a lot of people thinking about death planning and I have been getting some requests from my clients regarding it. We take a lot of things for granted when everything is going well (e.g., retirement, health insurance, estate planning, life planning).


Tooldummy,

They inserted the feeding tube in the first place because they didn't know what her wishes were. It was only after the court case that her wishes were known. If she had her wishes written down on a document, then there wouldn't have been any problem.

[rubicon]

Fabs, If Im wrong on this one Val can correct me but it is my understanding they gave him a lie detector test then he appologized for taking up their time with it and confessed to the crime and told them where he had buried her after killing her. It was behind his half sisters trailer. That was where they found the body.

[fabsroman]

I thought I had heard something about the lie detector test too, but I couldn't remember if his confession was while he was connected to the lie detector, and if so, if the confession was in repsonse to a question such that they could determine if he was lying. If a lie detector specialist could say that he was pretty darn sure that this guy committed the crime based upon the lie detector and we could find one additional piece of evidence linking him to the crime, then I would be all for instant death. My only reservation with execution solely off the lie detector confession is that lie detectors are sometimes wrong, albeit a small percentage of the time. Then again, this guy doesn't look like he has much to offer society anyway, so it wouldn't be a great loss.

[earschplitinloudenboomer]

fabsroman;
You had me right up to the point where you judged a man on his looks.

Lilred;

You're right, as usual, based on nothing but impeccable moral values. Sorry I waivered in the favor of the "system".

[fabsroman]

Ear,

I didn't judge the man on his looks. I didn't say that based upon how ugly he is, he probably cannot offer anything to society. I said this guy doesn't look like he has much to offer society. If I remember correctly, he was in prison already, he had previously been charged with something else and hadn't shown up for trial, and now he is charged with this crime. I think I also heard that he has been unemployed for a while. "Looks like this guys doesn't have much to offer society", but he also looks pretty ugly. I would never judge a person by their looks. I used to be the ugly duckling in high school and one of the un-cool kids before I got to senior year. Not too sure that I am the good looking guy now or the cool guy either. So, I would be the last person to judge somebody based upon the way they look.

[Lilred]

Sorry it took so long to reply..dern I've been busy!

Fabs, wether it the be the bailiff er the judge..they are all part of the "system" and iffin all the gears aint turnin right..the whole thing goes to pot. Iffin I'm gittin the blame-thrower out..it would be pointed at the whole dam thing in general.
And, you are right in sayin, it IS society's fault. But here's the kicker..as a human bein..no matter what yer job title is here on this earth..how can a judge er anybody fer that matter, sit with the authority to NOT hire a sex offender at schools, and NOT send an innocent child into a hellhole every other week (look at how many times you see kids abducted by their father and KILLED..and he had visitation rights) and sleep at night?
How can you say.."well, he's perty rough, on drugs, no stable home, in and out of jail, but it's ok..he surely caint hurt his child..so be it."

As a human bein, how can you knowingly do such things?
Maybe I'm weird, maybe it's just me. But I couldnt..I dont care what society thinks of me. That's an issue too..what other people think. It's all just insane.

I wonder how that judge feels today w/ that feller who took his 3 kids from the house, killed them all, and then went into the police station shootin...I wonder iffin he sleeps at night. Can he forsee the future? No..but where there's smoke..there's usually fire..and there could have been a compromise..like supervised visits.

It truly aches my heart to see it all..those children..those poor children..who's lives depend on what a runned-down society "thinks".

[fabsroman]

Lilred,

The judges have a fine balancing act that they have to do. That is what is tough. Here is a copy of an e-mail that I just received today from the President of the American Bar Association.

"As members of the legal profession, I know you share my concern over the public's misunderstanding of the judiciary's role and the politically motivated criticism of the judiciary stemming from the Terri Schiavo case, and are equally alarmed about the murders of Judge Lefkow's family members in Chicago and the attacks at the Fulton County Courthouse in Georgia. The circumstances of these tragic events require careful analysis, thoughtful leadership, and measured response. The American Bar Association has long held the preservation of judicial independence as one of the most important Association goals. These recent events have elevated the urgency of that commitment among the ABA's leadership. In the past several days, I have issued public statements condemning the violence against our judiciary and the gratuitous and vicious public attacks on the dedicated men and women who are our country's judges. During my speaking engagements, I have taken the opportunity to call for a change in tenor when the national discussion turns to our justice system.

Regardless of how one feels about the specific circumstances of the Schiavo - or any - situation, the role of the judiciary is clear. Federal and state judges are charged with weighing the facts of a case and following the remedies set forth in the law, responsibilities they carry out valiantly and with great dignity and sensitivity.

It is vital that the legal community address the current atmosphere in which our legal system operates, in what can only be called a decline in civility and respect toward our justice system. Too often judges are characterized as political tools and the justice system merely an offshoot of politics, and not the independent leg of our democracy that they are. Efforts to address the problems of courthouse security have been initiated by the Judicial Conference of the United States and the National Center for State Courts, and I have approached these organizations as well as a number of entities within the ABA to determine where and how we can best contribute to resolving problems faced by the nation's courts and judges.

The Association is committed to promoting the importance of judicial independence. The four entities that comprise the ABA Justice Center: the Judicial Division, the Standing Committee on Judicial Independence, the Standing Committee on Federal Judicial Improvements, and the Coalition for Justice work tirelessly to develop resources, initiatives, policies, and programs that support our justice system, our judges, and our courts. Information on each of these entities' initiatives can be accessed through the Justice Center's Web site at http://www.abanet.org/justicecenter/home.html

Thank you for your continued support of the ABA, the legal profession, and the judiciary. As the voice of the legal profession, we must not allow those among us who would do harm, in any form, to destroy the very freedoms our legal system is entrusted to protect.

Sincerely,
Robert J. Grey, Jr.
President, American Bar Association"

[fabsroman]

I don't think any judge in his right mind would say "this guy is rough, on drugs, has no stable home, and he is in and out of jail" but it would be fine for him to have visitation rights. (I edited your quote because it was tough for me to use).

A judge listens to all the evidence, decides who to believe, or what to believe from whom, and then he makes a decision.

I had a case this Thursday where my client was charged with 4 counts of second degree assault, three of which were against police officers, and a single charge of disorderly conduct. The State's Attorney gave me a plea of guilty to the disorderly and a nolle (i.e., no charge) for all the assault charges. It took me half an hour to convince my client that this was a good deal because he maintained that he was innocent. The problem was that I surely couldn't prove that he was innocent because the judge would never believe him over 3 police officers.

My client maintained that he confronted a girl in a bar that was carrying a beer and asked how old she was. She responded 14. As a result, he tried to take the beer out of her hand and he was punched in the face from nowhere. He ended up with a broken nose from that punch and I actually got to see it the next day. Somewhere in there, the police arrived and beat him up good too. He got 8 stitches to the head where he was hit with a flashlight. He pretty much had a completely swollen head the next day.

The police officers weren't even there to testify, even though the judge wanted to hear from them.

After I gave my speech, the judge actually have my client Probation Before Judgment, which I thought was a complete miracle. When I woke up that morning, I thought that I would have done a great job if I got a guilty on the disorderly conduct and a suspended sentence. However, the judge asked me if my client had been drinking because he was on probation for a DWI. I never asked my client because I knew he was on probation. So, my response was I did not know. He asked my client and my client responded that he hadn't been drinking because he was only at the bar to see a band. I guess he didn't believe my client because he sent him for 12 AA meetings.

However, he probably granted my client a PBJ because my client started his own business about a year ago and currently has 9 employees. Also factored in there is that he has sole custody of his two kids, 10 and 11 years of age, and the mother is nowhere to be found. In the end, I think my client might have been slightly guilty, but I think that he received more than he should have in the beating that he got. I also think the initial punch thrower got off easy because the police officers and the State's Attorney didn't listen to my client's side of the story.

Simply put, judges have a lot to deal with in every case. You should try making the decisions they have to make every day. In an intermural basketball league I was playing in during law school, I thought the refs missed a lot of calls and I gave them a hard time about it. That is until it was my turn to ref a game and I took a beating from the players for not calling fouls. Sit in a judges chair for a day and then tell me what it is like when a father is pleading to see his children and the mother is pleading against it. Not an easy decision and the judges usually lean toward visitation.

[Lilred]

I don't think any judge in his right mind would say "this guy is rough, on drugs, has no stable home, and he is in and out of jail" but it would be fine for him to have visitation rights.

I agree Fabs, but you know what? My child goes to see that same man every other weekend. It happens..often.
I reckon that's my point..
I do understand a judge's position..it is a very tough one. Nine times outta 10 both sides are telling lies er stretchin the truth to some extent and he's gotta figure all that out plus do what the law tells him to do in that situation...but most the time..they dont even care to do that.
I wont bore ya'll w. the details of my court proceedings, but I'll be glad to tell you how badly and pitiful it really was, I swear your jaw will drop...mine did..for an entire year my jaw was eatin dirt over the craziness...I know 1 judge..and I know there are many others..who could care less about equality in a case. The judge I had, went soley on the word of the guardian-ad-litem...who was WORTHLESS..I swear..you wouldn't believe it. I will tell ya'll this much...when I protested that fact that my x drank all the time and drove all the time..my x spoke up and told the judge that "he likes to have a beer every once in a while..there aint nuthin wrong with that"..and I swear on the holy bible on my Pop's (God rest his soul) good word, that dam judge sat there and said "Well I like to have a drink after work too, I dont blame you for that."

But the fool got caught drunk drivin! Where's the line here? Where's the common-friggin-sense??
It's over with now, and my son is used to seein his Dad, and he loves him, no matter how he lives his pathetic life. But I swear, if that child gits hurt, er God ferbid killed in a car wreck on counta that dam judge..I'll have that judge in court for the rest of his life.
Guarenteed.