Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Some things just don't seem fair

Four years ago, shortly after we moved into our new location, I was robbed. The criminals busted into two doors, causing much damage and stole our safe. Because of their own stupidity, they were caught shortly thereafter. Our DA called me personally regarding the case twice. The first time was to tell me that he would be handling it and the second was to tell me that he had made a deal with one of the four who had agreed to witness against the others. I agreed to the deal and the case for two of the defendants was set for October.

A week before the scheduled hearing, I received a letter. The case had been brought up to the docket early without my notification. The DA representative was unsure of the deal that was made and offered the deal to both of the defendants instead of just the one agreed upon. The deal reduced the charges to just theft.

I was livid but could not do anything about it. The third defendant was scheduled and I was allowed to be there and challenged the court but could do nothing but watch as the judge gave the third defendant the same deal because she said that it would be unfair to her if she did otherwise. The same judge apologized to me.

The fourth defendant was underage and because of his age got off.

So, three adults charged with breaking and entering and stealing my safe with $1000 in it was let off with theft charges, had to send me a letter of apology, repay the theft, and spend five days in jail. The jail time never came as the jail was too full and their reduced charges were not big enough to warrant it.

Last year, my wife's car was sideswiped. I saw the car just as it bounced off of hers. I saw the driver and car and reported it to the police. We discovered the car just two houses up from mine. We measured the height of the damage and compared it to where her car had a streak of fresh scraped white paint on it. The police and DA representative felt they had enough of a case and the trial was set. The week before the date, I was called by a rep from the DA's office and told that the person who was to do the case was no longer there and that they felt that their was not enough evidence to try the woman. The case was dropped.

A while back, one of my waitresses got into a fight with her boyfriend. The fight was physical and the police were called in. The waitress looked at her two children and began to wonder what would happen if both she and her boyfriend were both hauled off and stupidly took the responsibility. She was arrested and later her boyfriend requested that the charges be dropped and it was agreed upon.

Then someone in the DA's office took up the case themselves and went after the waitress. She was charged by the state and brought up in front of a judge who found her guilty and part of her sentence was five days in jail. I told her don't worry as they had let the burglars out with no time, the same would probably happen to her. She had to spend all five days in jail.

To me, this somehow does not seem fair. The first three who were unemployed were let off with a slap on the wrist while this employed single mother of two had to spend her entire time incarcerated even when the charges were dropped by the supposed victim. Now, I am sure that there are other things regarding this case that I don't know but our business had to replace the woman for her week of shifts and she had to miss out on her wages for that same time all and only because the DA's office had a case and did not listen to her explanation. On top of it all, she told me tonight that they are trying to give her felony probation of which will cause her and her family even more cost and more grief.

This woman is a very good employee, works hard, and does me a very good job.

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