One Man's Word

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RioShooter

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I just talked with a friend whose going through a legal nightmare. My friend got into an argument with a neighbor over a barking dog. The dog belongs to the neighbor, and the neighbor responded by calling the police.

He told the police that my friend threatened to kill him and his dog. My friend was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and making terroristic threats.

My friend was in his house watching TV with his family when the "crimes" supposedly happened. There are no witnesses. Just one man's word against another.

My friend has spent thousands of dollars on lawyer fees and still has a court date ahead of him.

I was surprised that all of this could happen based on one person's word.
 
:cuss:

This is the kind of crap I fear. And the possibility to lose 2a rights because of it.
 
The fact is that anyone can make allegations against anyone else. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, or in ambiguous situations, it is often left up to the judicial system to sort things out.
 
I'm also confused about my friend being arrested, rather than the charges being presented to a grand jury.

He was dragged out of his house in handcuffs. He was not told the charges against him. He spent 18 hours in jail. He was strip searched twice; one at the city jail, and again at the county jail. He was not allowed to make a phone call until after he appeared before a judge. His appearance in court the following morning was the first time he heard the charges against him.

He spent the night sleeping on a concrete floor, not even knowing why he was in jail.
 
Sue the slanderer into oblivion.
Click to expand...

My friend has already told his lawyer that when the criminal case is resolved, this is what he plans to do. He is also considering sueing the PD, but in his area, retribution by the authorities usually follows such action.
 
I don't know anything about this except to say that the accused, if he said anything at all besides his name, screwed up.

The rest of you out there reading this? Read and Learn..........

John Ross is a hero of mine and he taught me that....

The fish that never opens his mouth, never gets caught.

He said, he said.

Prove it.

edited for speeling
 
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What stage in the judicial proceedings is your friend? Has there been a preliminary hearing? Has he been offered a plea bargain?

Deputy district attorneys generally dislike "he said, he said" cases. Did your friend say something foolish to the police without the benefit of an attorney to advise him?

Pilgrim

P.S.
Sue the slanderer into oblivion.
Click to expand...

Generally a waste of time unless the defendant has something worth converting to cash.
 
What stage in the judicial proceedings is your friend? Has there been a preliminary hearing? Has he been offered a plea bargain?
Click to expand...

My friend told his lawyer he would not accept a plea bargain. He is a teacher with a 35 year career to protect. This is the first time he has been arrested. He wants his name and reputation cleared.
 
If it really is just based on what this neighbor told the police, your friend has a good chance. "Eyewitness" testimony is notoriously unreliable, and no DA is going to base a case just off of what one person is accusing your friend of. Not to mention the resonable doubt behind only haveing one person's word against another.
 
Clarify this, please! You said there were "no witnesses", yet you also stated that your friend was watching TV...."with his family"....when the alleged crime occurred!

Sure, family members might be considered as being "tainted", but they're still witnesses that can corroborate his ALIBI!

Sounds like a "neighbor dispute" blown out of proportion to me! Your friend needs to seek a reputable lawyer, and if he is cleared of any criminal acts, that lawyer can file suits of "harrassment" against the neighbor, as well as, perhaps a "false arrest/imprisonment" suit against the police agency!

Your friend COULD end up being a VERY wealthy man!
 
Clarify this, please! You said there were "no witnesses", yet you also stated that your friend was watching TV...."with his family"....when the alleged crime occurred!
Click to expand...

The police did not question the family or any of the other neighbors. From the time they arrested him, they had decided he was guilty. They believed the plaintiff's statement, 100%.
 
Is this in TX? If so do not allow for a deal. Go for the jury trial and record everything on video or tape. Do not allow for any kind of probation. Nothing defered in any legal sense in TX.

In TX the whole justice system is in the buisness. Lawyers on all sides and the judges also. The prosecution and supervision people will bring cases back to a different judge if someone is allowed to walk in some cases.
Some instances may include manufactured or threatened evidence. Many people with a public or cheap defence council will be sold on this without full disclosure. Young adults facing a prosecutor who is promising all the jail time allowed if this go to jury trial for a guilty verdict.
Some of this may be tollerated by those aware because even if its just another case of wrong place and time many people assume everyone if guilty of something.

Never take a deal and never accept a bench conviction. If even 25% of the people in the system today demanded a jury trial. Insead of buying into a plea bargain or other similar deal to just put this behind them. The system would stand still. WOD and seatbelts and cutting a tree down on your own property might turn out to be just not worth all the hastle manifest in the system.

OK I know this because of Laughtenburg Act repurcusions on friends. So far in TX statute will not be amended or adjusted to deliver on the promise xxxx charge will be a dropped case. Non conviction. Incomplete or undefined status/disposition is the best one can hope for to retain any rights.
Click to expand...

Some scary storys about the TX justice system. Some of this might be BS. I do know my friends situation. Nothing there suprises me.
http://www.tajlr.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=20&sid=077110586cb64b96cb5b1743364328e7
 
A complaining witness fabricate an incident motivated out of revenge? Why I've never heard of such a thing!:evil: :neener:

Rio, what happened to your friend is not unusual or out of the ordinary. That is how people are arrested.

1. You are arrested by the police (they usually don't call a GJ then arrest, usually this way);
2. you will be stripped and photographed at the pokey;
3. sometimes book-in will tell you what you have been arrested for, sometimes not;
4. sleeping on the floor is not unusual, especially in holding cells.

Were all of his guns taken yet? If not, they will likely be.

This fate awaits anyone who owns a gun. Your neighbor, your spouse, your girlfriend, your co-worker, anyone can say that you pointed a gun at them and said you threatened to kill them.

It happens daily. Something to keep in mind this holiday season, get your neighbor a fruit basket--it's good for his health and good for your freedom.:D
 
I just called my friend to clarify one thing. I knew the PD never talked with his family, but they never questioned HIM. They also never read him his rights or even talked to him. They just arrested him and threw him in jail. From that point on the jailers handled him until he bailed himself out.
 
And after he gets the lawsuit money, he gets to buy all kinds of new guns.

GOOD LUCK COLLECTING IN TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know that for a fact. Been burned by many a SOB
 
Never read him his rights? That sounds unlawful to me. I believe the Miranda case decided that you must be read your rights when arrested.

I have a friend who is a convicted felon who was sent to jail because he had been drinking and got into an argument on his front lawn. Neighbors didn't like the noise, so they told the cops he threw a bottle at his friend. No bottle was thrown, just arguing. He got probation because of his neighbors.

Be careful who you live by, they don't neccesarrily like you.
 
miranda

doesn;t need to be read if they don't question you. and commonly isn't.
texas sounds like va.At this point there may well not have been a da involved yet
 
Medula Oblongata
It is unusual, in my experience, not to notify the person of the charges he is being held on. In fact, I seem to remember a few laws REQUIRING that notification...
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Incorrect in the extreme. They have 48-72 hours to hold you without saying word one to you other than, "You're under arrest".

Mark(psycho)Phipps( HAHAHA! )
 
More Details

My friend was arrested at about 8 pm. After spending the night in jail, he was taken to court the next morning. He also was not allowed to make a phone call. So he appeared before the judge without representation. My friend plead not guilty, and the judge ruled that there was probable cause to have my friend transferred to the county facility.

He was finally allowed to make his call at the county jail. His fellow inmates recommended that he call a bail bondsman. That's what he did. He was released.

This happened the first week of August and he has heard nothing from the DA or the PD.
 
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Probable Cause

PROBABLE CAUSE REQUIRES:
"CERTAIN FACTS LINKING THE ACCUSED WITH THE VICTIM'S INJURY".

In this case, one man's word was enough for the judge to rule that probable cause existed. :cuss:

This case really bothers me. If all of this could happen to my friend, it could happen to anyone.
 
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