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How To Crash the US Justice System: Demand a Trial
Hugh Pickens writes "The U.S. Bill of Rights guarantees the accused basic safeguards, including a fair and speedy jury trial, but in this era of mass incarceration — when our nation's prison population has quintupled in a few decades — these rights are, for the overwhelming majority of people hauled into courtrooms across America, theoretical. More than 90 percent of criminal cases are never tried before a jury, in part because the Supreme Court ruled in 1978 that threatening someone with life imprisonment for a minor crime in an effort to induce him to forfeit a jury trial did not violate his Sixth Amendment right to trial. 'The truth is that government officials have deliberately engineered the system to assure that the jury trial system established by the Constitution is seldom used,' says Timothy Lynch, director of the criminal justice project at the libertarian Cato Institute. Now Susan Burton, head of 'A New Way of Life' (PDF), is helping to start a movement to demand restoration of Americans' basic civil and human rights by asking people who have been charged with crimes to reject plea bargains, and press for trial. 'Can we crash the system just by exercising our rights?' Burton says if everyone charged with crimes suddenly exercised his constitutional rights, there would not be enough judges, lawyers or prison cells to deal with the ensuing tsunami of litigation."
Only the indigent get appointed counsel, not people who don't want to spend the extra money.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
You can't just say "I can't afford an attorney". If you have any money in the bank, or if you have a job, or both, you don't get a court-appointed attorney.
Well, if you're willing to be a test case, and willing to sit for awhile (a long time) in jail, refuse to retain a lawyer on your own dime, and refuse to forfeit your right to representation. Without refusing to forfeit your right to representation, the court likely cannot constitutionally proceed without appointing a lawyer to represent you.
Of course, you would also probably have to sue and appeal to get the judgement in your favor, which would require a lawyer...
But then I did preface all of this with "willing to get screwed"...
WARNING! This girl exceeds the MAXIMUM SAFE standards established by the FDA for BRATTINESS
Returning to the question of being loved or feared, I sum up by saying, that since his being loved depends upon his subjects, while his being feared depends upon himself, a wise Prince should build on what is his own, and not on what rests with others.
BULLSHIT The segregationist racist laws of the US South were passed by DEMOCRATS
Yes- conservative Democrats. Liberal = Democrat and Conservative = Republican is a recent turn of events, before the 1960's there were conservative and liberal Republicans, as well as conservative and liberal Democrats.
I got a speeding ticket. I demaded discovery and the local prosecutor tried to overcharge me. then the State tried to overcharge me for the video DVD of the stop. I got out the prosecutor manaual and showed where he overchaged me. The Judge was confused, the prosecutor didn't want me brining all this stuff up so i complained to the Mayor and City Council ... When I went back to court the prosecutor said the Officer did not show up and case dismissed. he wanted me out of there ASAP.
There is nothing in the constitution that guarantees your right to bail
...Other than the eighth amendment.
Traffic tickets are usually not criminal offenses - a simple speeding ticket is not even a misdemeanor in most states, just an administrative infraction. And even where they are, states often exempt traffic courts from the right to a jury trial. And they charge enough in "court costs" that it costs you more to defend yourself than to pay the ticket up front.
My mother once tried to represent herself in court, over some business thing. She was berated by the judge
That's more shocking that you think, since the judge is supposed to assist a pro se (self representing) litigant.
But like most things in life, your mileage may vary.
/Your mother should have filed an ethics complaint with the state's judicial ethics board/commission
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Maybe it depends on the state, but in my state you have to have a sufficiently low income to be represented for free. And your income has to be very low indeed. The problem with public defenders is not that they are incompetent (although they often only recently passed the bar exam), but that they have too high a case load to give your case sufficient attention. At least that's what I've heard. I met the income requirement, but was able to borrow the money for a private attorney. I'll be in debt for a long time though because the fee is about 3/4 of my annual income. To me it's worth it if it gives me a better chance of staying out of jail, but the price is very steep indeed.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
Been there, done that. I got falsely accused of speeding. Honestly. Long story short, the COP confused me with someone else that blew by me going 90 MPH while I was humming along between 65 and 70. Anyways, I was so adamant at fighting the system that I decided to represent myself via trial by judge. What that a fucking mistake. The fucking workthless pig showed up and the judge hardly gave me any time to make my case. You see, I didn't speak legalese. Effectively, I had no voice and thus was not heard. No matter what. I was a peniata. A fat fish in a small barrel being shot at with RPGs. I cannot stress how sad it was to be forced to remain mute while being humiliated in front of the jury. Oh, and the jury? Combined IQ maybe passed 90 if I was lucky. Fucked either way!
Life is not for the lazy.
I did the same thing many years back. If you really want to see how the legal system works challenge a speeding ticket in court. You think you have rights and the judge is impartial? Go to a trial and watch them break all the laws and trample those rights. I am totally serious even the most simple and basic things go out the window. The Judge and prosecutor are on the same team and you have little to no chance to even make a valid case. They will also threaten you with contempt of court and deny you the opportunity to video tape the proceedings (to show others what the system really is like). It was a great $200 real world lesson for me and I recommend it to everyone. That way you know the reality of the system you are living under not the illusion like most people have.
I have a friend in the middle of a lawsuit. She didn't have the $100k in up front costs so she is representing herself (I know civil, not criminal, a different world, but some lessons still apply)
In her first two court dates in front of a judge she got to say next to nothing and was just ruled against.
In her third filing she put in a bunch of citations about the rights of self represented litigants, and the duty the court owes them.
The same judge that more or less didn't let her talk in the first two hearings, bent over backwards to make things fair, and when she had not prepared a notice, ordered the Lawyer for the other side to draw it up for her.
The moral, judges are used to lawyers telling them the law, and therefore if you want a judge to respect your rights, you have to explain your rights to the judge, and why the judge has to respect them, otherwise its, "Next case. We have a lot get through today".
ps. IANAL
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