court

Large numbers of Arrests associated with Occupy Portland are putting a strain on the local court system, according to a report in the Oregonian newspaper.

My experience going before Magistrate Byrnside in Boone County WV on the Oct. 30th for the events described here.  I have put off writing about this for a few days because I'm still gathering advice and attempting to understand what actually happened myself.  It's fuckin' weird.

I thought I was going to appear before the magistrate and be offered a plea bargain of some kind which I did not intend to accept.  At which point I wanted to push for a complete dismissal and/or set a date for trial.  ... I don't want to go into great detail about this... but, the bottom line is that "I" did not get to see the Magistrate.   My lawyer brought back word that they would accept a guilty plea to trespassing OR they Would be dismissing my charges, then RECHARGING Me And REARRESTING ME.  

Plead guilty to this or we will arrest you again.

So that's the current situation,  My Charges from 9-9-09 of  1) Trespassing, asked to leave, 2) conspiracy, 3) disobeying a lawful order... have been dismissed ... as I wished....

BUT I'm told that within a couple weeks I might receive a summons to turn myself in on .. new charges ... get processed, go to jail and need to be bailed out again ... etc.

Accepting the plea would have cost a max fine of 500 bucks and it would have been over with... sometimes I wish I could have plead guilty; I just knew I would not be able to live with myself if I had plead guilty to this.