Am I in real danger?

[VeronicaClark]

Two weeks ago, I received a total of four voicemail messages on three different days. The messages were left by a extremely irrate woman who claimed that "Buck" told her about me and several other females, and that he showed her where we all lived. She then made several threats against me, and dared me to "call her again". She called again and left messages on Wednesday, and Friday of the same week, although those were not as explicit as the first, but did include profanity.

Needless to say, I have no idea who this person is. I would have dismissed it entirely, except she did refer to me by name in one of her messages. However, she has not called since 1/25/02. I figured she realized she made a mistake, and deleted the messages from my voicemail.

Yesterday, I arrived home and was confronted by a card from a warrant control officer in my city. Upon contacting the police department, I learned a warrrant was issued for me on 1/28/02 for abusive language over the telephone (that's paraphrasing). A woman (I believe to be the same one who called me) filed a report stating that I was harrasing her over the phone, and that it had been going on over the past year, and I threatened to beat her up. Again, I have no idea who this person is.

I have an arraignment date in three weeks, and there's talk of me getting a lawyer, and I'm really starting to get nervous. I might be naive, but I have evidence that supports the fact that not only do I not know this woman, but that I never called her, let alone used abusive language toward her. Is a lawyer really that necessary? If so, if he gets appropriate evidence, could he stop this from even reaching arraignment?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Since this is a criminal prosecution, why don't you obtain information from the prosecution as to what evidence they have as the basis for your arrest? Is it only oral testimony? You may want to request information from your telephone company as to your own local telephone calls. This is bizarre and you may want to sue for defamation and false prosecution if these claims are patently false.

 

[VeronicaClark]

Thanks for the information. I did contact the court the other day, and was told I wasn't entitlted to a copy of the complaint. However, a family member asked me about a probable cause statement, is that the same thing?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

You are entitled to receive information that the prosecution has about criminal charges against you. You might want to call up the court clerk, get a name and number, and ask exactly why this information is being refused and how the court can expect you to defend yourself when you are unaware of the specific nature and details of the charge. The prosecution needs to establish cause in order to bring such an action -- what is the basis for the claim against you? Do you think that the prosecutor should and does bring criminal cases against every man, woman and child who makes a claim that someone is harrassing them over the telephone? In fact, I find it extremely surprising that such charges are being filed -- typically such telephone cases involve issues concerning safety, not just a few nasty comments.

Let us know what happens.