Not complying?

VanessaG

New Member
Jurisdiction
Oregon
Hello.In November 2018 my neighbors dog (chihuahua)came crying to my door,she came regularly for the past 2 years as my kids would play with her.but for the last year, it would really piss off the owner that she would come to my house so often,(mostly to eat and get attention) owner sent the cop looking for her and if she was there we would return her to the cop. I never locked her inside or kept her from going home. She would stick around outside and literally bark,and cry at the door at all hours of the night. A month or so before she came in November, Her owner would tie her to a tree in 30° weather,for days at a time. I lived on a reservation at the time and reported to the police but was told there was no kind of animal neglect charges on the reservation (they don't even have assault charges either)i asked the cop to please let the owner know I was willing to buy Bella from her,and care for her the way she deserved. well back to her crying at my door, she was dragging a rope that was used to tie her and where ribs were very visible. I fed her and kept her warm (she couldn't stop shaking) took pictures of her and again tried going to the police. He was confused ans was under the impression that the owner had agreed to sale her to me,and that she was my dog. (She had told him she sold him to me) i said no, that never happened and They again told me there was nothing they could do,and returned her to the owner. . I was in tears, as well as my kids to see her in such horrible shape. and furious that she was returned. She came crying to my door again a Week later and was still visibly neglected. I chose not to contact the police,fed her and decided to wait for the owner to come looking for her. We obviously didn't get along so no I did not go to her house to return Bella. Days went by and she still hadnt come to look for her.I had her for 7 days and finally the cop came looking for her.i told.him yes, i had been caring for her,and that she was only inside my home during the night,when it was very cold. And it would be cruel to leave her in the cold.during the day she was free outside,roaming around.he immediately noticed she had fattened up tremendously. he again, returned her. a week went by and the cop who i had been dealing with, had quit. there was now only 1 cop for the reservation. The "new" Cop came to my house and cited me for theft. I was in disbelief. I took my case to trial, by jury. 2 days before my trial by jury, the prosecutor put in a motion to not allow a jury trial,only a judge trial. And it was approved. (Apparently I was supposed to put in a letter of confirmation that I still wanted a jury trial,I wasn't aware of this. I assumed the last court date where i had told the court I wanted a jury trial was good enough) I lost the trial and was facing a 180 day jail sentence. Im a single mother of 5,and i have a job.They suspended the 180 days and gave me 6 months probation. I was also ordered to take criminal thinking classes and to write 2 apology letters.one for the dog owner and one for the community. there was a miscommunication and I hadnt completed those 3 things within the time frame. and a warrant was issued but wasn't served. ( I went to my scheduled court date where I found out about the warrant. ) not sure why the cop didn't serve me the warrant,he had it for 2 weeks..I live in a small town with less then 3 thousand people,so it wouldn't. be hard to find me. I'm glad he didn't. At my court,they deactivated the warrant and gave me a review hearing court date for bout 6 weeks out.i was not given a specific date to have the assessment or letters done by. I did get the 1st part of the assessment done. Missed the appt for 2nd step, due to work. I wrote 8 letters total (4 to dog owner and 4 to community) every single letter was rejected By the judge. They wanted me to write what they wanted. My court date was coming up (may 24) i had to start the assessment from step 1 again and luckily got step 1 and step 2 appointments scheduled for one after the other on may 23rd.I had written exactly what the judge wanted me to write on "my" apology letters and on may 23rd around 130pm I went to turn the letters in to the tribal court. After I handed them to the secretary,the cop came up to me and said he had a warrant for me. I thought he was joking til he showed me the warrant. he said it was for not being in compliance,for not writing the letters or not doing the assessment. I asked the secretary to show me paperwork that specifies a date to have those things done by.she wouldn't and said there was nothing she can do. I was taken to jail and my parents posted a $200 bail quickly. I got out and made it to my appt on time. I went to court the next morning. My dad had asked a few tribal leaders to sit in on the court hearing. (which surprised the judge and prosecutor) and shockingly, the normally very rude prosecutor informed the judge I was in fact in compliance and recommended no jail time.he said at the next court (june 21st) he would drop the charge. I was so happy to hear that,and certainly didn't want to argue why I had been arrested,why no "finish" date was given, and mostly,why had he suddenly decided to drop the charge. I start a criminal thinking class on june 6th, (a 12 week class) so will only attend 2 classes (which I will attend) before this whole thing is dropped.
Was I wrongfully arrested?? It doesn't seem right. I can't help but think they knew they shouldn't have issued that warrant...so to cover it up, they offered to drop the charge? Please, any insight on this is very helpful. Is there anything I could do,legally?
 
I had to stop reading about halfway through. Too much information.

Anyway, the minute you were charged with a crime you should have hired a lawyer.

I suggest you do that now.
 
I'm sorry I just wanted to provide all the info. My town is so small, we have 1 attorney who won't take it on and the nearest in the next town, won't because its federal (on a reservation)
You could skip down to the bottom part.
Thank you
 
I'm sorry I just wanted to provide all the info. My town is so small, we have 1 attorney who won't take it on and the nearest in the next town, won't because its federal (on a reservation)
You could skip down to the bottom part.
Thank you
There are only two towns in Oregon?
 
My town is so small, we have 1 attorney who won't take it on and the nearest in the next town, won't because its federal (on a reservation)

Last time I checked, there was a lot more to Oregon than two small towns.

As far as your post, it's way too long, and the failure to use paragraph breaks makes it virtually unreadable.

You could skip down to the bottom part.

I did. The one question you asked (and the following sentence that ends with a question mark but which isn't actually a question) are dependent on everything that came above, so "skip[ping] to the bottom part" doesn't help.

The one piece of insight I have is that, if you live on an Indian reservation and there is only one lawyer, then you need to move. Crimes on tribal land are handled under tribal law, and that isn't something that most lawyers know much or anything about.
 
Back
Top