jason.the.stove.guy
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- California
To Whom it May Concern
I will keep this as simple as possible. I got a DUI in 2014. I purposely let it go to warrant due to living very rural, lack of transportation and funds at the time, and I could not enroll or do Work Release. In december 2015 I hired an attorney and decided to turn myself in and do jail time as my sentence instead of doing work release. I have the minute order that clearly states
"20 days JAIL may be satisfied by 20 days WORK RELEASE"
I turned myself into jail early February 2016 and satisfied my requirements to the courts. I also had 18 months probation I believe and 9 months classes. I completed everything. Since then I've become a local licensed contractor. I thought this was looooong behind me. I get pulled over christmas day 2019. I'm asked by the officer "is your name XXXXXXXXXXX?" I said "yes sir it is." they arrested me on the spot for VOP and failure to appear in court. I was dumb founded. I knew this was a mistake and pleaded this to the officer. He looked me up in his CHP car as i'm in the back and shows me my picture and shows I have a warrant. I go to jail on christmas and spend half a day in there before getting released approximately 11:00pm in shorts and a short sleeve shirt. I live very rurally, no taxis and no one could pick me up so I walked home over 10 miles.
I was incredibly confused because I knew I satisfied all of my obligations. I got all of my paperwork from the courts to do some digging. It turns out the court violated me for failure to enroll in work release. They never saw, or never looked, or didn't care that I did jail time instead. So they issued a warrant in august of 2016. Ive been living with this warrant for years with absolutely no knowledge of it. I even took a DOJ FBI background check April 2019 that came up clean. I had absolutely no clue.
I went to court this morning. The judge opens up my case like the other 40 in there all with public defenders. She says I violated probation in 2016 due to not enrolling in work release. I told her that is because I did jail time instead which clearly states in my minute order I can do. She looked rather dumbfounded. She looks at the clerk who is typing on the computer. The judge states she sees I went to jail in february 2016. After some silence, again looking confused herself, she says she is dropping or releasing this case, i'm not sure exactly how she worded it. I looked at her and said "so is this over with now?" she says "yes"
I said to her "your honor what kind of restitution will I be receiving due to this clerical error on the part of the courts." she stated they cannot give legal advice. My new minute order that I received today is a full admission of guilt on the part of the county in my opinion. On the first page it says
I am there for "the defendent is arraigned on the probation violation for failure to enroll in w/r"
on the very next page it states "Orders: other: Defendent served 20 days in the county jail in February 2016 in lieu of 20 days W/R"
I am so blown away right now i'm shaking. I am so appalled they can wrongfully arrest people that have fulfilled every obligation by the courts.
I have been embarrassed due to my picture being published, I went to jail on christmas 2019, I wasted my time yet again proving my innocence.
I want to sue and sue for the maximum financial amount to compensate for my constitutional violation. What if I pulled out a gun or refused to be arrested on Christmas Day knowing they were wrongfully arresting me? I am blown away.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, someone please help me fight for my rights. There has got to be a large financial settlement here and I'm willing to share. Thank you in advance.
Jason.the.stove.guy
I will keep this as simple as possible. I got a DUI in 2014. I purposely let it go to warrant due to living very rural, lack of transportation and funds at the time, and I could not enroll or do Work Release. In december 2015 I hired an attorney and decided to turn myself in and do jail time as my sentence instead of doing work release. I have the minute order that clearly states
"20 days JAIL may be satisfied by 20 days WORK RELEASE"
I turned myself into jail early February 2016 and satisfied my requirements to the courts. I also had 18 months probation I believe and 9 months classes. I completed everything. Since then I've become a local licensed contractor. I thought this was looooong behind me. I get pulled over christmas day 2019. I'm asked by the officer "is your name XXXXXXXXXXX?" I said "yes sir it is." they arrested me on the spot for VOP and failure to appear in court. I was dumb founded. I knew this was a mistake and pleaded this to the officer. He looked me up in his CHP car as i'm in the back and shows me my picture and shows I have a warrant. I go to jail on christmas and spend half a day in there before getting released approximately 11:00pm in shorts and a short sleeve shirt. I live very rurally, no taxis and no one could pick me up so I walked home over 10 miles.
I was incredibly confused because I knew I satisfied all of my obligations. I got all of my paperwork from the courts to do some digging. It turns out the court violated me for failure to enroll in work release. They never saw, or never looked, or didn't care that I did jail time instead. So they issued a warrant in august of 2016. Ive been living with this warrant for years with absolutely no knowledge of it. I even took a DOJ FBI background check April 2019 that came up clean. I had absolutely no clue.
I went to court this morning. The judge opens up my case like the other 40 in there all with public defenders. She says I violated probation in 2016 due to not enrolling in work release. I told her that is because I did jail time instead which clearly states in my minute order I can do. She looked rather dumbfounded. She looks at the clerk who is typing on the computer. The judge states she sees I went to jail in february 2016. After some silence, again looking confused herself, she says she is dropping or releasing this case, i'm not sure exactly how she worded it. I looked at her and said "so is this over with now?" she says "yes"
I said to her "your honor what kind of restitution will I be receiving due to this clerical error on the part of the courts." she stated they cannot give legal advice. My new minute order that I received today is a full admission of guilt on the part of the county in my opinion. On the first page it says
I am there for "the defendent is arraigned on the probation violation for failure to enroll in w/r"
on the very next page it states "Orders: other: Defendent served 20 days in the county jail in February 2016 in lieu of 20 days W/R"
I am so blown away right now i'm shaking. I am so appalled they can wrongfully arrest people that have fulfilled every obligation by the courts.
I have been embarrassed due to my picture being published, I went to jail on christmas 2019, I wasted my time yet again proving my innocence.
I want to sue and sue for the maximum financial amount to compensate for my constitutional violation. What if I pulled out a gun or refused to be arrested on Christmas Day knowing they were wrongfully arresting me? I am blown away.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, someone please help me fight for my rights. There has got to be a large financial settlement here and I'm willing to share. Thank you in advance.
Jason.the.stove.guy