What is private probation/

[Griffin (OP)]

I got some great news after talking to the head of probation in the county I originally wanted to do my probation in, a lawyer, the head of probation in the county I was charged in and was getting transferred out of, The head of the private probation company that they tried to get me into, The head of the probation department where I did my last probation term, The judge presiding over my case, and a few other people I don't remember. I found out the county I wanted to get transferred to wont take transfers from instate counties for supervised probation and even though they didn't get any of my paper work for me to deny they gave me that information. After speaking to the county where I did my first probation term and was in there good graces because I did so well in there probation program in my first probation term even though I ended unsuccessfully because I got new charges. They said what I did I shouldn't of got charged for and I was still one of there best probation clients as far as being complaint and being committed to the program while I was under there supervision. They accepted my transfer to be supervised by them for my new probation term from the county I got the new charges in and will only have to pay there fee of $50 a month to be supervised there. They got all my paperwork completed and had my transfer to be there client completed today. After talking to the head of the probation department in the county I got the new charges in who sentenced me the 18 months of probation in they decided to waive my $2100 supervision fees so I wouldn't be paying supervision fees in two different counties sense they would not be supervising me so I wouldn't need to pay them those fees for that service sense they would not be providing them. So instead of paying over $2100 for probation supervision fees to the county I was arrested in, I will be paying $800 for the supervision fees out of the county that I was transferred and accepted into.

 The private probation company that I was originally going to be forced into paying $1800 along with the $2100 for supervision fees. I no longer have to mess with because when I talked to the head of the probation department in the county I was sentenced out of and trying to get transferred away from about the private probation companies higher rates of sending people to jail and violating people as well as having to pay both fees that would add $1800 to my original $4100 in fees. He deleted them from my possible places to be transferred to and told me I would not be doing my supervised probation through them. So instead of paying $4000 for supervision fees to a company that has a 40% higher rate of sending people to jail and violating peoples probation. I will only have to pay $800 in a county who already knows me and knows that I am a good compliant client who is committed to getting off paper. So now I will no longer have to deal with the original county I was sentenced in unless I get arrested again and they decided to file new charges on me. If i am arrested again I will be going to prison either way so that doesn't really matter.

To sum this all up sense some of it may not make sense because i typed it fast to try and get the point across of how I managed to better my situation by calling about 15 different people and talking to the top person in each place i called. I now will be doing my probation in a county that is only 15 minutes away that will only cost $800 for supervision fees. Plus I have already done probation for this county and I am known for being a respectful, compliant, and committed client. So now the supervision fee fiasco is taken care of because instead of paying $2100 to the original county who would no longer be supervising me on top of paying another $1800 to a private probation company who has higher rates of failing clients I will no longer have to deal with any of that and I will no longer have to deal with the stupid podunk town's probation officers complete disregard for my opinions and rights in the county I was originally arrested in.

Thanks for all the info and support guys I am so glad this worked out for me It took all day on the phone and I lucked out by getting the county I got into to accept me because they knew me because they just let me off probation there 3 weeks ago even though they could of given me 12 more months of probation for revoking my probation by catching new charges which would of cost atleast $1000. But sense I was such a good client and my PO vouched for me in court they let me off sense I had surpassed the original time of probation I was sentenced even though I revoked it before my original sentence was over.

 
Griffin

[Sand and Water]

This is awesome news!! Big congrats Griffin

[Chip]

like the movies, I love a happy ending.

way to go Griffin !

[Griffin (OP)]

Thanks everyone for the support this place is like a second home to me. I can't tell you how appreciative I am of everyone on this board for giving me input and information that has helped me as well as listening to me bitch and giving me information and motivation to accomplish all these steps to better my life and stay on the correct track. I have 4 months of the breathalyzer left that an amazing family member just offered to pay all the fees for until I get it out because she sees how hard I am trying to keep my life on the right track and how hard I am working to build a future for myself. I now have an unrestricted license, I will start the rest of my 16 months in my new probation program in a few weeks in a county that I have a good reputation in.

 I will soon find out who my new PO is, how many classes I have to take for my dui and the cost of them. I also will find out how many UA's I will have to complete a month, and the UA's will only be $10 each instead of $20 which is what the private probation company charges and I will have to do less UA's per month through the county program than what the private probation company were going to make me do. I got $1200 taken off of my fines that were originally $4100. So once I find out how many classes I have to do and complete them, I will only have to meet with my PO every few months and do however many UA's a month I am scheduled. The good thing is in the 2 years that I was on probation in the county I am on probation again now I had zero hot UA's! So they will probably make it so I don't have to do very many because they were very concerned with my financial situation and wanted to do everything they could to help me out. I was doing 2 UA's a month when they ended my probation August 3rd of this year and I will find out soon if I can smoke weed as well. I am also prescribed benzos so I can take them when ever I want. I usually don't take them though but its nice that If I need Sleep i can take them without worrying about popping hot on a UA.

On Sept. 28th I'll get my weekend take outs at the clinic so I wont have to go Saturday or Sunday anymore. and one month from that day I will only have to go 4 days a week and no longer have to attend one group a month. Everything is definitely starting to look up. I have a job interview installing dog doors and training dogs to use them which I love animals and I like building things so it sounds perfect for me. If they can offer me the 40 hours I want I will be making double what I make now at a job I would be much happier with.

I have two chances to get a college financial aid appeal approved before December 15th to see if I can get back in college and finish my associates as well as pay off all my debt so I can build my credit before I move to a four year school. My associates degree is in applied sciences it will be for sociology/addiction psychology so I can become a drug counselor and hopefully become a CAC II before getting my bachelors in some kind of business management unless I find a different career path along the way. My dream job would be to work or own a non profit who deals with social issues such as helping people who are homeless, drug addicted, need resources for foodstamps, medicaid, and all the other social issues. I would like to be able to make around $60,000-$75,000 a year in my career.

 I would like to setup stuff like my last job habitat for humanity does, like orchestrate groups to volunteer to build things for the community or houses for people in need, I hope I can start a company that includes everything I enjoy such as construction, helping people, advocating for Harm Reduction and helping drug addiction all around by lobbying for rehabilitation over incarceration, needle exchanges, a federal good samaritan law, lower or no penalties for victimless crimes and making more resources for the homeless, addicted, and lower class. That way these people can have a chance at having a comfortable life instead of struggling to get to the poverty line instead of being below i want it so they can have the opportunity to afford there bills, feed their kids, and give themselves and there children an education. I know it is far fetched but it is what I want to do that would make me happy and I hope I can build a company that is non profit but still provides me and my family enough money so we can be comfortable and give my future wife and children the life they deserve and the chance at going to college and making a future for themselves.




Griffin

[jdub]

Congrats, I guess- still seems like you're getting the shaft, maybe they decided to use some lube tho.

I don't understand how you got the Dv charge. Did your ex call the police? How many calls is too many? Obviously it's annoying having your ex call all the time but not police/jail/probation/ $1000s in fines annoying. I guess this is what the "land of the free" has come to. Milking people on minimum wage for all they can over bullshit "crimes" and threaten them with imprisonment if they won't pay up. 'Murica.

[nick]

Congrats, I guess- still seems like you're getting the shaft, maybe they decided to use some lube tho.

I don't understand how you got the Dv charge. Did your ex call the police? How many calls is too many? Obviously it's annoying having your ex call all the time but not police/jail/probation/ $1000s in fines annoying. I guess this is what the "land of the free" has come to. Milking people on minimum wage for all they can over bullshit "crimes" and threaten them with imprisonment if they won't pay up. 'Murica.

Yeah,the justice system was always buyable,but now,it's becoming a business.

[Griffin (OP)]

Basically what happened is she was at work and she was a bartender and there was a police officer sitting at the bar top on duty taking a lunch break i guess(who after he arrested me asked her for her number he was in his 20s) he over heard her on the phone because she was still at the bar top when we were calling each other bitching at each other but not threatening each other more of a its your fault no its your fault conversation. He asked her if she wanted him to go over to our apartment and set me straight kinda scare me a bit. She said yes because she didn't want me to break up with her and she was at work and didn't want to deal with it while she was working which is completely understandable. I had missed my saturday dose so I was going to miss sunday as well and this was my second week of being on MMT for the first time so I was in withdrawal the night before already and when I missed my dose because the alarm got turned off somehow so I didn't get my sat. or sun doses. and was already in withdrawal. I was furious at the time and our break up had been a long time coming but we moved to colorado together and I didn't want to leave her stranded there and she supported me financially for years while I was pursuing being a musician and she made a lot more money than me at some points so she paid for a lot of the drugs. 2 of the 4 years I was making $50,000-$60,000 a year which is good for a 21-22 year old but the other times I didn't have job and she supported the both of us and our drug habits because she made $50,000 a year cash every night being a bartender and we were constantly broke because we both had massive habits and we started hating each other. We started using together a few months after we started dating and lived together before we dated so we lived together for 5 years dated 4.5 years. We started using with loratabs and it grew from there she never used heroin and when I started to she hated me even more and at this point I hated her because even though I supported us for 2 years she was the breadwinner the entire 4.5 year relationship and constantly held it over my head and used it as a way to keep me from leaving her sense she supported me those 2 years where I did pretty much nothing but do drugs and play music. Well the real break up was finally happening and she was at her job at the bar and the cop asked her if she wanted him to goto our apartment and set me straight and scare me a little and tell me to stop talking to her.

Well when he got there I saw he was at the door and I was on the second story and I opened the patio door to jump down and run while he was knocking on the door but his partner was sitting out side there and watched me come outsid through the patio door and told me to let them in they just wanted to talk blah blah blah so i opened the door and talked to them while they were outside and i was at the door he asked who I was and I lied and they called her and asked what I looked like and they were like we know its you and we are taking you into custody for harassing your girlfriend. I had no idea that what I was doing was a call and said that grab whatever stuff you need and I went and put some clothes on and took a xanax cus i knew I was going to jail and that pissed them off because they didn't know what it was i tried to conceal it from them when taking it but they saw me do it and even though it was out of my bottle they said they didn't know what I took and that I could get another charge if I wasn't prescribed what I took I text my my gf and said thanks for getting me arrested over an argument and she left work and came there and told the police that she didn't want me to be arrested at all and they told her the charge and she said she didn't feel harassed and that we were just having an argument=.. they told her in domestic violence cases the victim can bring this up in court and that there was nothing they could do and that I would be going to jail after they took me to the hospital to drug test me to see what i took (i was in the hospital for 15 minutes to do an observed UA it cost me $2000) They then took me to jail and sense it was saturday I didn't see a judge  till tuesday and wasn't released till wednesday on a PR bond and took a bs 18 month probation plea deal because I was withdrawaling so bad from a 900 mg a day Roxy habit that I just wanted out of jail and to never come back. In court my girlfriend told the judge the story that i said nothing threatening and that she didn't feel harassed and it was just a regular argument. The judge told her that it wasn't her pressing charges it was the state of colorado and they have to take dv cases very seriously and that what she said had no effect in the court proceedings. I was charged for Domestic violence harassment for making a phone call with out intent or purpose of actual conversation I swear to god thats what it says on the police report and the judgement papers and what they showed me in the law library book when I said i didn't believe that it was an actual charge. So thats the basic story theres more to it like how she took everything i owned with her to oklahoma and I couldn't leave the state and they put a restraining order on me so i could have zero contact with her and no one i know could talk to her for me to get my stuff back so when i got out the day after thanksgiving I had shorts, a shirt a hoodie and one bus ticket. They took my phone sense it was part of the case all the money and credit cards out of my wallet and I didn't get out until 8 pm and its in colorado and was snowing.


Griffin

[Griffin (OP)]

This was the first time i had ever been arrested as well and I got to make one phone call and it was to my dad who said you got yourself into it goodluck getting out, I was homeless for 6 months, We shared an apartment that I wasn't allowed to return to because of the restraining order, we shared a 2008 jeep commander that I had made a bunch of payments but was in her moms name so we could get a better deal cus her mom had amazing credit. So i went from having everything one day and finally starting to get my life back on track through recovery on MMT sense i had tried subs for 10 months with no luck and had lost my job and insurance that was paying for the subs a few weeks before all this and was the reason I got on MMT and i was so committed to getting clean that I wasn't going to use those 2 days i didn't have my dose sense I had missed it even though she was still using and saying subs were working for her. I had 150 subs saved up incase something happened or I needed money that she took with her.  I had 2 full prescriptions for xanax, clonidine, flexiril, and gabapentin that she stole along with all my clothes, and every other thing I owned from pictures to my macbook to my vinyl record collection and guitars. I literally had nothing but the clothes on my back when I got out of jail and I don't have any family in colorado they all live in oklahoma and were to poor to help me financially or to help get my stuff f back. The only thing I did get back was my dog I have a miniature dachshund that I got when she was a puppy who was 6 at the time and is 8 now that she gave to my dad who lives in oklahoma after she didn't want to care for her anymore because she was living with her mom at the time of this. She stated dating within a month of the break up and got married 5 months later. I am so glad I got her out of my life and would happily go through most of it again and pay the 3500 i paid in fines and homelessness for 6 months just to get her out of my life and keep it that way but It was very rough because I was all alone in colorado with no family wh could help me or even come visit me because they were financially unstable at the time too. I am just glad I got my dog back the only other thing I miss is my macbook which "she can't find" it had everything I had ever recorded sense I was 15 and all the music i recorded with all the bands I played in from 15-25 swell as all my pictures and music I acquired sense I got it right before i was 15. The sentimental value of that mavbook is worth more than most things in my life i would of chose the dog over it any day but it still makes me mad i didn't get it back because it didn't even work i spilt beer on it and it ruined the cooling system so it wouldn't even turn on but I could of still got all the memory from it.


Griffin

[Opus]

This story is unreal; like it's not bad enough about the BS DUI, but the amount of money you're paying to deal with this mess is just mind boggling, truly mind boggling. I imagine you're sick of hearing that you should have got a lawyer, so I won't say it. Hindsight's a real bitch sometimes..

I'm very curious about the state this happened in? It sure reads like some small town "justice".. Sounds a bit like some Texas style "justice" stories I've heard.

I'm not even joking when I say that I've become afraid of my country. Optimism is gone, hope still exists but fear is really starting to kick in. The systematic criminalization of people in this country over HEALTH problems is WRONG, period. This case doesn't even sound like a DUI case to me, it sounds much more like opportunistic extortion.

Everyday I read stories in the media about people who have snapped, and then I read something like this and I wonder what kind of issues the person who went postal was facing in this supposedly free country. Maybe be careful how you interpret that - I don't condone violence at all outside of self-defense, but these systems we deal with, to me, more and more they seem like such massive wastes of time, money and resources and so often set up so horribly that I frequently find myself thinking it's intentional - like maybe they'd rather you just don't participate and suffer the consequences; it's little wonder to me that we're seeing SO MANY people going off the fucking deep end. People are fed up because many just want to do the right thing and live their lives, but the systems are so horribly inefficient and fucked up, that their situations rapidly snowball into a giant mess.

I currently owe about $2k on my license over a fucking red-light (camera) ticket, and two BS fix-it tickets written by some asshole who tailed me out of the klinik parking lot. The original red-light ticket was $510 (!!) - but because I didn't take care of it immediately, it's now about $1100. Just unreal.. "Oh you don't have $500 this month? Let just DOUBLE your fine." WTF kind of logic is that??

People need to wake the fuck up, soon, cos I think we're headed for real trouble if shit doesn't change, and if it's not already too late. The <=middle class is FED UP with this kind of bullshit, and honestly I'm not sure I wanna be around when the shit hits the fan..

[_Enduser]

wow, that was the most incredibly depressing thing I've read all day,

and I've been reading about child farm workers.......

But this takes the cake 4 sure

[Griffin (OP)]

Opus this was in Colorado, in a smaller suburb outside of Denver who are known for throwing DV's out like candy(they past a law 6 months after my arrest where in dv cases they now have to take both the man and woman to jail). They have a police force 2 or 3 times bigger than what is needed for the size of the city and they all get brand new cars each year and within the last 10 years built a new state of the art court and jail in the town as well as for the county. I never got arrested in my home state of Oklahoma thankfully because crimes I committed there were drug crimes like buying marijuana or pain pills. If I had been arrested there it would of resulted in a lot of felonies and prison time as that was the only thing illegal I did in that state and there drug law penalties are outrageous.

You are completely right one of my biggest regrets was not getting a lawyer on the first case to get it dropped or at least get a public defender and fighting it. I had no money or family to help get a real lawyer. I still should of tried the first time, I was out of jail on a PR bond and I had to goto court 45 minutes after getting out of jail and I had no idea how any of the court proceedings worked. I thought that if I didn't take the deal right then at the first court date I would be sentenced that day. I didn't know you could fight it out and I was in such bad withdrawal. I had just started my second week of MMT and was on 40 mg's a day and had a 900mg of Roxy a day habit, it had been 6 days sense I had the 45 mg of done in the morning. I wanted it all over with and to never have to be in jail again and definitely not have to go back to jail 45 minutes after getting out. The DA who explained the deal to me was saying that it was a great deal even though it was my first time getting in trouble and that usually when defendants don't take plea deal's the judge sentence's them more harshly, and that they can give me 6-18 months in jail if I don't take the deal. He couldn't give me any legal advice or answer my questions because he was the DA representing the state against me and not my attorney. I had no idea I could of not taken the deal and looked my case over and fought it or tried to work on getting a better deal over the next few months while not being in jail with a public defender helping me.

Everything I read online said that if I would of got a lawyer the charge would of been dropped as it really goes against the 1st amendment and is a charge police use to try and rack up charges for extra money or to scare people and when it's taken to court it's usually dropped or pled down to a fine. If I fought it I probably would of had to pay a fine instead of having a misdemeanor DV on my record, 18 months of supervised probation that consisted of 2 PO meetings and 5 UA's a month, and 9 months of classes once a week that were $30 each. I didn't have a car so the bus to get to all these things probably cost me another $300 at least. The classes costed me $1350 in all, the fines alone were $2200, I probably took $700 in UA's. and a $1400 hospital bill for a observed UA I would of had to pay for one counseling session a month that were $50 each at the place I took my classes but sense I was in MMT my monthly counseling session there counted for that so I didn't have to do that so it saved me money being on MMT. I got denied the manager position at pizza hut which was the job I got when I got out of jail because of the charge. On top of becoming single, homeless, car-less, possessionless in a day, as well as having no friends or family in the state I couldn't leave all for having an argument over the phone while breaking up with my girlfriend. When my exgirlfriend took all my stuff with her to Oklahoma she took the comcast cable boxes and I have a $1400 bill for them as well.

It is the lowest level of misdemeanor if I would of made any threatening statements it would of been moved up the highest level of misdemeanor the one right below a felony. The charge is Domestic Violence telephone harassment and my crime was making a phone call with out intent or purpose of actual conversation. This is what it says on my police report, and the court proceedings paper say. This is basically what the law statute basically says is the crime, and why I consider this country a police state because we have more people in jail than any other country in the world as well as the highest percentage of people incarcerated than any other county.


I have always had the mentality that the only threat in my neighborhood is the police. I have always treated them with respect though usually to get out of whatever they are harassing me for even in the 2 situations I got arrested I was overly nice to the police.(except that I lied to the first one and told him I was someone else because they were asking for me specificallly when my ex-girlfriend and I were having that argument.) To me there jobs are solely to harass people, steal from them, and put them in cages. I very rarely see cops do good things and when they do I bet most people would of done it if they weren't afraid of getting arrested or sued for helping someone. The detectives who actually investigate and stop murders, robberies, and rapes are a complete different story I have the upmost respect for them. When my house got robbed my an exgirlfriend and her new boyfriend 6 months after we broke up they stole over $6000 in stuff. The cop said that it looked like we definitely got robbed but sense we didn't have enough serial numbers of the stolen property they couldn't file a report. When I found out who it was and told them they said sense there was no report filed they couldn't do anything. When the two were later arrested while driving in a stolen vehicle and house was raided and everything was taken from their house they wouldn't let us see if any of the stuff was our to get back, They took 2 52 inch plasma flat screens, 2 ps3 one xbox 360 about 230 dvds, a pearl drum set, 3 guitars, 2 very nice guitar amps, 3 $250 glass bongs and a few other things. They also did nothing when my car window was broken and wallet and car stereo and random stuff like my guitar were stolen out. My brother was at a party and took 7 grams of shrooms and was out of his mind messed up and thought he was dying and stuff. The cops kicked the door into the house because they thought it was a party and my brother flipped out thinking they were getting robbed or something and kicked one in the nuts and started fighting the other one. they tazed him and shackled him hands and feet(totally called for) but after he was on the ground and not resisting while shackled they pepper sprayed him repeatedly and beat him with batons to get back at him for hitting one and kicking the other in the nuts. He had bruised on every part of his body on his fore head hands arms legs back stomach everywhere they cuffed his hands above his head in jail while he was standing and made him stand there for 6 hours and wouldn't tell him why he was there or why they weren't processing him into the jail. that was his first and only time ever getting arrested. and they made him sign a hospital paper saying they could test him that they told him was a clearance so that he could make sure he didn't have permanent damage on his form the beating. The hospital charged him $14000 for checking on him after the beating. They also gave him nerve damage in his hand so that he can feel the top part of his hand that happened 6 years ago.

The dingleberries who get a new car every year by preying on people for victimless or petty crimes are why I hate most cops. I have never gotten a speeding ticket but here are the tickets I have gotten in my life;

1. Improper start from stop $288. I was stopped at a stop sign and there was gravel on the road I was turning to goto school and I had a truck with no weight in the back, when I turned the cop said my car peeled out and spit gravel on his car. It was a school zone so the speed limit was 25 so I left the stop sign slowly when turning because I was only going to be going 25 and also because there was a cop behind me. I did not feel my tires spin at all. Plus there was gravel on the road how do you go from stop without moving some gravel.

2. Following to closely $288 I was going the speed limit which was 55 coming over a hill where a cop was sitting so he wouldn't be seen to catch speeders. The car in front of me was going 40 and I didn't see him till I got to the top of the hill and I was immediately close to his car and had to hit the brakes cause I didn't see him because of the hill until I was close to him and he was going 15 under. I could still see the road in between our cars when it happened so there had to be at least 10-15 feet if the road was visible between our cars from the drivers seat I then slow down and left 2-3 car lengths between us even though he was going 25 under the next 2 miles when Driving because the cop was following me. I then got pulled over and given the ticket for this and the one above after turning on the street where my school was I was 16 at the time.

3. Failure to yield $244: Driving home from work late at night I didn't see a cop in my blind spot driving on the highway while I was merging on from an on ramp so he had to slow down 15 mph because when I got on the highway I was only going 40 at the time I got onto the highway and the speed limit was 55 and even though he was no where close to hitting me I pulled out in front of him and was about 25 yards ahead of him. he had to slow down behind me so instead of either reaching the speed limit of the highway before entering the highway or slowing down and letting him go first I got pulled over and ticketed for that.

4. Expired Tag $244 When pulled over for the failure to yield ticket my tag had expired in july and it was august.
5. Expired license $244 same time as before when I was pulled over for failing to yield. It was a week after my 18th birthday and my license expired you have to get a new license when you turn 18.

6. Expired Insurance verification card $244 Same time as before when I was pulled over for failing to yield I had insurance but my Insurance ID card was expired and didn't have the new dates on it. So even though I had insurance and he could see that I had insurance when he ran my registration and stuff I didn't have the correct ID card so I was ticketed for that and luckily was able to get that one dropped. So when I got pulled over for the "failure to yield" i got 4 $244 tickets.

7. Veering: this is when I got pulled over and arrested for the DUI I got a ticket for veering as well. The cop said I didn't cross the lines but was driving from side to side with in the lines. I don't remember how much the ticket waw


I had zero money and none of my family could of helped me to get a real lawyer on the dui case, same thing with the time before but at least I knew about how the court system worked and got a public defender and fought the dui case as much as I could without taking it to trial. My pub. defender was an idiot, he had about 1000 active cases on his load at the time of representing me. I had to correct him twice and let him know that they could't charge me for intent to distribute because I had less than 7 grams. He didn't send my prescription paperwork to the DA when I sent it to him 2 months before my first court date and called him 3 times to see if they had offered a deal yet but he didn't send it, So I had to drive 3.5 hours in my car that doesn't have AC for them to continue it because he didn't send the DA my prescription paperwork, doctors notes, copy of my UA reports showing I had no failed UA's in 2 years and when they got the paper work they didn't know if or what they could charge me for. I also had to correct him on a date of my actual offense they had it written as 2014 not 2015 and I don't know if a real lawyer could of got me off for not having the right arrest date written on the police report. He also wasn't paying attention in court when they were going over my plea deal and when the judge asked to make sure that there was no factual basis for the possession charge because it was dropped to a misdemeanor because they decided to charge me for having it in the wrong bottle. and the original charge was a felony for having a cds that I didn't have a prescription for so it is on my record as a charge with no factual basis. For whatever reason when I corrected the date on my dui they had wrong on their paperwork it didn't get sent in right so when i went to get insurance they have my dui as happening in 2014 instead of 2015 and thats what it says on my record is that the charges are from 2014 which I am not going to change because the longer ago that it happened the better it looks so I am okay with it.


the ones who turn no there lights to drive on the shoulder of the highway or through a light or drive fast so they don't have to wait are the people who have made me and a lot of other people hate cops to the point where I feel its us vs. them and I get a flight or fight bodily response every time I pass there car or one in person. Because they are going to steal from me or put me in a cage over nothing.

[Zoops]

Damn, bro. you got it bad.

Lots of BS at the hands of the 5-0.

Oh, and grammatically, I need to point out that your use of the phrase "could of" should be "could HAVE" or "could've," and also plenty of times you use "then" when it should be "than."

Just in case you ever have to write up something like a cover letter or resume or anything like that...

I know I'm the grammar Nazi here but still, there needs to be consistency in writers' diction.

And +1000 on what Opus said. They are actively trying (and being successful at it) to create a second-class tier of citizenship: that of those who have been involved with the legal system. And the vast majority of those folks have been involved for either some misdemeanor type shit or some non-violent felony type shit. That way, they can extort money from these people without fear of reprisals.

[Griffin (OP)]

Thanks for pointing that out Zoops I actually had my last girlfriend write my resume and a cover letter that I can change up to fit the different jobs I go after. It is good to know though and maybe I will realize when I am doing it and be grammatically correct a little more. It is never good to come off as an idiot when your typing things out especially if your trying to tell someone else how to do something. I think a lot of my Oklahoma up bringing comes out in my typing and talking and it embarrasses me because I definitely don't like sounding like a redneck or rube. My high school english teacher taught us nothing about correct grammar usage. She was more into arguing with the students about how there were never dinosaurs on earth or they would of been in the bible. That is one of the reasons I have been putting off my second college english class because I have a hard time with grammar and citing information. I don't even know the correct times to put in commas or periods hopefully next semester when I take that english class I will be forced to learn it instead of just skating by and being happy with getting a B.

Griffin

[DeadCat]

One word of caution, now that you have a DUI conviction and cops and computers being what they are, you can expect to get pulled over more than you ever were before the DUI.  If you are worried that you can't pass a field sobriety check because of your pain issues and (for the foreseeable future) you will ALWAYS test positive for methadone you are at higher risk for a 2nd DUI charge.

I wonder if you might be able to get some kind of card or letter form your clinic doctor stating that you are getting methadone for pain and s/he does not beleve it should affect your driving. I don't know. The way the DUI laws are set up , it's almost a slam dunk for any prosecuter to win once the charges are filed.

That being said, I got on knocked down to a "Careless Driving" after loprazolam form the day before showed up in a blood test. But I had to hire a a private lawyer who was willing to take it to trial. We dug in our heels and tough, subpoena'd my doctor who wrtote the 'script and make it clear we would accept no plea deal that included the letters "DUI" in it.

At day of trial they (DA) blinked and knocked it down to "careless" and I took it, even though my lawyer told me the thought we could "probably" get a complete acquittal I just didn't want to leave the nuances of things like "half-life" or "residual" to a panel of wild card jurors.

[Griffin (OP)]

That is a great idea DeadCat thanks for the advice. I followed your thread on opiophile very closely when it happened and was pulling for you because I had plead guilty about a month before you posted your thread I believe. If you don't mind me asking how much did you pay for your lawyer or law fees and how much were your fines for the charge?  You can message it to me if that makes you feel more comfortable but if you don't want to answer that question because it is very private I understand. If anyone else has hired private lawyers on cases they didn't take to trial, if you wouldn't mind telling me how much the cost range was so I know in the future I would appreciate that.

 Is careless driving just a traffic infraction or is it a misdemeanor as well DeadCat? What were the penalties for your charge? Any probation or dmv penalties like license suspension? If a cop is behind me and types in my plate numbers will it show who I am and what my charges are or will that only come up if I get pulled over and he runs my drivers license? That is one thing I don't like about my job is I sometimes don't get off until 11:30 and I work weedends I hate driving at night just because cops are looking to get people for DUIs. I have a lazy eye so my vision is 20/80 and my depth perception is horrible. It took until about last year to be comfortable with parking also switching from a Ford F150 and a Jeep Commander to a Honda Accord helped quite a bit with that. I still have trouble staying in the lines and am constantly checking my mirrors to make sure I am within them because I can't tell while driving unless I am looking in the mirrors and see that I am within the lines.

When I got out of jail the 2500 I had saved up had been used and I was actually $900 in the hole and my grandma had to help me pay a deposit to get a lease on my house after I got my first paycheck. Losing my job in jail and making half as much as I was before made me think I couldn't afford a lawyer so I didn't pursue it. I have talked to a few lawyers but it was after my first case or about legal questions for this case if they had a free consultation phone number. That way I knew what the law statutes were and how they would fight it after I was out of jail and didn't have access to a law library. I have no idea if they have books and the law statutes at the public libraries but it is something I didn't look into.

Griffin

[Opus]

My high school english teacher taught us nothing about correct grammar usage. She was more into arguing with the students about how there were never dinosaurs on earth or they would of been in the bible.

Classic!! This definitely would have been my favorite class

Right this second, you're looking at maybe the best teaching aid we've ever known. You don't have to wait for school to learn, learning how to teach yourself will put you far ahead of any standard curriculum. Type your questions into google verbatim and you should get answers, you might have to separate the BS from the chaff on occasion, but a little critical thinking never hurt anyone..

It's never too late.