For those who have followed our lives closely the past few months, our lives have become a legal hell and I have come to know far too much about the court system.
It started on Friday, March 26, 2010. I had left work early and was headed home. I called Jose because he too was headed home after work. He ended the call quickly saying that he had just been pulled over and would call me back in a moment. When he called back, he stated that he got two tickets and that I needed to go get the neighbor because his license was suspended and he couldn't drive. I thought he was joking because he plays tricks a lot, but after five minutes of frantic conversation on his end, I believed him.
We went to get him and his car. The neighbor took his car and parked it in our driveway for us and we immediately went to the nearest license branch. The woman there said that she could not help us and that we needed to go to the reinstatement office on the north side of town, a nearly half hour drive, that closed twenty minutes later. We took off and jumped on the interstate, making it to the reinstatement office mere minutes before they closed. The woman there said that it was indeed suspended due to a ticket recieved March 24, 2009 and that we would have to speak to the court which was closed for the weekend.
Thus began Jose being licenseless. We thought it would be an easy fix to remove the original ticket that Jose did not get in March 2009 and that the weekend was a small price to pay with him not being able to drive. On Monday, Jose called the court. The clerk told him that he had a ticket issued March 24, 2009 that he failed to appear in court for, resulting in the license suspension. He told her that he never got pulled over in '09. She told him information about the car being driven, a '90 white Cadillac. We drive an '02 blue Intrepid and an '06 red Stratus. Nothing made sense. She also stated that there was a notation with the ticket that the driver did not have his license with him and that the car was his girlfriends. Hmm.
So, the clerk let Jose know that he could come to the Justice Center and recieve a copy of the ticket. As soon as possible, we went and got it. The driver information was all Joses, identical to that on his ID. Everything except the address. The address was that of a house on the SE side of town. We live on the SW side and have lived in this zip code since being married, five years ago.
We wrote a letter to the Judge, as they suggested we do, to state our case and ask for them to clear the charges and the ticket. They set a court date for April 15, 2010. Jose took the day off work and since he couldn't drive, I dropped him off at the courthouse at the time set, thinking it would take a good part of the morning. A mere twenty or thirty minutes later, he called me to pick him up. The court that day was only pretrial and since he pled "not guilty" they had to set a bench trial date, which they did for June 4. Needless to say, we were pretty heated. Jose had already gone half a month without driving and then they drew the case out an additional month and a half.
While we waited for the June court date, we wrote and delivered a second letter to a different court for the March 2010 ticket which Jose actually did recieve. We explained the situation, and asked the court to wait to hear the case until after the March 2009 case was decided.
At the same time, I called a lawyer that my dad recommended and spoke to him, asking what to do. He suggested to speak with the officer that issued the March 2009 ticket. He stated that we could hire him or another lawyer, but that we would have to pay all the legal fees and that they would cost approximately $1500. We immediately realized that that would not be an option. But we did follow up with the calling the officer. I called the Sheriff Department and left a message for the officer who issued the ticket. He called back that afternoon once he arrived to work. I asked him about the incident. The basic component of what he said what that he remembered somewhat the event, despite it being a year later. He remembered that the driver did not have a license or ID of any kind, that the registration was issued to a woman, and that the driver looked "enough like the license, that it seemed okay." From our conversation, I figured that he was basically a rookie and from the sound of his voice, he seemed to be in his mid- to late-20s. I forwarned him that he would probably be subpoenaed for court and we ended the conversation.
So, on June 4th, we headed to court at the scheduled time. After sitting in the courtroom for about forty-five minutes waiting and listening to other cases, Jose's name was called. While we were waiting, I noticed the prosecuter for the courtroom go into the hallway a number of times; I also saw a officer from the Sheriff's Department in the back of the courtroom on occassion. They spoke a couple times briefly and then I noticed the badge. It was the officer who issued Jose's ticket.
When Jose approached the podium, the judge asked him to state his name. He did. Then the judge looked up from the bench and said, "The State has dismissed your case. You're free to go."
I almost burst out laughing when Jose leaned into the microphone, "Really?! That's AWESOME!!! Thank you!" and we left the courtroom with the prosecuter. In the corridor, he stated that they read the letter and followed up with all the information. That, combined with the officer's statement, was enough that they knew they had no case. He said the only thing that didn't make sense was that the computer system said that the most recent ticket issued was for driving while suspeneded and fraudulent registration, not speeding. The ticket issued to Jose was driving while suspeneded and speeding, but we were so happy that it wasn't important. We spoke to the clerk and waited a short time and then recieved the paperwork we needed to go to the BMV and reinstate Jose's license, where we went immediately after leaving the court.
[To Be Continued.]
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