(no subject)

[theweaselking]

Ah, Texas: Where if they don't know who you are, you can spend 13 months in jail without being allowed a lawyer or seeing the inside of a courtroom.

(Bets that the fact that his name is "Mario Miramontes" contributed? I think so!)

I mean, seriously, using someone else's name as an alias is dumb, especially when the other guy has a warrant out on him - but in MORE THAN A YEAR, nobody bothered to follow up on the dude?

Comments

Wow

[disgruntledgrrl.livejournal.com]

I see what went wrong. He went by his cousin's name. Found out what happened. Called his cousin's family. His cousin turned himself in.
Then the family got a lawyer - for the cousin.
This means when the lawyer was tapped for the idiot, the name confusion he started worked against him and the lawyer for the cousin was supposedly working the case.
See - idiot was going to need a lawyer to prove who he was, TOO.

While it is a bit irksome this guy was left in jail for 13 months .... the fault lies in his family that KNEW he was there and didn't say anything.
I mean he already lied once - why should they believe him.

If anything, though, this mess should have netted him only 6 months of confusion. I wonder if this went down when we were scrambling to get a sheriff.

Re: Wow

[katballou.livejournal.com]

Honestly I can't really believe the name confusion had much to do with it. I was in the county jail for 2 months before I finally was given a lawyer and then still ended up having to hire another one to be able to even get a bail hearing after being in there 3 months. Simple fact is when you get arrested in Dallas they tend to lock you up and just forget about you.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

The system shouldn't be letting someone sit in a cell for a year without knowing why the hell he's in there and when they're going to actually do something with him.

[hwrnmnbsol.livejournal.com]

It's not just Texas.

http://www.thestar.com/article/185174

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/forgotten_defendant_sits_in_jail_for_two_years

Texas has its problems. Rampant and systemic bigotry is among them. But we have the same basic problems as other states, including the fact that we struggle with large bureaucracies.

[maelorin]

it's always someone else's fault that procedures were not followed ...

[skiriki.livejournal.com]

I don't think the problem is large bureaucracy.

I think the problem is inadequate, poorly staffed, poorly trained body of people with less than stellar infrastructure at hand.

Oftentimes it means money must be allocated to address those issues, be it hiring more staff or improving systems.

[flemco.livejournal.com]

Name like that? I ain't carin'. He was prolly one of them immigrants.

Most specifically, a gut-damn Eye-Talian.

Oh, you Canuckistanis living up in America's hat wouldn't know it, but right now we're tryin' to build a damn fence around the border to keep out the millions on millions of Eye-Talians who keep floodin' in here. Takin' all our jobs at the local pizza shops, drivin' around in them Pope-mobiles, stinkin' the place up with garlic and oregano. Wantin' us to change all our signs to read in Eye-Talian. Damn olive-skinned people, I swear.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

"Italian" means "Europe Mexican", right?

No matter, he ain't a white guy, regardless. Fuck 'em.