Nine Years

It's been nine years since I've seen the inside of a jail.

Lots of people can say they've NEVER seen the inside of a jail.

Quite a few people who have seen the inside of a jail cannot and will never say it's been nine years since the last time they were in jail.

It's a distinction of sorts, I guess... 

Essentially In The Clear

I just double checked and the statute of limitations for what I was charged with ended in 2022.

They cannot change their minds and proceed with the prosecution now.

Though it was vanishingly unlikely they'd have done so after dropping the charge, it was possible until the five year time limit expired.

I didn't even mark the date when it happened.

One nice thing about being actually innocent is you tend to not worry that your lies get discovered or hidden evidence unearthed... because there isn't anything!

Thanks again to those who supported the cause morally and financially!

I am sure the lawyer like their boat too.

I'm Totally Bitter

The deceased has been named in the Houston taqueria shooting.

Some of his criminal history has been detailed.

Out on parole, he was arrested for beating on his baby-momma...

And released on his own recognizance...

WHAT THE FUCK TEXAS?

Whereas, me, with no criminal history at all:

Had to beg for bail money so that I could be released with a no-contact order and come up with additional money to fund a lawyer to work at getting the charges dropped.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK???

They let a convicted felon on parole out with a promise to not break the law again...

But they lock my ass up and treat me like I was a convict already until my friends coughed up the funds to get a lawyer on my side?

No.  I am totally bitter about this.

Fuck that corpse.

I am happy he's dead.  He deserved it.

Wanna know what would help?

Not letting killers plead down to assault and/or letting them out when they've served half their time.

If they had not let him plead down, he'd have been on death row.  But the hero of the taqueria would not have had to be subjected to the stupid legal system.

If he'd had to serve his entire sentence, he'd still be alive in jail.

I am getting ever so sick of a legal system that is entirely about protecting the rights of criminals at the expense of the innocent citizen and the people victimized by the criminals using that system to further their behavior.

Probably Not Getting An M1911A1

My stupid arrest from two years ago is likely creating an NICS delay situation with CMP.

That's as good as a denied as far as they are concerned.

I guess the good news is once they refund the money, I can pay back those who loaned me money for this.

I am depressed and furious beyond my ability to express it.

Only The Gulity Need A Lawyer

Let me renew my "FUCK YOU!" to the Democrats and their pet media.

I was once in need of a lawyer when I was innocent of the charges brought against me.  Without that legal counsel, I would have been convicted and would likely just be finishing my sentence.

But only the guilty need a lawyer.

Never mind we hired a lawyer to navigate the confusing paperwork of adopting The Boy.

Never mind that we hired a lawyer to create a trust for the NFA items.

Never mind that we hired a lawyer to create a durable power of attorney so we could make the decisions for The Boy that need made that he won't understand.

I wonder, now, what we were guilty of when we sought this legal assistance.

Anniversary

Yesterday was the day I was released from county at the beginning of my legal drama.

I've kept my nose clean since!

Unconditional

Yesterday, when I picked up my NDS-2T, I passed the background check unconditionally.

This is a welcome change from September when I got a conditional non-approval stemming from my legal drama.

As predicted, FDLE updated their records to show that I had, in fact, been exonerated of the charges against me.

Anxious For No Good Reason

I hate waiting.

More so, I hate waiting on Government.

It gives me entirely too much time to consider the worst case scenarios.

The worst case scenario for my Conditional Non-Approval is to have to shell out for a lawyer and force them to admit that, not only, was I never convicted of anything but that the charges stemming from the arrest were dropped.

I'm pissed off about this, and getting angrier by the moment, because this sort of thing should be handled automatically.

I'm gathering that what I am going through is situation normal.

An arrest on a disqualifying charge means no approval for at least your next 4473, perhaps more.

Isn't it amazing that they have a system which will automatically have arrests, charges and restraining orders instantly available to disqualify someone, but five months later can't tell the charges stemming from the arrest have been dropped?

I'm definitely of the "justice delayed is justice denied" mindset and the three business, near six calendar day wait is an injustice.

McThag's Legal Drama Day 204

Tried to buy a gun from an FFL today.

Steal of a deal on a Marlin 336AS.

Did my 4473, sent in my information to FDLE for approval and got a "conditional non-approval" response.

My arrest is the gift that keeps on giving!

Somewhere there's a file that hasn't been updated to indicate that the charges were dropped.

The good news is that unless they can come up with a hard reason for non-approval, I am OK to get the gun after three full business days have elapsed.

Because the charges were dropped, I was never asked to surrender my CCW, surrender my C&R FFL or any of my guns... this is just an irritating delay.

Also good news is the FDLE usually takes the opportunity to update their records to indicate my exoneration so this won't happen next time.

McThag's Legal Drama Day 175

Today is the 175th calendar day since my arrest.

Today is the last day they could have filed charges without filing an extension pending a fruitful investigation.

Since there hasn't been a visit from a deputy or a call from my lawyer, I am officially in the clear.

Would that it had never occurred.

Also Known As An Indicator

My fugue is clearing somewhat about my arrest.

A clue, in case you did not know, that you're about to be arrested is when the officers start getting your pockets empty of potential weapons.

This is when you need to shut up and not say things that taken out of context create probable cause for them to finish arresting you.

A long expensive road later applied context to what I had said, but the arresting deputy isn't required to sort through that shit.

There's yet more expense on the horizon from this adventure in getting my name cleared and the records sealed and expunged and my happy face removed from the "look who got arrested" web pages.

That's another thousand buck that goes away because the county I live in has basically made the near boilerplate pro se application into a "you need a lawyer" hearing process.

More Drama

It's a little drama.

I've started the process of getting my arrest record expunged and sealed.

It's small since, ultimately, I was never charged with anything.

But getting this done means I will not have to explain, over and over to potential employers.

It also gives me a something to take after those people who aggregate mugshots and demand they take my entry down.

If they refuse, oddly enough, it's defamation of character.

The process of getting the expungement is tedious, but relatively inexpensive.

OPSEC

I discovered there's entire web pages dedicated to report on each and every arrest made in a given area.

That's not surprising, the police blotter is as old as news.

The interesting part is people who've nothing better to do but comment on every arrest, secure in their righteousness that the accused is guilty from the safety of anonymity and being out of range...

Except... they post under their real names.

For fuck's sake, they've got facebook, twitter and other accounts and don't know that google exists?

Some of the people they're commenting on are guilty and vindictive.  And since the doors of the jail are practically on spinners...

I am actually most surprised that nobody has done anything.

Actually, it's not surprising.  The criminal types that would do something probably don't get curious enough to search their name and arrest.

Those who're innocent and do the search out of curiosity, well we don't DO shit like harass idiots without lives.

Honestly, as long as they're commenting on every arrest, they're not out there driving.

McThag's Legal Drama Day 47

It is over.

The state (finally) filed that they were not going to file.

I stand un-accused.

Today is truly a happy day.

Thank you to everyone who donated their time, good wishes, prayers and (most especially) hard earned cash.

Truly Humbling

My life hit a crisis and I am humbled and honored by all of the people who don't know who I am, past this blog, who came from all corners to offer material assistance by stabbing that donation button to the right.  A week ago we were asking ourselves how we would ever get these "bonus" bills paid.  Now we're within spitting distance of being all the way covered.

Likewise I count myself blessed that I have the cadre of close friends that I do.

Without all of you, I'd probably crawled into someplace dark and not emerge again.

I give my heartfelt thanks to all of you!

About Halfway There

I mentioned that I had about $800 worth of legal bills left that I didn't have an immediate means of paying back.

Thanks to your generous contributions, I'm about halfway covered on that!

THANKS THANKS THANKS!

Thanks to Erin for her mention to spread the word.

Please tell everyone you know!

40 $10 donations gets me there just as well as 4 $100 donations, so don't think you're not helping if you can only offer me a smallish amount.  Every little bit helps and is appreciated.

Getting Across The Finish Line

I am almost done with my adventure with the criminal justice system.

With all the expenses added up and subtracting what's been donated so far I need $800.00 to get square.

Then hopefully everyone should live so long as to see me arrested again!  You'll be laughing at those centenarian kids on your lawn if you do!

The little PayPal button over there on the right is ideal for helping us out.

McThag's Legal Drama Day 28

Had a hearing today about the no-contact order.

It has been lifted and I am cleared to return home.  In fact, I am posting this from home!

The State's Attorney has indicated they are going to file a "no information" and that means they're officially not filing charges.

The only hitch is that will take another two weeks to get the requisite signature from their Clearwater office.  But it's two weeks I can be HOME!

I am so far behind on The Boy's new procedures, but they're simple.  Just tedious until they become habit.

It's good to be home!

Rudderless

The Lovely Harvey sent me some pics from home via text message.

I can tell she was home when she took them.

The problem is that the house in the background doesn't seem like MY home now.

This no-contact bullshit has really warped my reality.

I caught myself the other day referring to Home as "Harvey's House" like I'd refer to a friends place.

Maybe it's washing the same six sets of clothes for the third time?

McThag's Legal Drama Day 17

The Lovely Harvey and The Boy had their meeting with the State's Attorney and Victim's Advocate today.  What follows is what Harvey related to me.

The Victim's Advocate did not show up.

The arresting deputy and several other deputies who've been involved with The Boy's escapes were present.  They all said hello to The Boy by name and asked how I was holding up.  I'm touched they cared enough to ask!

The Boy was adamant that he wanted his daddy back and that my being gone was stupid.

Harvey had to explain, more than once to them, how his disability worked and managed to catch them in the overly focused questions by demanding context be applied to the answers.

For example: is he ever afraid of me?  Yes.  When?  At Halloween, because of scary masks.

They both demanded that the no-contact be lifted.

They both demanded that since there's nothing to see here, why don't we just end it now?

The State's Attorney said that to get the no-contact removed they'd have to talk to the judge take that "everything is abuse" domestic abuse class and then the judge would consider it.  Oh, by the way the presiding judge is on vacation for a week.

We found out that if nothing is filed or changes, the no-contact comes off at the end of 30 days.

She got the impression that they were going to run out the clock, because they can.