So if you’ve ever heard your parents say “choose your friends wisely” let me hear you say “YEAH”! Wow, that was loud. Yep, everybody knows the sayings of the wise. “If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.” “Birds of a feather flock together.” “Play with S#*T and get your hands dirty.” There is no shortage of clever warning phrases to keep us out of trouble. Here’s an all too common story… Your friend’s older brother is picking you and your friend up to take you to the movies. Your friend is really nice and your parents are fine with it.  They tell you to “Be Safe” and off you go. Everything is fine, the movie was great, brother comes back to pick you up and you are on your way home. Suddenly, BLUE LIGHTS! your friends brother is getting pulled over. Officer approaches the vehicle and asks the driver for his license and registration, shines the light on you and your friend and asks you to step out of the vehicle. You are now officially freaked out. The officer dips in into the front seat of the car and comes out with a straw, not a long straw, just half a straw with what appears to be residue from some white powdery substance on the inside of the straw… OFFICER: “What is this?” BROTHER: “I don’t know.” OFFICER: “What are you using it for?” BROTHER: “It’s not mine. I’ve never seen it before.” OFFICER: “Is it yours?” The blinding light from his flashlight makes your head spin, and you assume that he is asking you if the half straw that he pulled out of the ashtray in your friend’s brother’s car is yours. You say “No”. Your friend says “No.” The Officer informs you that unless someone admits to the ownership of the half straw found in the ashtray of your friend’s brother’s car, he is going to place everyone under arrest. The Charge – Possession of Schedule 1 or 2 Narcotic. (Code of Virginia – Crimes and Offenses.) 

CLASS 5 FELONY

§ 18.2-250. Possession of controlled substances unlawful.

It is unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to possess a controlled substance unless the substance was obtained directly from, or pursuant to, a valid prescription or order of a practitioner while acting in the course of his professional practice, or except as otherwise authorized by the Drug Control Act (§ 54.1-3400 et seq.).

 

FACT: This happens all the time. I play “meet the parents” when this happens and it is usually between 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM at a regional or county jail facility. I arrive armed with the power and credentials to post a secured bond along with contact numbers for resources to help the family get through the ordeal. I have a calling and compassion for people who get arrested, especially in the midst of unfortunate circumstances like these.

 

The Christmas season is in full swing.  Every radio station is playing our favorite Christmas songs.  The malls are packed, our neighborhoods are decorated with wonderful light displays and nativity scenes.  But something is missing.  Yes, something IS missing.  It’s the loved one who is incarcerated at the Rappahannock Regional Jail, or some other fine Virginia institution that houses inmates who are being held prior to trial.  Hopefully, they have a reasonable bond that loving family members could post if they choose to do so.  There is usually a good reason why they haven’t chosen to post the bond so far.  That’s right.  You got it.  It’s usually heroin.  Mom and Dad love you, Grandpa and Grandma miss you, but they want to give you enough time to get clean.  They’d rather have you in jail where you are safe than in the cemetery where you are dead.  But as the day that we celebrate the birth of Jesus gets closer and closer, many of my clients add bail bond to their Christmas list.  Without fail, I will be at the jail Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning making sure that your loved ones are home for the holidays.  God bless you, and Merry Christmas!

Source: Marijuana is legal in some states But Don’t Dare Have it in Virginia!

Somebody help me understand. You are driving on a revoked license because you failed to pay your last speeding ticket, you stopped in at the bar with your friend Larry who just got paid and is showing his friendship by buying you shots of Jägermeister… (a better friend would give you the money toward your fines). More friends show up and you get caught up in the moment and decide to drive Larry and the two girls you just met to the party you were just invited to: “Follow Us” they said! Down I95 you go trying to keep up with the knucklehead you are following and by the time you see the State Trooper sitting in the Authorized Vehicle turnaround, it’s too late. He clocks you doing 101 MPH! Well that sounds bad but try doing the speed limit (70MPH) on I95 and it will seem like you are sitting still.

You don’t seem intoxicated, you have a little buzz but nothing that feels like a 0.15! You can’t believe it but you are under arrest for DWI, Driving on a Revoked License, Reckless Driving, and Failure to Obey a Law Enforcement Command. It’s kind of hard to pull over right away when your are doing 101MPH… By the time I met this 21 year old young man to post his $3000.00 bond, he was stone cold sober, a bit ashamed, very remorseful fretting mostly about how his parents will react to his wild night out on the town. Thank GOD no one was hurt or killed. Here is a little food and wine for thought. In Virginia ABC stores top ONE BILLION DOLLARS in yearly sales. I know, you are probably shocked, I was! You don’t need a license to buy alcohol, no class required, no education attached to the purchase and use of alcohol, you simply need to be 21 years old.  You need a license to own a dog, own a gun, to hunt, to operate a business, to babysit the neighbors child on a regular basis, to sell cars, insurance ETC. You get the picture, our cars are required to have seat belts, (we are required to wear them) airbags, catalytic converters, inspections, emission inspections but no interlock device or breathalyzer device to insure we are sober before we drive.  It would be easy enough to do and you would definitely feel better about your kids driving… it would eat into the State’s alcohol sales but… hey. 

Peace   

It all sounds innocent enough, your friend calls you up and asks you if you want to make some extra money. It’s Saturday morning and that is just what the doctor ordered. He tells you that his friend’s grandfather has a bunch of junk on his farm that he wants removed. We can take it to the dump or we can take it to the scrap yard and keep all the money we make from cashing in the scrap metal. You are all in! So you meet up with your friend, drive to the farm, roll down the driveway, pull up to the barn and get to work.

Old tractor rakes, plows, metal buildings that have fallen down, old engines, engine parts, rolls of electrical wire…you get the picture. $745.00 in cash for one hard days work feels pretty good right? Here is the problem: There is no “Grandfather” just a guy that suckered his buddies into helping him take scrap metal off a property he had no right to be on. My client was charged with 12 counts of  grand larceny, obtaining money under false pretense and conspiracy to commit larceny.  I posted a $1500.00 bond for my client and you can best believe that the Prosecuting Attorney is not going to be buying the “I was just trying to help out my friend and make a little money” story. As a matter of fact it is quite possible that during the full day of loading “scrap” metal you might have sensed that something wasn’t quite right about the whole scene. Later,  when you are sitting in the back of a cop car, you would be sure of it.

The Science Behind Pretrial Services… Is it greed?

http://image.exct.net/lib/fef3127472670c/m/1/DallasPretrialReleaseReport-FINALJan2013a.pdf

Two reports were released earlier this month: “Bail Fail: Why the U.S. Should End the Practice of Money Bail,” and “For Better or For Profit: How the Bail Bonding Industry Stands in the Way of Fair and Effective Pretrial Justice.”  A final report is scheduled for release on September 25, and will provide first-hand accounts from Baltimore, Maryland residents’ experiences with the money bail system.

Both studies suggest that for-profit money bail is a problematic policy that is especially harmful to the poor and communities of color, and call for it to be eliminated.

The truth is that the Constitution of the United States gives us the right to bail that is not excessive. The founding Fathers never dreamed that there would be those so “progressive” (socialistic)  that they would want to outlaw the unique provision of bail. Many in the progressive movement here in the U.S. advocate a replacement for bail in America. It is called pretrial services. Sounds harmless enough but it just might be the driving component behind the unprecedented incarceration rate in the U.S.  

Pretrial Services began in 1964 when Louis Schweitzer, a Russian born paper magnate and philanthropist, began the Manhattan Bail Project. The idea was to let inmates who were indigent out of jail by placing them on a pre-conviction probation, called pretrial services. Although the practice flies in the face of the presumption of innocence, the idea gained the blessing and support of Bobby Kennedy…the rest is History:

In 1972, the National Association of Pretrial Service Agencies was incorporated. In 1973, the Speedy Trial Act was enacted allowing ten VERA type programs to be demonstrated around the U.S. In 1982, the Pretrial Services Act was signed into law. This act allowed for the proliferation of pretrial service agencies in every jurisdiction in the United States.

To give you an idea how devastating these programs have been to our nation, consider these facts.

In 1982, for every 100,000 people in the U.S. 139 of them were incarcerated. Twenty five years later in 2007, that number grew to 504 per 100,000 people. Currently, the U.S. has close to 2.5 million people in jail.