I Fought The Law
Well, not really, I just got back from court for my expired tags, and since I renewed them, they dismissed it. I could have just paid the $81 fine and not have to sit in court for an hour, but I figured it would be a good excuse to get out of the office and see how my tax dollars are being spent.
I sat through about 20 or so cases, most were speeding or DUI, but some were actual criminal cases. For these the defendants weren't even there, they were at the jail and appeared onscreen. One of them was a 20ish girl and I felt kind of bad for her because she just looked miserable. I'm not even sure what she did but she was in the pokey because she had missed her court date apparently because she had been ill. Sitting there you sort of get a little more sypathetic to liberals: sure, these folks have done wrong, but when they get a felony conviction, a big fine and jail time they end up losing their jobs and we the taxpayers end up paying for their housing and meals.
There were a lot of U Va students there, most of them were on speeding charges and some chose to plead "not guilty". These were kids who clearly thought they were way smarter than these local yokel cops. Right. I used to be that 21 year old who thought some clever thinking might sway the judge, but not anymore. One guy in particular, a tall Indian kid brought in a sheet with the specs of the radar gun that the cop used and attempted to convice the judge that the radar gun could have been picking up another car. The officer then said, "Buy you were the only car on the road." Oops, that'll be $90.
After about an hour of not being called, an officer came up to me and saw me with my registration in hand and asked who was the officer that pulled me over. I said, I thought he had left, and this officer looked at my ticket and said "Oh, no he's over there". To which I thought a clever but inappropriate response might be, "Well, I can't tell one pig from another." He showed the officer my registration and said I was free to go.
Well, not really, I just got back from court for my expired tags, and since I renewed them, they dismissed it. I could have just paid the $81 fine and not have to sit in court for an hour, but I figured it would be a good excuse to get out of the office and see how my tax dollars are being spent.
I sat through about 20 or so cases, most were speeding or DUI, but some were actual criminal cases. For these the defendants weren't even there, they were at the jail and appeared onscreen. One of them was a 20ish girl and I felt kind of bad for her because she just looked miserable. I'm not even sure what she did but she was in the pokey because she had missed her court date apparently because she had been ill. Sitting there you sort of get a little more sypathetic to liberals: sure, these folks have done wrong, but when they get a felony conviction, a big fine and jail time they end up losing their jobs and we the taxpayers end up paying for their housing and meals.
There were a lot of U Va students there, most of them were on speeding charges and some chose to plead "not guilty". These were kids who clearly thought they were way smarter than these local yokel cops. Right. I used to be that 21 year old who thought some clever thinking might sway the judge, but not anymore. One guy in particular, a tall Indian kid brought in a sheet with the specs of the radar gun that the cop used and attempted to convice the judge that the radar gun could have been picking up another car. The officer then said, "Buy you were the only car on the road." Oops, that'll be $90.
After about an hour of not being called, an officer came up to me and saw me with my registration in hand and asked who was the officer that pulled me over. I said, I thought he had left, and this officer looked at my ticket and said "Oh, no he's over there". To which I thought a clever but inappropriate response might be, "Well, I can't tell one pig from another." He showed the officer my registration and said I was free to go.
