Our court system....yucky
2005-12-14, 8:46 a.m.

So yesterday was 36th District Hell! Now I'd heard the horror stories of how badly organized that county court is, but I didn't believe that it could really be THAT bad. I'd heard all the news stories that accused that county of mismanagement, and workers who do nothing all day, but I didn't believe it could be THAT bad. But after experiencing it, I NOW believe.

So for a brief recap....in August, Eagle got messed up on Xanax and vodka and made the stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, decision to get into my car with her 15 year old cousin and drive downtown to pick me up from work. She ended up smashing the car, no one was hurt, but she was arrested and charged with several drunk driving charges, in addition to endangering a minor. Because of her past charges over 8 years ago, they charged her with a felony. The told her to contact 36th District Court to set up a court date. We did. After several calls I finally got through to them and they said, "she's all set, just wait for a letter with her court date." This was back in October. We never got said letter. INSTEAD, last Friday we got a letter from the Michigan State Police that said there was a warrant out for her arrest for not following through on the tickets. I called the officer who sent the ltter and he said he needed her to come in at 7:00 a.m. on 12/13, she'd go before a magistrate and then a date would be set for prelminary exam. Sounded simple enough right? Wrong.

So this is a breakdown of my day yesterday. Not to mention Eagle's day, though I know she did the crime, but she did not deserve the crap she went through yesterday. So here it is:

5:00 a.m. - wake, shower, head to Michigan State Police precinct downtown.

7:15 a.m. - arriave at police station. An officer explains that Eagle will be in custody until the hearing, so I am given directions to meet up with her at the courthouse. Only they don't know if she'll see a judge at 10:00 a.m. or 1:00 p.m. Oh and they advise that we'll need to have $500.00 to bail her out. What???

8:30 a.m. - I head to work to get my paystubs and bank statements to go get a payday advance for $500.00.

9:00 a.m. - Payday advance closed until 10:00 a.m., went home to let out the dog and wait till 10:00.

Meanwhile....Eagle was being transported to the court house and the Michigan State Trooper driving tells her that she needs God in her life and makes her repeat after him, to become "saved." Can we all say ABUSE OF POWER???? What the????

10:00 a.m. - get $500.00 to pay the bond and drive down to the court house.

11:00 a.m. - Arrive at Courthouse and walk into a sea of rowdy people, rude people, and no one can tell me where I need to go. Finally I guessed and actually guessed right. But the guy behind the window tells me he doesn't know if she'll be arraigned at 1:00 or 5:00, WHAT?? 5:00??? He says to come back at 11:30. But he tells me the courtroom that the hearing will be in, so to get out of the throngs of people in the hallway I decided to go sit in the courtroom for a half hour and read my book.

11:10 - a court officer tells me that I can't read during Court. What??? You can't tell me where I need to be, or what the hell is going on, yet you know that I can't read during court??

11:30 - I get the news that Eagle will be arraigned at 1:00, so I have an hour and a half to kill.

12:00 - I find a sandwich shop to have lunch, and had the BEST tuna melt I have ever had in my life, but it took so long to make it, that I had wolf it down in order to get to court by 1:00.

1:00 - I sit in the court room and watch as 9 other people get arraigned. The first guy is there on a murder charge, there's carjackers, assault with deal weapons, and then finally comes Eagle. Her hands cuffed in front of her. The judge called her a sir. They read the charges and then issued a $500.00 bond. But I note there that they did not give her the chance to ask any questions, nor did they ask her anything, other than do you understand? They were supposed to assigned a bond counsellor to her to find out what she could afford and if she was a flight risk, but they did not. So I ask the lady behind the railing where I go to pay the bond. She said to the Wayne County Jail. It's about three blocks away.

1:45 - Wayne Count Jail. They search my stuff and treat me like a second class citizen and tell me to have a seat and a bond officer will call Eagle's name.

2:30 - Not a peep. So I decide to go ask, but do you think you can actually walk up to the desk and ask? No, you can't. You must stand on a line on the floor ten feet away from the desk and wait until they feel like stopping their endless chatter with each other and grant you permission to approach the desk. So finally they stop talking and motion me to approach. I explain the situation and they tell me that I should have paid the bond back at the Courthouse.

2:45 - Arrive back at the courthouse and go back to the window I got the only good service and wait because no one is there, and there is no bell to ring. But I am bolstered by the fact that there are other family members of the people arraigned with Eagle standing there too.

3:00 - Someone comes to the window and gets Eagle's file. Then tells me to take a number across the hall and wait for it to be called.

3:15 - Number called. I give her my money, and signed a buch of papers. She hands me my receipt and I ask her what I do now. She tells me, go back to wayne county jail.

3:30 - Arrive back at Wayne County Jail. There is a new guard at the door who makes me throw away my cigarettes and lighter because they are not allowed in the building. He directs me to stand by the cage. I see no cage whatsoever, but just stand in the general vicinity that he pointed and wait. Meanwhile, there are two officers at THE DESK next to me, picking their asses. Finally one of them motions me over and takes my paperwork. He says, "why did you have her released right from court?" What??? I said they told me to come here, he says, "Well we can do it here." Just have a seat and we'll call you.

4:30 - A bond officer finally calls Eagle's name and says, "she's being processed, she'll be released in a half hour."

5:30 - Eagle finally comes out, and we go home.

She handled the day pretty well, I was proud of her. She said she cried on and off and was afraid that I wasn't going to get her out. They made her change into prison garb and do a strip and cavity search too. She said it was a horrible experience. I told her that better teach her to never ever put herself through that again.

But the worst is over, unless she gets sentenced to jail time, and that's not impossible. But she's set for premliminary examination on 12/27 and it just so happens I already have that day off.

It's been an education of the legal system let me tell you. I've worked for the courts for 15 years, granted it's at a higher level than the county, but I don't think that I've ever treated people as cruelly as the did.

I was appalled at the amount of people who sat around doing nothing. The people who don't have a clue how their own system works. It turns out that I could have had her released right from court, but no one told me that, instead I had to walk in the freezing cold back and forth between buildings and it just sucked.

So that was my day. But this entry is way too long. If you're still reading....bless you! :)

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