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I have a friend named Jamie. She's in her 40s, and she might go to prison for four years on the 23rd of this month.
She had a DUI from 2012, which she was guilty of, and one from 2014, which she was not. Because of her prior conviction, she's getting a much harder time by the courts. She's been offered the choice of signing for four years of prison, or taking it to trial and possibly getting 10 years if found guilty. She's a mother with two sweet, young little girls. She won't get to see them for four years. They're going to end up with her mother in Idaho.
She let a friend drive her truck, who was sober, but because she was next to the truck drinking shortly after it parked, she was hit with another DUI when the cops pulled up over a domestic disturbance, which is common here. Her friend already told that she was not the one behind the wheel, but it doesn't seem to make much difference.
Here's where it bothers me. She is innocent, and she's being given the choice of admitting to a crime she didn't commit and getting four years, or fighting it, possibly losing, and getting ten years.
This is disgusting to me.
I'm writing this, I suppose, to ask for advice. How can I help her?
Time is of the essence.
(Score: 2) by n1 on Wednesday March 11 2015, @06:03PM
[I AM NOT A LAWYER, I DO NOT KNOW THE SPECIFICS OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM IN THIS CASE, EVERYTHING I WRITE HERE IS MY LAYMAN'S UNINFORMED OPINION]
I am truly sorry to hear about the situation your friend is in. She has my sympathy. Aside from agreeing with the other commenters, a good lawyer being the best idea...
She should not take the deal, she is just a statistic at this point, a case closed with admission of guilt is all they want, justice doesn't come into it sadly, more guilty people, more budget next year.
I would suggest that she makes it very clear she is willing to take this to trial and fight it all the way, through all courts necessary to prove her innocence, she is not willing to accept a plea deal for something she didn't do. This hopefully will make them drop the charges, or offer another plea deal which doesn't involve jail time (but probably still admission of guilt).
The second thing I would suggest is getting in contact with the local press, as many as she can, probably best for you or another friend to do it on her behalf; write an editorial about the case to get local attention. The chances are other people will have been in a similar situation will turn out to support her and fight for change in policing. Chances are nothing will come of it in the long term, but yet again might lead to her case being dropped due to the negative publicity the local police and prosecutors are suffering as a result.
Whatever happens, the chances are she's going to have to be extremely careful in the future because she will be a target after causing the local police all these problems, trying to prove her innocence. I find it very unlikely she would be convicted in a jury trial, given what you have disclosed, if that is currently what kind of trial she would be facing.
I wish your friend the best, i'm sorry I can't offer any better advice.