Lawful Path Forums

Hello,
I am writing today in hopes to gain some incite regarding my "adult supervision" and the stipulations placed on me. My story is as follows;
About a year and three months ago I woke up in the emergency room handcuffed to a bed. Seated next to me was a (insert random town in Texas name here) police officer reading a magazine. My first reaction was to bolt forward and ask if I or someone else had been hurt. The nurse promptly moved towards me assuring that everyone is fine and to lay back. Looking at the officer who barely seemed to notice my awakening he said "you don't remember what happened?" clearly confused by everything going on around me...He proceeds to tell me that I had been at a shopping center and the store called 911 because I had fallen down inside their store and was unresponsive. So I asked why I was cuffed to the bed.
The responding officer while looking for Identification found my illicit drugs stashed away inside my laptop bag. I was taken to jail and have since been released and placed on felony probation for five years.

One of the stipulations was that my drivers license was to be suspended for 6 months and I was required to take a "Drug Offender Education Course". After completion of said course, the state would lift the suspension so long as I maintained financial responsibility in the form of an SR-22 insurance policy for the next two years.

Here is where it becomes interesting. The first 6 months of Adult Supervision/Probation are by far the busiest. Within the first month I had a orientation, drug and alcohol abuse evaluation and then my first meeting with an assigned probation officer. After that meeting I was told that I needed to maintain employment and complete at minimum 10 hours of community service. After that I was only required to meet the probation officer once per month but am still required to complete at least ten hours a month and stay employed. But cannot do so by way of automobile. I must find someone to drive me.

A few months into it I was waiting for a friend to pick me up at the train station about 20 miles from my house. The city I live in does not have public transportation. When my buddy gets there about an hour late I asked him what's going on and turns out he had been drinking. Caring about my safety far more than the rules of probation I took over the driving and we headed to the closest place we could go sit until he sobered up. Two blocks away from our destination I was pulled over because my buddy had expired state registration. I was ticketed for no registration and operating a motor vehicle while license not valid.

I walked into court with the hopes to get the ticket dismissed because of my honest intent and regard for public safety. Instead the prosecutor who meets with you prior to being allowed to speak with the judge tells me that laws are laws and that regardless of my intent, I had still broken the law. They fined me 200 bucks and sent me on my way. A few weeks later I get a letter from the state informing me that my driving privileges have been suspended for an additional 2 years for driving while suspended.

If I knew then what I know now....

I'm confused at how to proceed with life. Do I follow the rules and potentially lose my job or even my life. Or break the rules and risk facing 2 to 20 years in prison.

Please Help!!

J

Hi Imminent; welcome to the Forums.

"If I knew then what I know now...." How many people do you suppose have echoed that phrase over the millennia?

Your problem is more common than you may realize. There are so many things to know and do differently, and we've only got one lifetime in which to get it right.

Obviously you opened the door for this scenario by being in possession of the drugs. Don't get me wrong-- even though I don't use drugs myself, I support everyone's liberty to put whatever they want into their own bodies. I also believe that diminished capacity is not a valid excuse for irresponsible actions. But neither is it a reason, absent of any actual injury or damage to another, for punishment. In other words, I'm saying the drug laws in the U.S. are an unlawful sham. Be that as it may, when people buy, sell, and use illegal drugs, they do it knowing full well they are opening themselves up for persecution.

To add insult to injury, did you know it is primarily the government, and agents within the government, who import the illegal drugs into the U.S. in the first place? It serves their interests in multiple ways.

1) They make huge amounts of money selling the drugs.
2) The underground market for drugs creates a hotbed of violent crime. As a result, government justifies higher taxes, more laws, more tyranny.
3) More crime means more prisons. The prison industry is a source of slave labor, and makes huge amounts of money.

Do you know the U.S. imprisons a higher percentage of its population than any other country? Even communist Russia?

I wish I could say, "Learn a lesson from this, and stay away from the drugs." Probably good advice, but consider this: With the number of so-called laws on the books, and more being passed every day, it is now impossible for even the most pious and law-abiding among us to go through a single day without breaking some of them.

Imminent, you haven't said what drugs you were carrying; how much you were holding; or whether you were actually selling them. Can I take a guess at something?

Whether or not you were selling, the State threatened to charge you with Felony-intent-to-sell (or traffiking, or whatever they're calling it). A conviction would have brought 20 years. They offered to reduce it to simple Felony Possession, and suspend sentence with probation, if you'd cop a plea. Right?

If you had been carrying a bunch of little bags, obviously made up for resale, and had a pocket full of small bills, they would never have made you that offer. Why? Because they'd have known they could convict you on the greater charge. As it is, they were bluffing. They are very good at bluffing, and most of these cases do not go to trial, they are pled out.

If everyone suddenly decided to demand a full trial, the whole system would grind to a halt. There isn't enough time in a lifetime to settle even one year's worth of cases, with a full jury trial. Not to mention the fact that many of these victims of law enforcement would be found innocent, or guilty of only a minor misdemeanor.

A plea agreement is a voluntary contract. The State takes someone who is being charged with a crime; an alleged violation of a law to which that person might not be even subject, let alone guilty; and of which there is no certainty he will be convicted; and offers him a voluntary contract: If you will agree you are guilty of something, we will subject you to servitude. But it will be relatively mild servitude. Most importantly, you will have agreed. You are buying a pig in a poke.

The 13th Amendment (as it is currently recognized) of the U.S. Constitution prohibits involuntary servitude. It says nothing about voluntary servitude.

You usually agree to other things too. Like the public service (servitude). Like agreeing you won't drive without a license, and that when you do get a license you'll carry extra-expensive insurance for 2 years. This is all voluntary.

Part of these deals always involves probation. Probation sounds better than prison, but it's a trap. As you have learned, the terms of probation are made nearly impossible to fulfill. One slip, and now you are bound by the terms of the contract you voluntarily signed, to serve out an unreasonably long prison term.

Hard as it may be to make the decision, it is almost always better to go to trial than accept a plea; almost always better to serve a full sentence than accept probation or parole. Freedom isn't really freedom when it comes with conditions, especially conditions which are made nearly impossible to fulfill.

Your problem now, is that you have already agreed to these things and, having agreed, it is difficult or impossible to get a do-over. You have learned that the administrators of the system do not care what is right. They only know they have power over you, and they are eager to use it to their advantage.

You could revoke your plea contract; say it was done under duress. They will pick you up, and put you in prison. If you are very clever, you might get yourself out with no parole or probation, in 2 or 3 years. If you're not so clever, you'll probably serve out the remainder of the probation term (5 years). This is much more than they would have likely been able to do to you, if you hadn't signed the plea agreement.

You seem like a smart guy. Most of your words are spelled correctly; you form complete sentences, and space out paragraphs in a logical way. You can learn. Your best bet is probably to move to where you can use public transportation, and keep your nose clean until your probation is over. Use that time to study. Get smarter about the law; learn your rights, so you will not be so easily misused next time.

Above all, don't delude yourself into thinking there won't be a next time. As I said, it's impossible for anyone today to remain completely inside the law, unless you know your rights and how to exercise them. You're in the "system" now, and they will try every way they can to keep you inside. You'd better educate yourself quickly.

Hopefully this site will be a help to you. There are also many others. God bless you, and don't despair.

Imminent
I know a couple guys that are in your shoes. I think 'editor' gave you a lot of good advice. Basically knowledge (the truth) will set you free. You say " I'm confused at how to proceed with life. Do I follow the rules and potentially lose my job or even my life. Or break the rules and risk facing 2 to 20 years in prison."
I would add that you seriously pursue a quest on knowing 'who' you are. 'Who' you serve. What 'rules' (laws) do you follow and obey? No one can tell you exactly what to do because whatever you do, if you don't understand it and it is not in your heart it will fail. Everything that has happened to you has been done to you as a 'legal fiction' and by your 'consent'. This would be a good place to start. Discover all you can about 'legal fiction' and 'consent'.
Read 'Letters to Jessica", it is a good primer to thinking out of the box. It is also a good primer to seeking first the kingdom of God and finding out Whose you really are. You are not alone. And unfortunately the way things are going in this country there are going to be many more in your shoes if they don't wake up.
May God Bless and give you eyes to see.
scott A Lawful Christian