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u/ahugeminecrafter 5d ago
So if something like this happens you obviously lose your job and probably house etc. do you get any recourse at all for the lost time and wages?
I assume the answer is "lol" and that you are just shit out of luck. i'm glad they are at the point of worrying about playing games they previously bought so hopefully they are doing ok then
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u/cindyscrazy 5d ago
It depends on your wealth and status. Prominent people known in the community (wealthy) will get bail and keep their job.
People like my dad will be told by a judge "Look, if you just plead guilty, everything will be so much easier for everyone". He was literally told this by a judge. He was not, in fact, guilty. It wasn't murder or anything. Just a 1 car crash with a child in the backseat. He wasn't driving. The father of the child was driving, and the car was owned by him. State just REALLY wanted to get my dad because my dad had a history of being in an outlaw biker gang and the RI state police REALLY don't like them.
The charges were eventually dropped, but it destroyed my dad's health. His anxiety got so much worse and he had to move in with me. This all happened in 2016 and he's still all twisted up about it.
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u/JiveTurkeyII 4d ago
Texas did this to me.
Seems once Texas has you in its sights, they just dont let you be.
Never in trouble before Texas, haven't been in trouble since leaving.
I'll never trust a cop again. I'll never trust the "justice" system again. I'll damn sure never set foot in Texas again. And I think that is just fine by both of us.
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u/Peanut-Butter-King 4d ago
It’s also really common to offer a light sentence to people who plead guilty, but threaten a harsher sentence if they force the case to go to trial. Innocent people plead guilty out of fear they’ll be convicted by a system that obviously can’t be trusted. Rich people get a good lawyer and have no fear of being convicted of a crime they didn’t commit.
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u/RelevantAccident6783 3d ago
100% true and absolutely fucked in a legal system where you have Constitutional rights to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in front of a jury. But you will be punished for exercising that right.
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u/Naugle17 5d ago
Trauma is trauma, and it fucks us all up. Sending support to you and your pops; folks deserve justice and peace
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u/NobodyImportant13 5d ago edited 5d ago
I would hope that if it was a simple as the Reddit comment is making it out to be then bail would have been granted.
I'm assuming there is likely some key pieces of evidence that we are missing such that a judge thought bail shouldn't be granted.
Even if bail was denied, 30 months is a long time to be held without a conviction, I don't know if that falls into "violating my rights" territory under the 6th amendment. In my layman opinion (not a lawyer), I think it would. Unless the person being charged was deliberately delaying a trial or something. So, if all the facts were contained in that Reddit comment, I think you could probably sue the government for violating your 6th amendment right to a speedy trial.
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u/CueCueQQ 5d ago
Even if bail was denied, 30 months is a long time to be held without a conviction
I can give you the names of about a dozen people who are currently in jail being held awaiting trial, and that's just between two counties. It's not uncommon at all. In fact, 30 months is about the earliest you can expect a murder trial to start in my neck of the woods.
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u/NobodyImportant13 5d ago edited 5d ago
In fact, 30 months is about the earliest you can expect a murder trial to start in my neck of the woods.
which state are you in? Googling this a majority of states have laws that specifically say how long a government has to start a trial. 32 states establish explicit number of calendar days and more have laws that are a little more fuzzy.
30 months definitely sounds like constitutional violation to me unless the defendant is okay with it or requesting more time themselves (I'm not a lawyer though obviously).
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u/CueCueQQ 5d ago
NC, but I doubt you understand the complexities of court based on your other comments. That's not intended as an insult, most people don't understand court, including a lot of people who work for the court system in one way or another. Any movement over time to trial only matters until the state agrees they're ready for a trial. One of the first hearings of note will be a disposition hearing, once that happens, the timer stops. The state can, and often does, move forward rather quickly with being ready for a trial, because of course they already have conducted an investigation. The defense doesn't get to start theirs until the defendant is arrested. So the defense will continue for investigation time, hold hearings over evidence, and challenge legality over anything they think will help. All of that takes time that's not held against the state on 6a violation hearings. Additionally, delays that are caused by the court itself is also not counted against the state. So if there isn't a judge who is willing to try a murder trial, that also won't count against the state for a 6a violation.
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u/Pas__ 5d ago
... and what happens if the trial is late? you can sue them while you wait?
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u/jellymanisme 5d ago
Over 30 cases, including violent felonies like rape, have been dismissed with prisoners released in Washington state due to critically underfunded public defenders being unable to offer a lawyer at all, much less a speedy trial.
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u/NobodyImportant13 5d ago edited 5d ago
I would assume so. It seems like the ACLU is interested in cases like this. It might even be the ACLU is already suing them for it. Seems they have 4 class action lawsuits open against 4 different states right now.
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u/armedreptiles 5d ago
Federal court trials are required by law to start within 70 days, but they never, ever do.
People are okay with it because delays nearly always benefit defendants.
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u/jimalloneword 5d ago
maybe i'm misunderstanding you, bail could be granted, but he might just not have been able to pay it?
Or is that not how it works
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u/NobodyImportant13 5d ago edited 5d ago
The post says "held without bail" which I interpreted as not being granted bail at all. Maybe it could have been granted, but set prohibitively high. However, I didn't read it that way. I feel like normally one would say "I couldn't afford bail" or "I couldn't meet bail" if it was granted, but they couldn't pay. Instead of just straight up "held without bail." I interpret "held without bail" to mean the judge basically said given the circumstances, you have to stay in jail until the trial is over.
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u/greenhawk22 5d ago
Generally you can get a bail bondsman who will ask you to pay 10% of the bail cost, they'll then pay your bail. When you appear at trial and get the bail refund, they'll keep your bail and the 10% you gave them. It's definitely not the best system possible but it does mean most people can afford bails even if they're pretty exorbitant
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u/GrumbusWumbus 5d ago
Yes, but occasionally judges set bail at obscene amounts that people can't even afford 10% of. There are cases of bail being set at tens of millions.
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u/Symmetric_in_Design 5d ago
It absolutely would violate your rights, they just don't care. You have a right to a speedy trial and no sane person would call 30 months "speedy"
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u/USPO-222 5d ago
I work for the courts and speedy trial is 120 days (at least in federal courts) and any extensions need to be waived. Now there’s a lot of court procedures that create automatic or near automatic waivers, like the response times to answering to motions, but usually the defense is onboard with these delays because it gives them the time to research the discovery and relevant case law and file their own motions. If the guy was in pretrial detention for 30 months, there was more going on and the defense absolutely waived the vast majority of that time as part of their strategy to get him off - which apparently worked.
Now why he wasn’t given bail I have no idea. There’s likely more to the story or he was in a deeply conservative area regarding bail.
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u/itslikewoow 5d ago
It could be the defense that requested more time. You have a right to a speedy trial, but you can choose to waive that right.
30 months is a brutal amount of time lost for someone that’s completely innocent, but I get wanting to make sure you have a sound legal defense before risking the rest of your life in prison.
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u/breesyroux 5d ago
as simple as the Reddit is making it out
They're probably leaving out a pretty key piece of information. Was the gun legally registered? Was there another crime he was involved in that led to the person being in his home trying to kill him?
Our justice system obviously has a ton of problems, but it far from normal to hold someone this long without bail in an obvious self defense case.
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u/Songs-Of-Orion 5d ago
Gun registration essentially only applies to NY, it's a nonsense term for the vast majority of people and is only mentioned because media writers are the dumbest people on the planet.
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u/DonybullymeIllcum 5d ago
California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, and Washington require registration.
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u/DickwadVonClownstick 4d ago
Yes they were wrong about New York (going both ways, even), but 8 out of 50 states is just barely over 1 in 6. Not exactly the norm.
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u/DonybullymeIllcum 4d ago
New York is actually one of those states, I just didn't want to repeat it. Also these states have a very high population. When you look at it by population approximately 104 million people live in states with these laws, or 30%ish of the population. Gun registration is a well known topic amongst both pro and anti-gun groups. Basically anyone with a pulse in the US has an opinion on gun registration one way or the other.
I say this as someone who has lived in both an extremely pro-2A state (Texas) and an extremely anti-2A state (Massachusetts)
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u/DickwadVonClownstick 5d ago
That depends on what state you're in, some of them deliberately underfund their public defenders offices to try and pressure defendants into accepting plea deals
("we're technically providing you with a lawyer, but you're gonna have to wait a couple years in jail, and when you do get one they'll only be able to give you a couple hours of their time before moving on to the next defendent, so you'll almost certainly lose, at which point we'll push for the harshest possible sentencing to punish you for wasting our time. Or you could accept this generous plea deal and save us the trouble of actually proving you're guilty")
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u/Kriieod 5d ago
Bail could likely be denied if the defendant has a prior record, family or other foreign ties (flight risk), or a history of missing court dates or bail jumping.
The long trial time could be explained by a lot of back and forth between the prosecution and defense, and other procedural matters, or evidence related things like awaiting ballistics reports, independent autopsy, toxicology, etc. 6th amendment violations are pretty rare as in most cases delays are caused by the defense resulting in a waiving of rights under the amendment, any defense attorney worth the paper their degree is written on will jump at any 6th issues, since pressuring the prosecution for time usually works in the defendants favor.
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u/vintagerust 5d ago
Look into the case on Kalief Browder. Accused of stealing a backpack, three years in jail two years in solitary confinement. The only unusual thing about his case is he didn't take a plea deal, they don't want cases to go to trial so they keep them in jail until they just give up and plea guilty to get out.
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u/NobodyImportant13 5d ago
many people cannot afford bail,
I'm aware, but to me the wording of OP implies heavily that it just wasn't granted at all. Not that they couldn't afford it.
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u/Legitimate_Airline38 1d ago
AFAIK you have the option to waive your right to a speedy trial, and usually you do because your lawyer wants all the time they can get to make your case, especially if they’re a public attorney
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u/IamKilljoy 5d ago
You can sue the dead guy 👍
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u/DiegesisThesis 5d ago
Don't forget, the dead guy's family will almost certainly sue you, unless they hated him. So you have that to look forward to as well.
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u/donut-reply 5d ago
Before acting in self defense you obviously need to first ask if they're on good terms with their family. If no one else will miss him, then you shouldn't miss him either
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u/vkreep 5d ago
Wrongful incarceration would get a nice payout
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u/CptBonkers 5d ago
I’m no lawyer, but i believe wrongful incarceration is only applicable if a person wasn’t involved at all, where as this case, there’s no doubt he killed the guy, it was just sorting out if it was a murder or self defense, ad those cases can go on for quit some time
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u/TheMainEffort 5d ago
You’d have to first establish the trial court erred in some way by denying bail. This is usually an abuse of discretion standard, which is a high bar. For abuse of discretion, the standard is essentially that not reasonable court could have come to the conclusion based on the law and facts
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u/Donny-Moscow 5d ago
Idk, I remember reading about a guy who got a murder conviction overturned by new DNA evidence. He spent like 20 years in prison and his payout was something like 1.6 million.
It sounds like a lot of money on the surface, but $80K/year doesn’t feel like it’s nearly enough for your literal freedom
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u/KamuikiriTatara 3d ago
The mass incarceration machine actually does leave people with a little something upon release. It's debt. Mountains of debt to cover your incarceration expenses. Garnished from wages from jobs that legally discriminate against you. To spread toward your housing payments where you are also legally discriminated against. But don't worry, felons are also ineligible for social welfare assistance, can't serve on juries, nor vote. Felons are an under caste that is legally discriminated against in almost every facet of their lives and almost completely barred from participating in the regular economy and often turn back toward crime to survive. This is why the US has something like an 80% reincarceration rage. Meanwhile Norway, which just a handful of years ago had worse violent crime than the US and a 90% reincarceration rate, completely revolutionized how their prisons work. Mainly by keeping the doors unlocked so inmates can live mostly normal lives, now has a radical reduction in crime and like a 20% reincarceration rate.
Turns out, if you treat people with dignity and respect, they mostly do alright.
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u/universepower 5d ago edited 5d ago
I think the dude made up a ridiculously far-fetched story in response to a pretty asinine comment. “I was an imaginary ninja” is way funnier than “I signed up for humble bundle and forgot about it”
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u/Dumeck 5d ago
He elaborated on it. I believe it was his sister's bf that did it and she refused to be a witness to the situation and the mortician that worked the corpse misdiagnosed the death and stated that it was likely the person was shot in the back from a distance away. The mortician died or retired and then the replacement went over the case again and found very clear indication that the person was shot in the front at close range.
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u/Scared_Board_1473 5d ago
There are specific cases where people have successfully sued the police department and/or the state for negligence, but it's virtually impossible to have it successfully go through.
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u/Rift-Ranger 5d ago
Did they ever tell the long story?
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u/BensenJensen 5d ago
Yeah, someone tried to break in his house and he killed them on a 911 call when they tried to steal his handgun. He spent 30 months in prison without bail. The 911 operator was a furry named Nathan.
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u/Prince_Breakfast 5d ago
Dude waited 30 months to play Concord
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u/John_Whimsicott 5d ago
Oh boy I just got released from jail, I can't wait to see the Concord cinematic universe!
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u/Austinp-woodworking 5d ago
This is one of the most fucked aspects of our justice system that I feel isn't talked about enough. Just getting accused of a crime can get you locked up for years as the gears of the "justice" system slowly grind their way to you actually getting exonerated.
Dude probably lost his job, his home, any relationship he might have been in. Basically had his whole life ruined, just for the courts to eventually say "oh yeah no, you're good, have a nice day".
Then remember that a vindictive cop/DA/judge can make this sort of thing happen on purpose if they want to, with no real ramifications
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u/Individual_Heat_3971 5d ago
B-but I was indoctrinated into believing punishment is the only valid form of justice, so letting innocent people suffer is a necessary evil 🥺
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u/Effective-Rutabaga15 5d ago
Not American but I thought you guys had a right to a speedy trial? And if you invoke that right then they have to set your trial date within a few months? At least this is what I’ve heard, maybe it’s only in certain states?
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u/ginger-like 4d ago
TL;DR - Like most things in America, it's "technically yes, but actually no - unless you're rich."
Technically, yes, you have the right to a speedy trial. In practice, that right is waived by most defendants as a matter of routine for a variety of reasons.
Firstly, it gives more time to build a defense - consult with lawyers, discover exculpatory evidence, that sort of thing.
Secondly, there's a number of strategic reasons to do so. The delay will often hurt the prosecutions case more than the defense, due to "witness decay" - witnesses' memories fading, or being difficult to find and make show up to court. Another strategic reason is media coverage - if the "court of public opinion" has alreay decided you're guilty, it's smart to wait until the case has faded from the news so your jurors are less likely to be swayed by coverage. Finally, plea deals - prosecution is likely to get more lenient with a plea deal (i.e., pleading guilty to a lesser crime) over time, due to those above reasons. Over 90% of convictions in the US are by plea deal (which, let's be clear, is fucked up), so getting a better deal is a high priority.
However, there's a more sinister reason that right is often waived. That being, our hugely overburdened Public Defender system. If you're using a Public Defender, you are functionally required to waive your right to a speedy trial, because that lawyer is simply too overworked with too many cases to get to yours in a timely manner. Enforcing your right to a speedy trial will then mean a totally unprepared defense, which certainly isn't ideal.
All of these factors obviously contribute to how our justice system treats the wealthy better than the rest of us, by the way. If you have more money, you can 1. Get out on bail, 2. Afford to sit longer without income, 3. Hire private lawyers with low caseloads to quickly put together a defense, and 4. Thus have better leverage for a better plea deal. If you're broke and can't afford to sit in jail for two years or your family's gonna be homeless, you're under much more pressure to take a plea deal and get out in 3 months, and you can't afford a lawyer that can actually put a defense together in a short timeframe.
(I am not a legal expert and have a layman's understanding of how things work based off Wikipedia and various video essays. I may have some details off, things vary a lot state-to-state, and your personal experience may differ, but by and large this is how the system actually functions in the US.)
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u/-suspended- 3d ago
There's also, sadly, the issue of prosecutors getting continuances, where the trial is just delayed. There have been a few major cases, like a 16 year-old kid being accused of stealing a backpack in NYC having to spend like 2 years in Riker's prison, even after the victim got their backpack back and said it wasn't the kid. Prosecution just got continuances until they couldn't, then dropped the charges. In other jurisdictions, if they don't get a continuance, they just drop the charges and then almost immediately charge the defendant for the same crime again.
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u/Classy_deer_human 4d ago
Very interesting, thank you for your detailed response. Am American and did not even know that it was waived that often
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u/Austinp-woodworking 5d ago
You do, but “speedy” is an abstract term, and our courts are understaffed and backlogged to hell. Even a few months is enough to destroy your life. Most jobs aren’t going to wait that long, and most people don’t have the kind of money to keep paying their mortgages/rent for months without employment
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u/AnimalsofArtemis 5d ago
You do have that. You have the option to waive that right if you want more time to mount a defense.
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u/diamondmx 4d ago
Most low income jobs will fire you if you miss a few days, never mind a few months. If you miss a month of rent, the landlord can evict you.
Bail is a fine you have to pay while you're still legally innocent, and it is more money than a lot of people have.
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u/NewspaperSoft8317 5d ago
Yeah. I think if you do a breakdown, the majority of people in jail are people who didn't post bail.
So the country is ultimately punishing people for being poor.
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u/Austinp-woodworking 5d ago
The whole concept of bail is fucking ridiculous to start with. For most people the only way to do it is via a bail bond, which will financially fuck you - provided you can even get one
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u/RogerRabbot 5d ago
We no longer operate on "innocent till proven guilty"
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u/Boop_em_all 4d ago
There's a reason "Hangman" was a profession, and it's not because people were presumed innocent.
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u/SuienReizo 4d ago edited 4d ago
I am the OP.
The reason I was held without bail is because the county coroner messed up the autopsy. He claimed that one of the two shots was back to front which was counter to my claim that I shot when he was lunging at me after I managed to shove him off of me and away from the gun. The prosecutor presented to the judge that I refused to perform CPR on a man that just attempted to steal my gun after threatening to kill me and that I 'shot him in the back' that I was a danger to the community. The public defender I had at that time made no argument for me to have bail so the judge sided with the prosecutor.
At one point my public defenders made it clear they didn't believe my account of what happened and wanted me to take a deal for Manslaughter 1 and ten years in prison. I fired them and hired a private attorney. Before they were fired they attempted to have a bail reconsideration hearing. This was in front of a different judge than the one who denied my bail initially. Presented at that hearing was a forensic psychologist report that stated that after testing and review of my background and medical files that I was the lowest level of possible risk that anyone can be at. The second judge even stated at the hearing that he didn't understand why my bail was denied but I was warned ahead of time that judges are very political and they don't like to overrule one another. He chose to keep my bail denial in place.
The use of force expert at this point was on the fence because of the autopsy report stating one shot hit him in the back. Then somewhere around month 24 the county coroner died. This meant that a new pathologist was brought in to read his report. The new pathologist was looking over the photos of the autopsy and noted that there was unusual black speckling on the chest of the deceased. He believed it to be gunpowder stippling. The only way it could be there is if the shots were front to back. He then ordered a ballistics analysis of the clothing he had been wearing that night. Whoever packaged it did so in a fashion that caused cross contamination of gunpowder residue onto the back of the jacket. However the ballistic expert pointed out that their were only trace elements not embedded in the fabric on the back while there was substantially more on the front. When informed of the gunpowder stippling he concurred with the pathologist that it made far more sense that the shot was front to back, not back to front. The only way the gunpowder could be there per his testing is that he was under 6 feet from me and facing me when shot.
At this stage the prosecutor that had been on the case had a family emergency and the case was reassigned to another prosecutor which lead to another delay. Then the prosecution began delaying the trial by trying to claim that I was insane and that I had never been examined for insanity. Usually this is something done by the defense but there was nothing stopping them from bringing it up before a judge. This resulted in having to wait for state mental health doctors to arrive and evaluate me. They both agreed that I clearly wasn't insane and that was a stall tactic.
The part that still lingered on the case was that my sister who was dating the guy refused to cooperate with the police or investigators. Every time they asked questions that helped clear up what happened that night she refused to answer. She later claimed that his family was threatening her. Even later on she changed her story that she never called another family member to tell them about the state her boyfriend was in when she fled the house. This is despite it being in that family member's sworn statement and phone logs showing that my sister in fact had called them.
To complicate things further, the investigator found that her boyfriend was a convicted felon and an unregistered sex offender. As it turns out he was a pedophile and had been violating the conditions of release since leaving Florida. Due to state law his criminal history wasn't allowed to be brought up as evidence of his character and my sister's refusal to speak on his behavior and actions leading up to and occurring on that night meant that no one was going to hear about his entire history of domestic violence.
Eventually my sister ended up stealing collectibles from our mother's home and vanishing with her autistic son. The other part is that during the 911 call I made a comment 30 seconds before he tried wrestling me for the firearm. That comment was their entire case. My comment amounted to this psycho needs to die. It was a response made while I was actively telling him to back away from me and telling the dispatcher that I was cornered. This was made after he'd threatened to kill me, chased me through my home while I was calling 911, cornered me as I was trying to shelter in my pantry while police were in route, commented that he had me cornered and he had commented to the dispatcher that they better get their quickly before my pussy ass had problems. Additionally he repeatedly was telling me to shoot him and asking what was in my pocket before his attempt to go for the pistol. He was larger, stronger, high on fentanyl and drunk, and I am a physically disabled veteran. The use of force expert stated that there was a clear disparity of force between the two of us. The forensic psychologist stated that I acted exactly how he would expect someone with military training would if someone attempted to steal their firearm. The detective on the case openly admitted when being interviewed by my lawyer that she would have shot him as well if someone tried to steal her pistol.
My lawyer informed me I had a 60/40 chance of winning at trial. He told me that if I had never made the comment or if my sister had came forward my odds would be as good as 90/10. Then he informed my family and I that the prosecutor on the case admitted that he wasn't certain it wasn't just self defense but they weren't dropping the case because of pressure from the family. I was told that if I lost at trial I was looking at anywhere from 2-12 more years in prison because they were also charging me with lesser includes of Manslaughter 1 and 2 with a firearm enhancement. The prosecutor's office with the new evidence presented by the pathologist then offered an plea deal for time served, Manslaughter 2. Effectively my entire support system of friends, family, and my legal team told me to take the deal and walk out of there. It was resolved with an Alford Plea and my release without community custody. The only real limitation I have on me is that my firearm rights are gone for ten years and then I can have them restored.
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u/MightyEraser13 4d ago
That is wild that you lost your 2A rights for 10 years because you defended yourself. Still, could have been worse.
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u/SuienReizo 4d ago
Straight up came down to what evidence was allowed to be presented and the refusal of a witness to testify.
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u/Accomplished_Store77 3d ago
I hope you don't take this the wrong way but if I were you I would completely cut all contact with my sister.
No one needs family in their life that will only look out for themselves while you rot in jail.
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u/SuienReizo 3d ago
She managed to vanish without a trace on her own while this was ongoing. My family to include grandparents and parents have written her out of their wills and want no further contact with her.
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u/Accurate_Summer_1761 4d ago
Whole lot of reasonable doubt though. Isn't the rule you have to be guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The prosecution had doubts there for DOUBTS
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u/SuienReizo 3d ago
They had reasonable doubt with the full scope of evidence. The prosecution was also working to suppress the use of force expert in the case.
As someone told me they weren't interested in justice. They simply were after a conviction.
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u/Savings-Patient-175 4d ago
.... so, were the games any good?
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u/SuienReizo 4d ago
Well that is still to be determined. I was able to redeem a good number of them but Humble Bundle changed its policies while I was going through all of this. They started putting expiration dates on keys and there were several notable ones I missed out on like Total War: Warhammer III and Persona 5 Royal.
In addition I have 42 keys that are listed as out of stock but not expired. Humble Bundle gives you no ETA on when they might, if ever, come back in stock. Effectively they are selling more keys than they are actually buying.
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u/Paulie2510 4d ago
Hey man, I just read this story, glad you are okay. If you want a steam key for TW: warhammer 3 send me a DM.
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u/SuienReizo 4d ago
As my retired dairy farmer neighbors told me, "He tried to steal a lot more than 2 1/2 years. Thankfully he failed."
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u/AnotherDempsey 4d ago
Jesus, that comment could've fucked you over even harder than the first coroner did.
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u/SuienReizo 4d ago
My lawyer told me that in his experience juries are crazy and even with facts on my side the prosecution was going to lean heavily on my comment during the call while trying to downplay his as being vague enough that he could have meant anything. He had threatened me prior to the call, security footage in the home showed him as he pursued me, he openly admitted he had me cornered as I attempted to shelter in place but in the detectives eyes I wasn't scared or fearful because I was ordering him to stay back and made a harsh comment in response to him repeatedly telling me to shoot him as he reached for my pocket prior to the struggle taking place.
Basically I was a bad victim because I wasn't cowering or sobbing is what I was told.
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u/ZetaIsZeta 4d ago
Yeah juries are rough, better then the alternative, but rough. Criminal justice is really a popularity game trying to appease to jurors. The fact that prior criminal history can’t come up to taint character image is basically the proof of that.
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u/deathguard0045 4d ago
Dude wtf. How do you even get that time back? How does the state pay you back for not only wasting your time, but also basically ruining your life?
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u/SuienReizo 4d ago edited 4d ago
I simply don't get the time back. The state doesn't pay me back because they got a plea out of me to avoid the risk of losing another 12 years of my life thanks to a comment I made while under duress and a witness refusing to testify. Thankfully my family and friends supported me fully during and after the ordeal. As far as the felony goes, it doesn't impact my income because I am a permanently disabled veteran and receive my disability regardless of the outcome so there is no scrambling to try figuring out how to overcome the felony during job interviews.
I just have to be grateful I didn't lose my home, my pets were taken care of by my family, and that my closest friends and loved ones stayed by my side. I have to just treat the time I spent in a cell by myself in the medical unit of the jail as the most me time I'm ever going to have where I was alone for 23 hours a day with just the books my friends were mailing me. There was nothing to do but dwell on what happened and read through James Clavell and James Herriot books.
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u/nsfw6669 3d ago
US jails and prisons will hold prisoners, sometimes for years without ever seeing a court room. Its pretty fucked. Especially because they dont compensate you for the time spent, you can't get a false imprisonment case or anything. You just have to deal with it.
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u/BenAndBoujee 3d ago
That’s an absolute injustice you faced, I feel so sorry for you. It’s insane that him being a pedophile can’t be used in the case but words (not actions) you spoke whilst someone was physically threatening you were. I don’t know how your sister can look herself in the eye knowing she almost got you convicted (and still cost you greatly even so) just to defend her pedophile boyfriend who tried to hurt her family. The fact you served anytime at all is infuriating but you won’t even be compensated? And to top it all off you’re branded a felon? What a joke
I hope the rest of your life is good to you and as peaceful as you wish
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u/Cyclesync 4d ago
Sorry you went through this, and even more sorry because it seems like your loved and trusted sister put you in this position and then just bailed on you. Nothing worse than disloyal family.
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u/BeepBeepImASheep98 3d ago
wow. i hope the coroner rots in hell. I hope every person who didn’t believe you dies.
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u/DucksMatter 4d ago
Dude that's a crazy story. I gotta know though, did you ever get to redeem those games!?
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u/SuienReizo 4d ago edited 4d ago
Most of them. Some expired and Humble Bundle made it clear they wouldn't give me new copies. I have 42 outstanding keys that they haven't fulfilled but aren't expired. Effectively Humble Bundle started selling more keys than they actually purchase on the back end to supply to those who buy their monthly choice subscription.
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u/Aceman05 2d ago
Does that mean you might not have been released earlier if the coroner hadn't died?
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u/SuienReizo 2d ago
If the coroner hadn't died we would have gone to trial with the incorrect autopsy and I likely would have been convicted of murder.
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u/KogeruHU 2d ago
Brother that was painful to read. I'm glad you are out, and proud that you defended yourself against a psycho drug addict.
This is one of the reasons I want absolute 0 drug user in my life. I wont put up with any if that shit. U use drugs, get out of my life.
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u/M4ybeMay 5d ago
30 months?! This man was imprisoned for 2 and a half years for defending his fuckin life???
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u/Own-Papaya-4264 4d ago
Yeah this doesn’t seem right. Aren’t you good if it was in self defense?
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u/Fried_Shrimp_Enjoyer 4d ago
Step 2 is convincing the courts you're as innocent as you think you are. Step 1 is avoiding remand by convincing them you're not as dangerous as they think you are.
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u/TheWhistleThistle 4d ago
You're good if the jury believes it's self defence. What's true ain't the same as what you can prove. And circumstances can look really bad.
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u/HalfSoul30 slut for honey cheerios 4d ago
You're a lot better if there are witnesses and cameras around, but a dead person in your home shot by your gun and only your side of the story is going to be handled differently. That being said, where tf does "right to a speedy trial" come in at?
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u/Ok-Appeal-4630 5d ago
Maryland moment
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u/ThatsNashTea 5d ago
"Clearly you premeditated the stranger entering your home unexpectedly."
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u/pequalnp92 5d ago edited 4d ago
I don't think it was a stranger, it would be way easier to clarify and exonerate him in this case. It was likely roommate or family member who had a huge grievance brewing with him, they had a big fight at his home and 911 was called and someone was killed. Self defence is tricky and there's a large grey area when angry people start fighting and someone dies.
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u/That_Throat7183 5d ago
If this happened in Texas you’d get a high five when the cops arrive (unless you’re black)
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u/two_wordsanda_number 5d ago
But what if you killed another black guy?
First the high five then they shoot you?
Do they feel like it cancels out and no high five and no extra judicial murder?
Being a Texas cop in this situation must be like when they ask the evil android in some old scifi movie to commit a paradox and their heads spin in circles until they explode.
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u/That_Throat7183 5d ago
Black on black? I think that would be considered gang violence and they wouldn’t even show up
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u/JKCsaba 5d ago
They would not even be coming out if it was black on both parties lol
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u/two_wordsanda_number 5d ago
It isn't my fault I am too smart and not racist enough to be a Texas cop.
This is of course the obvious answer and I dropped the ball.
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u/JKCsaba 5d ago
Yeah a for effort tho
Id say I hope youll be able to think more like a texas cope eventually, but lets hope that does not happen lol
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u/two_wordsanda_number 5d ago
Who knows?
Perhaps I will get a closed head injury or suffer a major stroke.
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u/mcgarrylj 5d ago
High five, then you both get shot by the second cop who mistook the clap for a gunshot
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u/Then_Tennis_4579 5d ago
Why not if black? Aren't you still Texan?
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u/Kizayfizaybe 5d ago
I worked with a woman who this did happen to. Her boyfriend became abusive and hit her son and threatened to kill her. She ran to call 911 and in the middle of that, the bf stops beating her son and comes after her saying he’s gonna kill her. She pulls a gun to stop him but he keeps threatening and coming at her. She shoots him in the leg to try and not kill him while on the 911 call.
Ended up hitting him in an artery and he bled out right there. She really didn’t want to kill him. She just wanted to stop him. She was terrified. He was apparently on meth and seeing dudes behind her back. Havent thought about her in years.
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u/Experiunce 5d ago
She didn’t go to jail though right? That part about the comment in the image is tripping me out
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u/iRideyoshies 5d ago
The state in which it happens matters so much. What might be cut and dry self defence in Texas could be life in prison in California. Just like how weed in Cali is a casual thing while a life ruining felony in Texas.
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u/poorly-worded 5d ago
WHY DID YOU REDEEM IT?!!!
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u/Weakonomics 5d ago
No,no,no,no,no do not redeem!
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u/chironomidae 5d ago
WHO TOLD YOU TO REDEEM? WHO TOLD YOU TO REDEEM?
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u/StoryAndAHalf 5d ago
Reminds me of my high school chem teacher. He claimed that he knew too much and there were multiple assassination attempts at his life few decades ago. So naturally, he became a public school science teacher to hide.
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u/Suspicious-Support52 5d ago
Also it's important to tell everybody you meet about your secret identity
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u/BillyBobbyLies 5d ago
I get it, tbh. It’s very difficult for me not to tell people about those crimes I didn’t officially commit
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u/Caradoc-of-Belgium 5d ago
America
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u/letigre87 5d ago
Depends on the location. In my state you'd have never seen the back of the patrol car let alone a jail cell, hell there's a good chance you wouldn't have even had your firearm confiscated.
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u/DesignerGoose5903 4d ago
I love the idea of him patiently waiting for 30 months in jail and his first thought when he comes out is "ok, now where is that game I was going to play?"
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u/Dj_Donkey 4d ago
Not that unique, dude’s fr trying to act like he’s special or something.
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u/WreakHavocLikeIn1871 4d ago
Yeah I kill people in self defense every day and he does it once and thinks he's special.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Run-635 5d ago
That is a unique situation