Busted Letter #104 - The Case of the Disappearing (Then Reappearing) Charges

Dear High Times,

About four years ago I was in my room getting ready for bed when I heard the sound of a walkie-talkie and looked at the crack on the bottom of my closed bedroom door and saw a flashlight shining underneath. When I opened the door, to my surprise was a sheriff. Of course I was scared shitless and started to back up from the door. He then started to come in while asking if I minded if he came in. I said "I guess," and then he tells me, "you’re not under arrest, but I am gonna have to place you in cuffs."

So there I am, in my bedroom, sitting on my bed in handcuffs and boxer shorts. He asks me if I had anything I wasn't supposed to have. I had about 1/4 of green on my desk in plain sight. So, not knowing my legal rights, I said the obvious. He then grabbed the bag and took me out to my living room. I saw my buddy (who was staying with me at the time) in cuffs on the floor. Apparently there was a warrant out on him for failure to appear which I didn’t know about.

My friend had said all the paraphernalia found was his and that they should let me go because I had nothing to do with it. That didn't seem to matter to them. They searched my guest room were he was staying. Apparently, he also had some pills he should not have had. Long story short, we were taken to the county jail and locked up.

I was there for maybe six hours before my family bailed me out (costing them $500). When leaving, they gave me a date for my first court hearing. I obtained an attorney shortly thereafter. When we spoke, I had no idea about what my legal rights were. I about crapped my pants after he had told me what my rights were. Later that month I went to my court date, with my lawyer. To my astonishment, I was not on the docket. I later spoke with my lawyer, and he said, just be good, lay low, and stay out of trouble.

I went to the court records website on almost a daily basis for several months after that but never found any charges on my file. I soon calmed down about it, and went on with my life. About a year ago, (around four years after the mishap), I was fishing with a friend of mine. We had a small campfire to light our area. I then saw a flashlight coming through the woods. It was a sheriff. He asked if we had fishing licenses. Of course, we did. He then said that he was called for a large fire that was reported. Our fire was by no means large. Just big enough for light and some warmth on a September night.

Anyway, the sheriff said he was going to have to run our IDs. We gave them over. My friend was clean with no record. He gave him his ID back and turned to me. He said, "I'm sorry James, but I am gonna have to take you in." He couldn't tell my why. Later I found out that there was a no-bond warrant for "failure to appear" issued two years after the incident four years ago. I was in jail for a few days, until another friend called a lawyer and got me released.

The first thing I did when I got out was check the court records Web site to see what the charges were. I still had nothing listed under my record. Another friend looked too, but had spelled my name wrong, and found my records. Since then I have been waiting on the court system to get their thumb out of their ass and take care of this, so I can finally put all this behind me again.

I appeared at the first hearing, now I await the second and third hearings. I still don't know what is going to happen for sure. Bottom line, learn your rights! Go to www.NORML.org get your freedom card and become a member. Don't let the "law enforcement" figures bully you into jail by abusing your rights!

Pissed off about pot laws in Indiana
James