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Difficult question

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DRandcrew

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Texas

I'm not sure how much info to give but here are the basics..

Sister was arrested in July 05 for burglary to a building. She was supposed to have her stuff out of her storage shed by July 1, went on July 2 and cut the lock. It was her stuff but since she passed the date, it became property of owner of shed. Ok.. the city had a rash of burglaries to sheds the previous year and they have also charged her with those. They have not spoken to her ONE time since in jail. She has had hearings set every month for a bond reduction so she can get out but each time, the morning of-they are cancelled. The next one is set for Jan 9. The detective told my brother that he thinks she did it and was going to keep her in jail as long as he could and it appears he IS doing it. BUT... is there ANYTHING that can be done? How long can they keep cancelling hearings? She hasn't had anything done whatsoever. Everyone tells us they can't do this but they are. Do we just have to sit and ride it out and see how long they do this or is there something that can be done. What happened to right to a speedy trial and where does this come into play? ANY advice would be appreciated. This is a tiny little Texas town and it all seems like a joke to me. They stop my nephew repeatedly.. sometimes 10 times a day and we've been told that is also illegal but they do it. Anything, anyone can ad would be appreciated. We do have an attorney but are really starting to question is he doing what he should do. His response when they cancel is just to set another hearing (which is always a month away) and says we just have to wait.

Please any advice?
 


HomeGuru

Senior Member
DRandcrew said:
What is the name of your state? Texas

I'm not sure how much info to give but here are the basics..

Sister was arrested in July 05 for burglary to a building. She was supposed to have her stuff out of her storage shed by July 1, went on July 2 and cut the lock. It was her stuff but since she passed the date, it became property of owner of shed. Ok.. the city had a rash of burglaries to sheds the previous year and they have also charged her with those. They have not spoken to her ONE time since in jail. She has had hearings set every month for a bond reduction so she can get out but each time, the morning of-they are cancelled. The next one is set for Jan 9. The detective told my brother that he thinks she did it and was going to keep her in jail as long as he could and it appears he IS doing it. BUT... is there ANYTHING that can be done? How long can they keep cancelling hearings? She hasn't had anything done whatsoever. Everyone tells us they can't do this but they are. Do we just have to sit and ride it out and see how long they do this or is there something that can be done. What happened to right to a speedy trial and where does this come into play? ANY advice would be appreciated. This is a tiny little Texas town and it all seems like a joke to me. They stop my nephew repeatedly.. sometimes 10 times a day and we've been told that is also illegal but they do it. Anything, anyone can ad would be appreciated. We do have an attorney but are really starting to question is he doing what he should do. His response when they cancel is just to set another hearing (which is always a month away) and says we just have to wait.

Please any advice?
**A: so why are you so concerned?
 

DRandcrew

Junior Member
Reply

Well... I didn't think my post was that difficult to ascertain my question? I'm asking, can they be held for now 7mnths. Their hearings cancelled every month the day of. It totally seems a tactic to do exactly what the detective said 'to hold her as long as possible'. This is my main question but they have done numerous, countless things that we've been told are illegal but in a small town, how do you fight it? Those aren't my questions though.. it is simple... is their any recourse to them just cancelling all these hearings. How long can this go on? A year, two? How legal can this be? No hearings, no talking.. nothing. They suspect her based on something that is absurd and it just seems nuts that she can be held SO long with nothing happening whatsoever.
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
DRandcrew said:
Well... I didn't think my post was that difficult to ascertain my question? I'm asking, can they be held for now 7mnths. Their hearings cancelled every month the day of. It totally seems a tactic to do exactly what the detective said 'to hold her as long as possible'. This is my main question but they have done numerous, countless things that we've been told are illegal but in a small town, how do you fight it? Those aren't my questions though.. it is simple... is their any recourse to them just cancelling all these hearings. How long can this go on? A year, two? How legal can this be? No hearings, no talking.. nothing. They suspect her based on something that is absurd and it just seems nuts that she can be held SO long with nothing happening whatsoever.

**A: did you read my post?
 

Kane

Member
Unfortunately, Texas offers little relief for long delays before trial.

She's entitled to be released, either on a personal bond, or a bond in an amount she can afford, if she's detained in jail for 90 days without a charging instrument. But if she's already been indicted, that doesn't apply.

Has she been indicted?

Other than that, she's stuck with judicial constructions of the constitutional right to a speedy trial. Unfortunately, those are decided on a case-by-case basis, and courts have said that delays of two years or more are fine.

If you can't afford to bond her out of jail, and she doesn't qualify for a personal bond, you're going to have to rely on her lawyer to obtain some sort of resolution - either by working out a deal with the prosecutor, or obtaining a trial setting through the court.

Burglary of a Building is a State Jail Felony in TX, which caries 6 months to 2 years.

FWIW, generally speaking judges have an interest in expediting cases, for lots of reasons - one of which is that keeping people in the county jail is expensive, and the county commisioners don't like paying to keep somebody in jail for no reason.

Unfortunately, you're going to have to either trust the lawyer she's got, or find a way to get her a new one. I don't know of any other options.
 

DRandcrew

Junior Member
Reply

Thank you SO much. To answer your question, she has been indicted on the original charge of burglary to a building (which she DID do and admits to-the shed with her stuff in it) BUT not the other charge which is trying to pin her on the other burglaries and that is the one with the HUGE bond amount since there is 10 (I believe) other shed burglaries in the area (btw, they have continued since she's in jail) but she can't even get to the point of a hearing to even SEE about a personal one. She has absolutely zero history-well besides a couple of speeding tickets and is a nurse, has lived in the same city for over 30 years, has a severely handicapped child that my mom is caring for, a son that is a physician, a son that is a geologist and has just been a great person... (what a STUPID thing to do and so pointless) and the attorney has told us there is no reason she shouldn't get out but again... have to get to the point of a hearing to even get there.

I SO appreciate your time to reply. It means a lot.
 

garrula lingua

Senior Member
Has she been offered a plea bargain ?

Seems that, even if she pled guilty, she's about served the time already & would get out faster than waiting for trial.

If she has already admitted guilt on one count, can she plead for credit time served ?

Is her atty delaying caz he's not ready/ willing for trial ?

If the court's/DA's indicated (proposed sentence) is the same, no matter how many counts she's charged with, then she has the moral dilemma of pleading (& paying restitution for) an additional crime she didn't commit.

But if the sentence is the same, even after trial, what is she accomplishing by staying in custody ?
Ask her to check with her atty re plea bargains. If no dispo has been offered, suggest to her atty to offer credit time served or otherwise to get the ball rolling toward resolution.
 

DRandcrew

Junior Member
Reply

Thanks for your reply.

No, she hasn't been offered anything. Not one person has spoken to her (aside from our attorney) since the day she was arrested at the shed.

She hasn't plead guilty to the first count (but she knows she did it and how can she deny it?).. she hasn't been to court for ANYTHING because they get cancelled the day of. Our attorney isn't cancelling, the DA side is. They don't call anyone, including our attorney, everyone shows up (on our side) and there is a note on the door saying it is cancelled. This has happened every mnth since August and next hearing is set next week. These are all bond reduction hearings... nothing more than that.

Our attorney said if he calls, they just say they need more time.

She has been told that she'll get two days (off of a sentence) for every day served in jail (but only by other inmates so we have no idea if this is true)

If my mom calls the attorney, he says there is nothing he can do, his hands are tied. We don't know if this is true or if we need a new attorney.
 

Kane

Member
Whenever somebody's facing multiple charges, that complicates trying to obtain a resolution. If they've indicted her on one case, and they're dragging their feet on the others, that could explain why it's taking so long. Judges prefer setting all cases together, because it's more efficient that way. (It's also generally better for the defendant, because it reduces the chances of consecutive sentences.) What may be happening is that the state (the prosecutors) are telling the judge they're "just about to" file the additional indictments, and he's giving them more time to do it - instead of trying to resolve the one case she's indicted on, and then having to come back again when/if the new cases are indicted.

If that's what's happening, you're still going to have to rely on the lawyer she's got to figure the best way to handle it. If they really are about to file additional indictments, she's better off waiting for that to happen, rather than taking a chance with consecutive sentences.

Edit - I missed your most recent post. There's no reason for them to be cancelling bond reduction hearings, so I can't comment on why that's happening. IMO (which doesn't count for anything, since I'm not the judge) they shouldn't be doing that.

The two-day credit thing (for each day in jail) is for County Jail time. State Jail is day-for-day. If she gets a County sentence (either on a reduction or a 12.44) she'll get the extra credit. If she goes to State Jail, she won't. Time as a condition of probation is day-for-day, too, whether it's County time or not.
 
Last edited:

marbol

Member
Is the son that is a physician of any means? Can he/or anyone hire an attorney that can go agreesively on the offense?

File a suit against the city/county. Sounds ridiculous.
 

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