neurosurge
Junior Member
My buddy has some troubles right now. Several weeks ago, he was doing 62 in a 35 and decided to make a mad dash through a yard, with a kid in it, down a street, and hide. Not to mention some of the things he had in the car with him. Long story short, the cop was directed to him and he was busted. The cop was nice enough to only charge him with fleeing in a vehicle, damage to property, and the 62 in a 35, which is wreckless driving in WV. His court date was set and he appeard before the magistrate, but the officer never showed up. The magistrate dismissed his case and let him go home. The other day, he received a letter stating that the officer wants to re-instate the charges and set up another court date to see if it can be brought back to court.
Now the big question is: is this double jeopardy? Can he be tried for the same charges after he was dismissed. Also, they want him to appear before the same magistrate that dismissed him the first time. This cannot be done either, right?
The cop stated on the re-instatement letter that his reason for not attending the original court date was he came in 15 minutes late... My buddy says he waited for nearly 30 minutes. Of course there are witnesses to this and he is working with a better lawyer now than his public defender he had at first, but he seems to be scared still.
Can anybody give some kind of answers to this situation? I'm not up on alot of case senarios like this, but I would just like to ease his mind some. Thanks for any help
Now the big question is: is this double jeopardy? Can he be tried for the same charges after he was dismissed. Also, they want him to appear before the same magistrate that dismissed him the first time. This cannot be done either, right?
The cop stated on the re-instatement letter that his reason for not attending the original court date was he came in 15 minutes late... My buddy says he waited for nearly 30 minutes. Of course there are witnesses to this and he is working with a better lawyer now than his public defender he had at first, but he seems to be scared still.
Can anybody give some kind of answers to this situation? I'm not up on alot of case senarios like this, but I would just like to ease his mind some. Thanks for any help