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a little advise

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bryan1

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?New Mexico

Can you sue a judge or the judicial system? A municiple judge denied a defendant the right to an attorney, entered a plea that was not what was expressed by the defendant and sentenced that person to jail, can anything be done?
 


outonbail

Senior Member
Are you saying that a Judge refused to accept a plea of not guilty, entered a guilty plea on behalf of the defendant and sentenced him to jail?

What is the rest of the story?
 

bryan1

Junior Member
outonbail said:
Are you saying that a Judge refused to accept a plea of not guilty, entered a guilty plea on behalf of the defendant and sentenced him to jail?

What is the rest of the story?
Yes, the judge is being investigated on this and other problems through the judicial standards board which has taken the case to the supreme court and wants an immeadiate suspention of the judge. There is no rest of the story, this happened to my daughter and I witnessed it in court.
 

BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
bryan1 said:
Yes, the judge is being investigated on this and other problems through the judicial standards board which has taken the case to the supreme court and wants an immeadiate suspention of the judge. There is no rest of the story, this happened to my daughter and I witnessed it in court.
And, of course, the charge against her, previous court appearances or the child's record and why you didn't get her an attorney are irrelevant to you right?

Well, they are not to this forum.
 

bryan1

Junior Member
well beleze thanks for the gift, I appriciate that. I am new to this and just looking for some advise. She had a DUI and did not complete the course therefore they suspended her driving licence and got caught driving on a suspended licence and did not appear in court for that. Thats her only previous record. I did get her an attorney and he told me that he did not need to be in court for this appearance and to just have her request representation and plead not guilty, which she did. The judge then just entered a plea of guilty for failure to appear and sentanced her to jail.
 

BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
bryan1 said:
well beleze thanks for the gift, I appriciate that. I am new to this and just looking for some advise. She had a DUI and did not complete the course therefore they suspended her driving licence and got caught driving on a suspended licence and did not appear in court for that. Thats her only previous record. I did get her an attorney and he told me that he did not need to be in court for this appearance and to just have her request representation and plead not guilty, which she did. The judge then just entered a plea of guilty for failure to appear and sentanced her to jail.
And that is perfectly legal and what should have transpired. She was there for not appearing in court for the original charge. She was not entitled to a court appointed attorney. It's contempt.
 
bryan1 said:
well beleze thanks for the gift, I appriciate that. I am new to this and just looking for some advise. She had a DUI and did not complete the course therefore they suspended her driving licence and got caught driving on a suspended licence and did not appear in court for that. Thats her only previous record. I did get her an attorney and he told me that he did not need to be in court for this appearance and to just have her request representation and plead not guilty, which she did. The judge then just entered a plea of guilty for failure to appear and sentanced her to jail.
hi there,

I think you may be getting confused. Did the judge enter a PLEA of Guilty or did he enter a Judgement (he found her to be) guilty. It sounds as if she entered a "Not Guilty" plea but the judge found her to be guilty. For instance, someone gets charged with drunk driving, they go to court and say they are not guilty to the judge (they are saying they weren't drunk and driving) but the judge looks at their breath test which clearly indicates they were so he says no, its obvious to me you were drinking therefore I find you (he enters a judgement of) guilty and sentence you to 30 days in jail. I know for people that are new to the legal system these terms can all become confusing, especially when they are upset and under stress as you obviously must have been.
 

BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
Sorrowful End said:
hi there,

I think you may be getting confused. Did the judge enter a PLEA of Guilty or did he enter a Judgement (he found her to be) guilty. It sounds as if she entered a "Not Guilty" plea but the judge found her to be guilty. For instance, someone gets charged with drunk driving, they go to court and say they are not guilty to the judge (they are saying they weren't drunk and driving) but the judge looks at their breath test which clearly indicates they were so he says no, its obvious to me you were drinking therefore I find you (he enters a judgement of) guilty and sentence you to 30 days in jail. I know for people that are new to the legal system these terms can all become confusing, especially when they are upset and under stress as you obviously must have been.
The Guilty finding has nothing to do with the DUI. She has that yet to look forward to.
She had a DUI and did not complete the course therefore they suspended her driving licence and got caught driving on a suspended licence and did not appear in court for that.
This is a simple case of her not showing up in court when ordered to appear....i.e., contempt. And the judge was well within his rights to find her guilty (he was, by the way sitting there waiting for her) and put her ass in jail.
 
BelizeBreeze said:
The Guilty finding has nothing to do with the DUI. She has that yet to look forward to.

This is a simple case of her not showing up in court when ordered to appear....i.e., contempt. And the judge was well within his rights to find her guilty (he was, by the way sitting there waiting for her) and put her ass in jail.
I was referring to the judge finding her guilty of contempt, not of the DUI...I was using that as an example for the gentleman....thus my example starting out with the phrase, "for instance," and yes, he was within the law to find her guilty .
 

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