Right to Speedy Trial -Misdemeanor Assault

[VPowell]

What is the name of your state? South Carolina

Due to a dispute with my neighbor over children, property line and her using my front yard for a doggie park, the last time my neighbor came over and "apologized" for her grandkids basketballs in my yard, I confronted her about keeping her dog somehow out of my yard, either on a leash or however she had to do it. She became irate and (for lack of a better term) "chest butted" me, I pushed her back, she grabbed my wrists and I grabbed hers. She then gave a signal over my shoulder to her 16 year old grandson who proceeded to "save" his grandmother from me. They then swore out an arrest warrant and had me arrested for misdemeanor assault. This was in August of 2005 (approx 4.5 months ago). Am still waiting for a court date - out on bond with a no contact order. The judge explains the no contact orde applies to them as well and therefore, I FINALLY have had a little peace from them. However, there is an encroachment issue that needs to be addressed and time is running out. I interpret no contact order to mean I can't even have a lawyer contact her about her carport encroaching into my front yard. Is this correct? And if they don't soon give me a court date, can I ask for dismissal due to not being given a speedy trial?

 

[justalayman]

And you just realized after the "chest-buting" situation that you needed to be concerned about the encroachment?

Adverse possession takes years to establish and you are just now having a problem with it.

Sounds like retaliation to me. Talk to a lawyer a to see if your AP property is even close to being a concern. Let it rest if possible.

 

[VPowell]

The chest butting incident

The chest butting incident came after a series of back and forth; starting with her informing me that a significant portion of my yard was "just as much (hers) as it was (mine)". This was when she complained about my children playing too close to her bushes (planted in my yard). She called the police out on them for trespassing/intending to vandalize her bushes when I told her that if she had concern she needed to move her plants back onto her property. I started researching the matter and came upon the "Doctrine of Latches". And actually it shocked me and shouldn't exist, I had been leaving her alone since she was an older woman, trying to be "neighborly". But she's not going to claim a strip of my property 15' wide by 195' long and call the police to my house for my children trespassing on my property and have me remain accomodating. Then, once I pay $500 for a survey to prove my point, she posts "No Trespassing" signs along the line facing my front door - and THEN sends her dog over to do its business every morning while she stands out there on her driveway watching and smoking her cigarettes - giving me a smirk and a finger every time I watch her do it (with the "No Trespassing" signs framing her face while she does it). We have no problem whatsoever "Not Trespassing", we just expect the same from her. My kids are playing football, rolling around in that grass and she's intentionally loading it down with dog mess.
This was also the second time we said something about the doog poop, the first time they retaliated by dumping 5 gallon bucket fulls of dog mess in huge piles in the front yard and on my children's trampoline. SO, retaliation (?), maybe. I'm not going to be bullied around on my property. I get up every morning and go to work; have paid thousands for child care so I can go to work; have what I have without the aid of another income (father for the children) and I WILL BE queen of my own castle; however meager it is. She's just never had anyone tell her "NO" before and it pisses her off.
And now, they gave her grandson a paint ball gun for Christmas - and there's something blue on my car - broken paint ball pellets in the yard. I'm doing what I can to "let it go", but you can't be a door mat your whole life - you have to draw the line somewhere.