Concerned my cousin's lawyer is working against him behind the scenes (Felony Stalking case)

[nate829]

You are also (1) biased in favor of your cousin (which is not a criticism, that's just human nature), (2) likely do not know everything the state has against him and (3) are not a lawyer and have not tried criminal cases in Colorado. It is quite possible that the state's case is stronger than you believe it to be. A jury that has no relationship to your friend or his ex might see it very differently than you do.

I've seen the entire case against him. My cousin gave his lawyer permission to release everything to me and he gave us all of the files. I'm surprised at how sloppily the case is put together to be honest considering it is a serious felony case. I'm not confident the attorney went over it with a fine tooth comb like I have. He wasn't even familiar with the stalking law since he googled it during the meeting with my cousin. The prosecution charged him with stalking while a protection order was in place. There was no protection order in place. This means it's a class 5 felony vs. a class 4 felony. They also charged him with a misdemeanor for breaking a protection order. How could they not check to see if a protection order was in place? They also just made up a date as the start of the alleged stalking. The first alleged incident with the car occurred 2 weeks before he was arrested near her house after he went there and pounded on her door (there were no threats, no destruction of property and no weapons-says so in the police report). They charged him with stalking on a made up date 3 weeks before the car incident. They presented no evidence of anything occurring during that time.

 

[Zigner]

Just stop already - you don't even understand the harm that your posting here can cause.

 

[quincy]

Do you remember the attorneys name? I would love to read that case...(hint hint....)

Well ... I didn't remember the state correctly (the case was in Delaware not Massachusetts) but here are two links to information on the 1999 murder conviction of Delaware attorney Thomas Capano:

https://web.archive.org/web/20140403045544/http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/classics/capano/1.html

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.delawareonline.com/amp/839587001

 

[Eekamouse]

I've seen the entire case against him. My cousin gave his lawyer permission to release everything to me and he gave us all of the files. I'm surprised at how sloppily the case is put together to be honest considering it is a serious felony case. I'm not confident the attorney went over it with a fine tooth comb like I have. He wasn't even familiar with the stalking law since he googled it during the meeting with my cousin. The prosecution charged him with stalking while a protection order was in place. There was no protection order in place. This means it's a class 5 felony vs. a class 4 felony. They also charged him with a misdemeanor for breaking a protection order. How could they not check to see if a protection order was in place? They also just made up a date as the start of the alleged stalking. The first alleged incident with the car occurred 2 weeks before he was arrested near her house after he went there and pounded on her door (there were no threats, no destruction of property and no weapons-says so in the police report). They charged him with stalking on a made up date 3 weeks before the car incident. They presented no evidence of anything occurring during that time.

You think him coming uninvited, unexpected, and unwanted to her home and pounding on her door wasn't threatening? I imagine that probably scared the snot out of her.

 

[not2cleverRed]

He also gave his lawyer permission to discuss everything with me and encouraged me to talk about the case and seek advice. I already paid $12,000 for his attorney so I'm trying to avoid just firing this one and hiring someone new.

Step away.

Step FAR away, and stop giving your cousin money. He clearly doesn't have a clue, and at this point you are just enabling more of his bad behavior. You are not going to get your money back. Ever. Even if.

By your description, he is guilty of everything that he's been charged with. His lawyer has been doing his best to give this deadbeat cousin of yours a deal, because a trial is a crap shoot - and the odds are not in your cousin's favor. FYI, the sane thing to do, when someone takes legal action to avoid/minimize contact with you is to run the 7734 away from them and avoid them like the plague. Your cousin did not do that. He repeatedly contacted his ex. What you described *is* forcing someone off the road. He is an irrational scary man who seems to not understand boundaries and even if he takes the deal, he'll be back in court on new charges the moment he gets a chance.

Your cousin's lawyer and the prosecutor have a professional relationship, and will have to deal with each other long after your cousin's case is nothing but a bad memory. If the prosecutor hasn't dealt with the lawyer in bad faith, there is little reason to start now. If the lawyer was shaking during the call, it was out of frustration with having to deal with such idiots.

 

[nate829]

You think him coming uninvited, unexpected, and unwanted to her home and pounding on her door wasn't threatening? I imagine that probably scared the snot out of her.

Isn't it almost always an uninvited and unexpected visit when someone knocks on a door? Before cell phones you would just go knock on peoples doors all the time instead of going back home to make a phone call. If someone doesn't answer you pound on the door and yell "hey, are you home" in case they are in the back of the house. Not sure how this is criminal. If so what's the appropriate charge? If he wanted to do something bad he could have broken a window and gotten into the house easily. I wouldn't be helping him if he did something like that. They didn't charge him with anything for that, they only combined it with the previous alleged incident with the car 2 weeks earlier to come up with the 2 incidents required for the felony stalking charge. It seems like it's more appropriate to charge him with misdemeanors like harassment, menacing, reckless endangerment, etc. and not this poorly worded stalking law.

 

[Zigner]

Isn't it almost always an uninvited and unexpected visit when someone knocks on a door? Before cell phones you would just go knock on peoples doors all the time instead of going back home to make a phone call. If someone doesn't answer you pound on the door and yell "hey, are you home" in case they are in the back of the house.

I don't know where you come from, but pounding on a door is NOT acceptable. You knock (maybe ring the doorbell, if applicable). You knock again. You might even knock one more time. After that, you give up and move on.

( Not sure how this is criminal. If so what's the appropriate charge? If he wanted to do something bad he could have broken a window and gotten into the house easily.

Ahh, the old "if he really wanted to, he could have." Kind of like "if he really wanted to hurt her bad, he could have, but those were just love taps with his fist".

 

[not2cleverRed]

Isn't it almost always an uninvited and unexpected visit when someone knocks on a door? Before cell phones you would just go knock on peoples doors all the time instead of going back home to make a phone call. If someone doesn't answer you pound on the door and yell "hey, are you home" in case they are in the back of the house. Not sure how this is criminal. If so what's the appropriate charge? If he wanted to do something bad he could have broken a window and gotten into the house easily. I wouldn't be helping him if he did something like that. They didn't charge him with anything for that, they only combined it with the previous alleged incident with the car 2 weeks earlier to come up with the 2 incidents required for the felony stalking charge. It seems like it's more appropriate to charge him with misdemeanors like harassment, menacing, reckless endangerment, etc. and not this poorly worded stalking law.

Let me put it this way: no one has called the police when my kid has knocked on the door selling Girl Scout cookies.

So, why was he pounding on the door... given that we are in the era of cell phones? Oh, that's right. Because she's an ex-girlfriend, and he knows she's trying to avoid him.

Why are you making excuses for his behavior?

 

[nate829]

Step away.

Step FAR away, and stop giving your cousin money. He clearly doesn't have a clue, and at this point you are just enabling more of his bad behavior. You are not going to get your money back. Ever. Even if.

By your description, he is guilty of everything that he's been charged with. His lawyer has been doing his best to give this deadbeat cousin of yours a deal, because a trial is a crap shoot - and the odds are not in your cousin's favor. FYI, the sane thing to do, when someone takes legal action to avoid/minimize contact with you is to run the 7734 away from them and avoid them like the plague. Your cousin did not do that. He repeatedly contacted his ex. What you described *is* forcing someone off the road. He is an irrational scary man who seems to not understand boundaries and even if he takes the deal, he'll be back in court on new charges the moment he gets a chance.

Your cousin's lawyer and the prosecutor have a professional relationship, and will have to deal with each other long after your cousin's case is nothing but a bad memory. If the prosecutor hasn't dealt with the lawyer in bad faith, there is little reason to start now. If the lawyer was shaking during the call, it was out of frustration with having to deal with such idiots.

She never took legal action to avoid/minimize contact. There was no protection order in place. She has put protection orders in place over the years but she never showed up to court so they all got dropped at the first hearing.
They charged him with reckless endangerment for allegedly running his ex off the road and dropped the charges at the first hearing.
If he was really that bad of a guy he could have rammed her car and broken a window at her house. He made no threats and never had a weapon. He has no criminal record. People get misdemeanors for actually doing something like destroying property and assaulting people. No damage was done in these cases other than the court saying that his ex suffered "serious emotional distress" which they get to define. Sure, he was angry that his ex left with his daughter and wouldn't let him see her. Yes, he should have gone through the courts to get visitation. We hired a family attorney and he now has visits with his daughter twice a week and the family didn't challenge it at all. At the first exchange the family said they didn't know he was being charged with anything and didn't want to press charges. They told him to ask for a trial and they would just not show up. They worked with their family attorney to get the protection order for his ex modified so that she could drop off his daughter at the exchanges since her mother was going back to work as a teacher at the end of the summer.

 

[nate829]

Let me put it this way: no one has called the police when my kid has knocked on the door selling Girl Scout cookies.

So, why was he pounding on the door... given that we are in the era of cell phones? Oh, that's right. Because she's an ex-girlfriend, and he knows she's trying to avoid him.

Why are you making excuses for his behavior?

Not making excuses, I just don't think he deserves a felony.
What's the appropriate charge if someone is angry and goes and pounds on someone's door?

 

[Ohiogal]

Not making excuses, I just don't think he deserves a felony.
What's the appropriate charge if someone is angry and goes and pounds on someone's door?

Based on what you have stated, it is a felony

 

[quincy]

Nate829, you aren't by any chance this cousin you are talking about, are you? You seem to be way too involved in his life.

 

[HighwayMan]

II'm surprised at how sloppily the case is put together...

Oh really? Who are YOU to judge the work of ANY licensed attorney, especially a prosecutor?

 

[Eekamouse]

Not making excuses, I just don't think he deserves a felony.
What's the appropriate charge if someone is angry and goes and pounds on someone's door?

Ask your cousin. I bet he knows.

 

[Just Blue]

Ask your cousin. I bet he knows.