With My ticket in hand for peace disturbance. (Link hear TBD) I show up to the courthouse ready to fight with the constitution on my side and after researching other similar cases I knew I had a winning case.
While preparing for my defense I found out about cases that I could use as a base for my defense. A Similar case was Michigan People V. Boomer. Where a man was accused of cursing around kids. He took his case to the Court of Appeals of Michigan. The court ruled that the law the man was previously convicted on was unconstitutional.
“750.337 is an unconstitutional enactment in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution because the statute is facially vague. Therefore, because defendant's conviction was based on the unconstitutional statute, we reverse the conviction.”
Other similar cases all ended with the defendant proving that the law they were charged with was unconstitutional. I was preparing a solid defense with the aid of my public defender. Alongside with research, I was also a victim of first amendment retaliation so we sued and won in a civil lawsuit vs the City Of Piedmont Mo and The Sheriff of Wayne County. Where in the lawsuit the city agreed to have the laws changed.
After dragging my feet for a few months. It was October when I wrote a series of stories concerning the treatment of the inmates of the Wayne County Jail. In that story, I wrote about the unsanitary conditions the massive overcrowding and alleged abuse from the jailers within the jail.
After a Sunshine request was sent asking a few questions about the jail which was important to back up the claims of former inmates. I was sent a letter stating that the prosecuting attorney has filed a probation violation. The violation that he filed was because of the peace disturbance charge I received from the bus wreck that at the time I have not been convicted.
I was in shock that someone who was not proven guilty of a crime could be charged with probation violation. It was time for me to learn a little unknown part of being on probation. When on probation simply being charged with a crime even an unconstitutional one, even before convicted of the new crime, you are guilty of probation violation. The probation violation is held to a lower standard of proof than other criminal charges.
When going to court on the probation violation for the first time. The prosecuting attorney made it clear to me that as long as I accept the offer he gave me for the peace disturbance that he will drop the probation violation. The offer was 10 days in Jail to serve on the weekends starting about a month after I pleaded guilty. With the probation violation being held over me and the possibility of the seven years that the violation could send me to prison. I decided to take the offer and pleaded guilty to the Peace disturbance.
