JM: Tell us about the pre-sentencing process: Mario: I had 2 hearings 1ST was called 8.1 hearing..
that was to let me know how much my bond was..
The 2nd hearing they gave me a public
deffender.. and gave me a court date in 60
days.. I was in the court room with other
criminals.. my lawyer talcked about plea deals..
Tanya: I spent 120 days waiting for my trial & at the
last minute I took a plea so I could get out.
JM: Did you have police stop by your house for questioning? If not please give us details on how you came to be arrested. Mario: I wrote the bad check in 2002 for $226. At the
time i was a alcoholic, and not maniging my
money like i should have..Ten years later i was
working offshore. and needed my license renewed,
and could not the hot check department had a
warrent for my arrest.. for the check and a
couple of months later i turned my self in. Tanya: I turned myself in to my bondsman
JM: What was court like? Please give as many details as you recall. Mario: while i was in court it was a humbling
experience, i was unshaved and under wait,I was
handcuff and shackled, my public deffender was
polite, the judge was a fair man. I rember i had
to use the restroom real bad and they would not
allow me to.there were alot of other people with
me,also handcufft and shackled.the hole process
lasted about 15 min.
Tanya: Arraignment was boring. I just sat there until my
name was called, entered a plea was given a court
date for my trial. Trial was different. My
attorney & I had came to an agreement with the
prosecuting attorney (called a plea bargain)to
change my plea to guilty & give a detail
confession of my crimes in exchange for a lighter
sentence. So I was informed by the prosecutor
before we went to court what the judge was going
to sentence me to. I knew I wouldn't be going
home for a long time.
JM: What were your original charges? What did you end up being convicted of? Mario: My orginal charges were a hot check charge. The
check amount was $226.I pled guilty to a
class "C" felony and recived 3 years probation
and a fine.. Tanya: Felony DUI, Felony hot checks, Felony failure to
appear and parole violation. I had several
misdemeanor charges. I was convicted of all the
charges