Interview with mitchell, Stewart, Adam, Jeffrey, Brent and Daryll
JM: Tell us about the pre-sentencing process: mitchell: It was very interesting and to this day do not
understand. Two investigators came to my mother's
house asking had she seen me and she said not
today and asked was I in trouble. They said no
just have her give us a call and gave her there
personal cell number. So the next day I called and
he asked why I haven't been to work that my boss
was worried about me I told him to cut the act I do
not have a job so he asked me did i know
anything bout opium n i said that is what this
is bout he asked could we meet somewhere n go
for a drive n talk i said the only place you
need to talk to me would be at the station so i
went there n he put me in his car in front of
intake n asked me was there some things i needed
o tell him i said no the only hing i knew about
the supposed opium is i found it on top of a gas
pump n someone wanted to buy it i had never
heard of it n the only thing i ever known of it
wasto be n incense which the person who bought
it say it getsyouhigh which i didnt get high so
was not into it so someone offered me 300.00 for
it n of course being 21 n broke i took the money
not knowing it was a set up n 6 months later he
would be knocking on my moms door which till
this day is still weird to me but i ended up
being booked after 4 hours of sitting in the
tank while they were trying to find out what to
charge me with they did not even have a warrant
when he took me to the back if i could remember
the names i would give them to you but i dont
want nemore trouble well i got bailed out after
being there forever it felt Stewart: I was charged with a crime, processed into the
jail and then the next day I saw a judge via
closed circuit monitor was told how much my bail
was of which at the time I was not able to post
bail and was denied a pre trial release so I sat
waiting for a court date Adam: I arrived at the jail on a Saturday night and was
there for child support. I saw the judge on the
Monday morning. They had come by my mothers
looking for me on each of the two warrants that I
had. Other than that they did have a reason to
question anything Jeffrey: was processed into the jail and the next day saw
a judge on a video monitor and was told what my
bail was, which I could not pay so I was in the
jail for 7 months and finally went to court for
sentencing on a plea agreement worked out between
my p.d. and the prosocuter Brent: got booked in, waited hours for the whole
processing procedure then taken to be strip
searched and givin a shower and got a torn up
jump suit and boxers, t shirt, and socks, then
put in a holding cell for a few hour, then taken
to a temporary dorm, then the next day re located
to a permanent dorm and I waited approx. 2 and a
half months to see a judge for a vop Daryll: well I was held without bail for about 7 months
before I went to court. I had a private attorney
so he was able to work out a plea agreement with
the prosecuting attorney and I was sentenced to 3
years probation and complete the art program and
after I was sentenced I waited 7 weeks for art to
come get me
JM: Did you have police stop by your house for questioning? If not please give us details on how you came to be arrested. mitchell: yes explained in the above Stewart: I was out with some friends one night and I did
not know that I had a warrant for my arrest for a
false declaration to a pawn broker and someone
that knew me, an ex girlfriend, knew I had a
warrant and she called the police and told them
where I was, the police came to where I was and
arrested me. I asked the police to secure my
vehicle and they stated no problem we will take
care of it and after they took me to jail the ex
girlfriend used a spare key to steal my vehicle.
I know this because two days later I asked my
brother to go get my vehicle from where it was
and he said "Jackie said that I said she could
use it while I was in jail" Jackie was the ex
girlfriend that called the police on me and the
crime of which I was arrested for did not have
anything to do with her so when I heard this from
my brother I asked jail staff for some assistance
to have the police get my vehicle returned the
c/o and the sgt. laughed at me and told me to get
out of their face Adam: I was at a friends house and had left to go to
the store. when I had come back I was walking
back out to the truck when a sheriffs pulled in
behind me and asked to check my id. I had been
complety out of the truck, inside and back out to
the truck and he said since I was out in the yard
drinking a beer he had a right to see who I was.
only went to jail for the child support warrants
that I had Jeffrey: I was picked up on a bench warrant that I did not
know I had, I checked into a motel and very
shortly after I checked in the police arrived and
knocked on my door and arrested me. I later found
out from my lawyer that that is what Escambia
county does, they make deals with the motel
operators to call in to the police with the name
of everyone that checks in to find people with
warrents and in return the sheriffs office turns
a blind eye to the prostitution going on at these
establishments Brent: I did 5 years in pa. for an old case and then I
was extradited down to fl. that whole process in
itself was a crime itself being locked in a
cramped trans cor van for 12 days driving all
over the country being forced to not go to the
bathroom for 6,8,10 hours at a time. that whole
process should be illegal Daryll: I was out and someone that I knew saw me and they
knew I had a bench warrant so they called the
sheriffs dept to tell them where I was and about
8 officers showed up to arrest me for the bench
warrant. I asked them to secure my vehicle and
they refused and 2 days later when I was able to
get someone to get my vehicle it had been stolen
JM: What was court like? Please give as many details as you recall. mitchell: it was horrible i had a public defender n had to
wait forever each time i went the only offer the
state was offering me was 2 years in prison of
course with only like 10 points i turned it down
my pd said they didn't have enough points to send
me to prison but i guess point system does not
matter cuz while going to court for this charge
i commited a crime on ebay n did get 30 months
state prison plus 5 years probation having only
18 points i am currently on probation still
praying i can get it paid off by oct or get avop
which my life is completely different now i have
two kids and a husband and we struggle just to
get the bills paid but anyway on the opium charge
i pled to the judge n he gave me 9 months in
county jail Stewart: I had a plea agreement with the state so when I
went to court I sat in the jury box handcuffed
for approx. 3 hours waiting for my case to be
called. once my case was finally called I told
the judge that I was not coerced and that I would
plead guilty Adam: Court for child support in Escambia county is in
the jail...There was the so called judge, a
deputy and recorder I am guessing...also a woman
on the phone relaying all the information in the
files and paperwork. judge was rude and didn't
want to hear anything. When I went back to court
he did release me and gave me 60 and 90 days to
pay my purges. Jeffrey: sat in a cramped hot holding cell for hours
before I was called to court room, the toilet did
not work in the holding cell, there were fights,
no place to sit but on a filthy floor, then in
the court room I sat for hours in a jury box,
then when done in court I went back down to the
holding cell again for 3 hours waiting to go back
to the jail to be released Brent: sat in a holding cell for hours waiting to go to
court and then when I finally got into court the
probation officer was trying to get the judge to
give me the 5 year suspended sentence that I had
for the original sentence but the judge was not
going for that because I only had a technical
violation so he sentenced me to what I scored out
to which was 13 months Daryll: court was a very slow process. I had an attorney
and every time they called my case either my
attorney or the prosocuter was off some where
else dealing with another court room and by the
time every one was on the same page I had been
sitting in the court room for about 5 to 6 hours
JM: What were your original charges? What did you end up being convicted of? Stewart: 6 counts of false declaration to a pawn broker
and 1 count of receiving stolen property and I
was convicted on all counts Adam: was in for child support...which I thought was
debtors jail and not legal Jeffrey: receiving stolen property and theft, was
convicted of 1 count receiving stolen property
and false declaration to a pawn broker Brent: I had grand theft charges which I was put on
probation for then violated so I was sentenced on
the violation Daryll: I had a charge of grand theft and 6 counts of
making a false declaration to a pawn broker and I
was convicted of the grand theft charge