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Pre-sentencing

Interview with JD

JM: Tell us about the pre-sentencing process:
JD: I was placed on 1 year probation for Misdemaenor Possession of Marijuana in January 2005 which was a violation of my Pre-trial Diversion probation for Underage Possession Of Alcohol November 2004 conducted by the company Maximus Probation(No longer Employed by ACC). After 11 1/2 months I was arrested again for Underage Alcohol Possession in January 2006. I was however released the next day because I was bailed (bonded) out before my probation violation was flagged.

JM: Did you have police stop by your house for questioning? If not please give us details on how you came to be arrested.
JD: Yes. A week after I was bonded out I stopped by my relatives house in the evening. I was inside the house and I heard a knock on the front door, when I opened it, a ACC Sheriff greeted me. He immediately stepped into the doorway and instructed me to turn around as he fixed the handcuffs. He then showed me my mugshot on a warrant he had affixed to his clip board. My relatives place happened to be the address on my bail bond form not my current address, I just happened to be an easy catch for the sheriff.

JM: What was court like? Please give as many details as you recall.
JD: Court was an ordeal, least favorable jail experience. I had to sit in jail for 5 days before I could see a judge concerning my case because ACC jail only does court for probation violations once a week, which I had missed by a day. If you have court you will be notified first thing in the morning and transferred to a group holding cell in the processing section of the jail where you wait. You then change into new uniforms and eat a sack breakfast consisting of baloney sandwiches instead of normal breakfast. Once every prisoner going before the judge was shackled and loaded onto vans, it is only a short 10 minute ride to the courthouse downtown. (Shackles did not come off for the next 10 hours or so) Prisoners are unloaded and all males(20-25 total) were place in the same cramped cell in the basement of ACC court house. Here we would wait for hours, shackled in the tiny cell while they would slowly get and replace people going before the judge. My time finally arrived and I was ushered upstairs to the Probate Court Room on the ground floor. My lawyer, a public defense attorney, didn't show but apparently he had talked to the clerk. The judge than asked me a few questions concerning how I came to be in front of her. I told her I had too much fun in my first year at college and I was dedicated to getting my probation and court problems behind, meaning I didn't want another year of probation so I could focus on my studies. She offered me 20 days in jail to be completely free, but I would only have to serve 10 more because I had received credit for time I had already served, so I agreed and that was that. I was then returned to the cramped cell in the basement where I sat for another couple of hours. In the late afternoon we were returned to the jail, having missed dinner we had another baloney sandwich meal but I did not care it was actually nice to be back at the jail, to be able to stretch when the shackles finally came off was amazing.

JM: What were your original charges? What did you end up being convicted of?
JD: Probation Violation for Misdemeanor Underage Alcohol Possession. Licenses Required (I had an out of state license that I had not changed within the 3 month limit for legal GA residents) Misdemeanor Possession of Marijuana

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