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Pre-sentencing

Interview with Reggie, Sarah, Brenda, Mike and Will

JM: Tell us about the pre-sentencing process:
Reggie: The Presentencing process was Basically I didn't have bond money so I stayed in jail until my court date. Some times the court was so full that thay revised the court date or the lawyer didn't show up so the date would be revised.
Sarah: I don't know what pre-sentencing is. There was a hearing, and at the end, the judge found me guilty of civil contempt of a court order, and floundered around about the sentence with opposing counsel, not seeming to know what to order, then concocked something.
Brenda: the court system want me to paid money for some checks that i didn't write and they give me one to p[aid it i could see paying for some thing i didn't do so i didn't paid the money and warrant got issue and i got put in wake county until Nash county came to get me
Mike: I've been going to wake county jail since i was 16 and I am now 22 I have been over 6 times. Every time the process was, they arrest you. You either make bail, or you wait till your court date. After that you get your sentencing which is most of all my cases were jail, after your court hearing your escorted to jail. And wait till you time is up.
Will: Before I was sentenced, I was held with $50,000 bond on a misdemeanor probation violation. I was put in yellow pod downtown and after three or four days, I was transferred to the jail annex, which holds the overflow that the main downtown jail cannot handle. The downtown jail was so overcrowded that ten, fifteen, sometimes more than twenty men were sleeping on plastic gym mats, right on the concrete floor in the middle of the pod. The middle area with tables, tv, etc.

JM: Did you have police stop by your house for questioning? If not please give us details on how you came to be arrested.
Reggie: They charged me with B& E and assault with a deadly weapon. Which I did jump through a window because the person I was argueing with locked me out however I didn't have a weapon.
Sarah: No. I was never arrested. I was just put in jail straight from the hearing.
Brenda: no i was riding in a friends car and she got pull over and they ran everyone name in the car even my kids and said i had a warrant for me so the took me in and find the papers on file i did think i had anything on me
Mike: i had the police come by and take me to jail when i was 17 for F.T.A and i even went to court that day. and got my charges dropped. but never got my money back for bonding out. Fortunately that's the only time I've had them come to my house for anything.
Will: I was arrested after I went downtown to see my probation officer. She had told me that I needed to come in to fill out some paper work, which I did. After an hour or so filling out papers, she told me I was under arrest for violating the terms of my probation and several officers rushed into her office to cuff me.

JM: What was court like? Please give as many details as you recall.
Reggie: Court was basically I didn't want to sit in jail anymore so I took a plea deal.
Sarah: The court hearing was merely a formality on a Show Cause Order for civil contempt. These are not heard by a jury. The case was not placed on the calendar. The hearing was held "out of sight" in a separate courtroom during Monday's calendar 10 am call. Opposing counsel spoke first, lying repeatedly, then my attorney and I both spoke, then opposing counsel again. We never had a chance to hear or cross-examine any sworn testimony against me. The judge admitted near the end that he had no choice based on a prior COA Opinion. His decision was prejudged. The judge knew and allowed opposing counsel to lie, and in fact covered for him when my attorney pointed it out. The judge said it didn't matter.
Brenda: i got to Nash county about 10 day before my court date and i wrote the DA and ask for a earlier date and got one the judge ask me why i did pay the money i told him i didn't feel i own it to the court for something i didn't do
Mike: Court well, It's long. Usually unorganized, and depending on your last name you could be there for hours and occasionally the judge will leave to take a break I'd assume. Once your name gets called you go before the judge he/she may or may not ask you or your lawyer any questions ,but just by looking at your charges jump to sentencing .
Will: I went to court after about three weeks in the jail and the jail annex. I had a public defendant that I had never met before and she suggested that I beg for a continuance. She first asked for a reduction in bail and my bond was reduced to $25,000. I could not raise the money and my family was out of the country at the time so coming up with even %10 of that was not possible.

JM: What were your original charges? What did you end up being convicted of?
Reggie: B&e and assault with a deaqdly weapon with intent to kill
Sarah: On motion of opposing counsel in my 2006 civil libel suit against the News & Observer, I was ordered by Judge Donald W. Stephens to appear before Judge Wm. Pittman on 11/2/2009 to show cause why I should not be held in civil contempt for "apparent" violation of a pre-filing injunction ordered in 2001 in an unrelated matter, for filing opposition to a $98,260.40 default judgment for attorney fees. Bennett v. N&O, 06-CVS-14229. The 2001 order prohibited me from filing anything without a lawyer in my father's personal injury lawsuit, a case I was ordered to file on his behalf in 2000. Judge Wm. Pittman convicted of me willful "civil contempt" of the 2001 order, purporting that I had filed a motion for relief from the default judgment without a lawyer.
Brenda: bad checks and driving while license revoke
Mike: assault on a female, drug paraphernalia, drug possession, F.T.A, probation violations. My charges for the assault on a female got dropped from a felony to a misdemeanor because I was originally charged for attempted murder by strangulation.
Will: My original charges were for a DUI in 2010. I was charged with violating my probation from the DUI.

Read about sentencing in the Wake County Jail