Jenny Jump Up Is In Trouble
I have three younger sisters—so there were four of us total. When I tell people that, their initial reaction often contains some form of sympathy for my father. Yes, he had it rough. We were a force to be reckoned with or, as he liked to say, like a den of vipers. He liked to exaggerate.
I am the oldest, followed by Jenny. She is a year and a half younger, two years grade-wise. We were both adopted at a young age and could not have been any more different. At least that is what I thought growing up.
I was good, and she was Jenny Jump Up.Seriously. Jenny got the nickname Jenny Jump Up in first or second grade because her ADHD was so bad that even her six and seven year old classmates noticed. She was chosen as student of the week and all the kids in the class made a big poster where they wrote things they liked about her. And they were all some variation of “we like Jenny because she jumps up.” Meaning she couldn’t stay seated in the classroom. Ever.
But as funny as the nickname was, it’s a testament to how clueless people were at the time when it came to dealing with learning disabilities. She was Jenny Jump Up and there was no saving her. No point in wasting time, she was a lost cause. A bad kid. Unfortunately, when you get called a bad kid long enough you start to believe it and you start to act like one. So she ran away, she had kids young, she struggled financially. She did all the things that Jump Ups are supposed to do. And for a few years, I thought I hated her.
It was not until my late twenties that I realized how amazing Jenny was. Despite all the ridiculing and non-believers, she graduated high school and has managed to support three kids on her own. And you will never find anyone who loves their kids as much as my sister. They are her world, and she is theirs.
Last week, my sister was arrested in a small town in Illinois and charged with multiple felonies related to drugs. They set her bail at $500,000 and assigned her a “public defender” from a neighboring county who doesn’t even have any experience with criminal defense. I guess he just signed on the county's list because he was looking to make a few extra bucks every now and again. To make matters worse, the guy wasn’t available to meet with her this week and could not attend the scheduled hearing so I had to hire a private attorney that we cannot afford. And what about her kids? Apartment? Bills? Car? School? It is $1 per minute just to speak to her on the phone.
I am scared and heartbroken and angry. I have always known that our criminal justice system was less than fair, but I did not know just how devastatingly stacked it was against the poor and minorities.
This cannot continue.
terrible situation... to make matters worse, Illinois is one of those states that got rid of bondsmen -- so to get her out you need to come up with 10% of the 500K in cash no wiggle room.
Im not licensed in IL, but i practiced criminal law in arizona for a couple years. If you want, i can draft (but you or your sister is going to have to file it) a motion to reduce bail and take a look at the case for you and give you my take. Unfortunately, thats about the extent of what I can do without putting my license in jeopardy. But im happy to do that much. HMU on steemit chat if you want.
Thank you, that is incredibly informative and generous of you. My apologies for the late response, I decided to fly out to Illinois to see what she is up against. Unfortunately, she has three felony charges, two of which are Class X and come with mandatory minimums and no probation. She was in a car with two individuals and there was a large amount of cannibis. They were pulled over by an unmarked car that was part of a task force. Apparently they look for out of state plates and pull them over for perceived traffic violations. Because of that, I decided my money would be better spent hiring a private attorney rather than bond her out. Her preliminary hearing was yesterday afternoon, and like you said, they found probable cause and set a trial date in April. The attorney seems optimistic though, so I guess that is good. Once again, thank you for your kind words and offer to help. This is such an amazing group of people!
This is an incredibly wise decision. A very surprising number make the opposite decision (to use their limited resuources to pay the bond).
Im assuming the class X are posession with intent to deliver... don't get too freaked about it.
What you have to understand about criminal prosecution is that the initial charges filed represent an opening bargaining position. Something like 95% of criminal charges are resolved through a plea bargain. If people didn't take plea bargains the system would shut down. So to encourage people to take plea bargains they overcharge. But in order for overcharging like that to be effective in encouraging people to take plea bargains, they have to come through with an offer considerably better than the initial charges.
Because your sister has a paid attorney, the case, if it goes to trial, is going to be much more of a pain in the ass for the DA's office. That means they are more inclined to offer a better deal to avoid trial. Also, if your sister wasn't the owner or the driver of the car, they actually have a pretty tough case to make, especially for posession with intent.
If i had to take a guess on how this case is going to resolve, assuming your sister has no adult felony record, id say in about a week ot two the DA is going to come to her attorney with an offer somewhere between:
They'll set a date for the plea acceptance (usually within a couple weeks but it depends on how busy the court is) and shell most likely get out then and have to come back for sentencing in three months. During that three months, she's likely to have to stay in the county (definitely in the state). After sentencing, she'll maybe be able to go back to where ever she lives if she puts in an application. But realistically its jurisdiction dependent and i wouldnt count on it.
Even with no guaranteed probation as part of the plea, its nearly certain that she will get probation if this is her first felony offense.
No problem. its always good to help out.
Upvoted and resteemed for visibility.
@riosparada is an attorney, I don't know if this is his cup of tea or not, but he's a great guy and might be able to connect you guys to resources to help.
Thank you and thanks for tip! I will look him up.
I am an attorney too but I practice environmental law. I had absolutely no idea how different criminal is and how screwed up the system was.
Yeah it's seriously messed up. I've been giving serious thought into becoming a public defender myself. Not an attorney myself, but evidently neither is the guy representing your sister.
PDs aren't criminal defense attorneys . They have one job -- to shepherd the accused through the system and make sure the court proceedings conform to very basic constitutional requirements (like the right to cross-examine witnesses, and habeas corpus, and the protection against self-incrimination).
Formulating and providing a defense, to the extent that they do it at all, is just incidental to their primary duty. And as a PD you can't really be too aggressive about doing so, because the office of the DA essentially has the power to fire you.
If someone wants to make a real difference, the best path i s to open a private practice, and do some pro-bono criminal defense work.
He is not! My sister was arrested a week ago today and immediately asked for an attorney. So far, neither he nor anyone from his office has attempted to contact her. They just make them rot until they go crazy. It is so unbelievable.
She's very unlikely to have any kind of meaningful interaction with her attorney until after the prelim. hearing when she's indicted (which is basically a formality. they don't arrest people that they can't indict).
Good luck with this. I am sorry to read about this story :(
Please let us know how things evolve.
Thank you! I will keep you posted.
Sorry to hear about this. I am wishing for the best for your sister and the rest of your family. As somebody with atypical neurology myself, I am very sympathetic to how this society treats people who don't quite fit the mold...
Thank you! It is a shame people can't understand that one size does not fit all when it comes to interacting with one another.
Re-steeming this for visibility!
Thank you, I really really appreciate it!
Good luck with everything! Hope it works out in a better way somehow!
I am sorry to hear about your sister's situation.
Thank you--not ideal that is for sure. I feel ashamed because it is something that people have been crying out about for decades and I didn't bother to listen until it impacted me.