First time I've ever been ticketed while running in Chicago (Read 1483 times)

     

    Anyhow I talked to my lawyer, and he's just as outraged as I am about what they're putting me through.

     

    Ok, I am going to throw in one big picture "opinion"  here:

     

    OF COURSE the lawyer is outraged!  Because he knows that if he is outraged, then you'll be outraged!  And if you are outraged, you'll say "hell yeah I'll pay you several hundred bucks to represent me!"   IE.  It is in the lawyer's personal financial interest to be "outraged!"  Come on man..!  

     

    ( I am still of the opinion you can represent yourself, and you'll get the same result with, or without a lawyer in this type of case...)

    .

    The Plan '15 →   ///    "Run Hard, Live Easy."   ∞

    C-R


       

      Two more answers and you get to cross the bridge.

       

      and what exactly is the airspeed of an unladen swallow?

       

      Wrigley - careful now. They effing installed lights.


      "He conquers who endures" - Persius
      "Every workout should have a purpose. Every purpose should link back to achieving a training objective." - Spaniel

      http://ncstake.blogspot.com/

         

        I'm pretty sure that getting from here to there is the basic purpose of all transportation.

        Well, in Alaska, trains are for freight and tourists - and an occasional party like the annual ski train.  Transportation for locals - don't be silly. Wink

         

        No commuting, but I think they still might have some flag stops.  Alaska Railroad.

         

        Locals are SOL for most anything involving trains - except to wait for them at crossings or watch them go by.

         

        That said, we do have one of the prettiest railroads (at least the tourist cars) with best scenery. It just doesn't help local transportation. Neither the airport nor the central bus station is near the railroad station. There is a railroad depot at the airport but you can't get there from the railroad terminal. The joys of being in a young state - haven't quite figured out how to get connectivity.

         

        (We do have a bus from the high schools and some stores to the new xc ski area, when operational.)

        "So many people get stuck in the routine of life that their dreams waste away. This is about living the dream." - Cave Dog

          ( I am still of the opinion you can represent yourself, and you'll get the same result with, or without a lawyer in this type of case...).

           

          I know you mean well, but you really should be careful with your advice.  The guy's been charged with a crime.  A petty crime, but a crime nonetheless.  Talking to a lawyer is the first intelligent thing I've seen Red Bird do in this thread.

           

          Thinking that the judge is going to be helpful is a rookie mistake.  If anything, the judge is going to be chummy with the prosecutor and sympathetic to the police.  Having a lawyer on your side will more than tip the scales.  If I were to make predictions, I'd say:

           

          Chances of avoiding conviction without a lawyer: 35%

          Chances of avoiding conviction with a lawyer: 95%

          How To Run a Marathon: Step 1 - start running. There is no Step 2.


          YAYpril - B-Plus

             

            and what exactly is the airspeed of an unladen swallow?

             

            African or European?

               

              I know you mean well, but you really should be careful with your advice.  The guy's been charged with a crime.  A petty crime, but a crime nonetheless.  Talking to a lawyer is the first intelligent thing I've seen Red Bird do in this thread.

               

              Thinking that the judge is going to be helpful is a rookie mistake.  If anything, the judge is going to be chummy with the prosecutor and sympathetic to the police.  Having a lawyer on your side will more than tip the scales.  If I were to make predictions, I'd say:

               

              Chances of avoiding conviction without a lawyer: 35%

              Chances of avoiding conviction with a lawyer: 95%

               

              True, I don't want to take any chances here since this is the first time in my life, I've ever been charged with a misdemeanor. Thus I don't know what to really expect when I enter the courtroom.  I was already surprised by the ticket issued to me.  Given all the corruption in Chicago too, a lot of things just don't really turn out as you think they should.  

              daisymae25


              Squidward Bike Rider

                 

                I travel all over this country. Trust me, 99% of the country does not have better public transportation than Chicago. How many people on this running board can just head out their front door, walk a block or two, and have a bus or train that picks them up within ten minutes to shoot them downtown. Public transportation in all but a very few cities in this country is God-awful to non-existent.

                 

                And why did I just answer a troll?

                 

                I agree.  Public transportation where I'm at is a friggin' joke.  All we have are unreliable buses, and there's no passenger train service at all.

                L Train


                    Given all the corruption in Chicago too, a lot of things just don't really turn out as you think they should.  

                   

                   

                     

                    True, I don't want to take any chances here since this is the first time in my life, I've ever been charged with a misdemeanor. Thus I don't know what to really expect when I enter the courtroom.  I was already surprised by the ticket issued to me.  Given all the corruption in Chicago too, a lot of things just don't really turn out as you think they should.  

                     

                     It'll be up to you on what you decide to do.  There are obviously 2 points of view here.  One side saying "get a lawyer" and the other side saying "you don't need one".   So, assuming you get a lawyer, wht is he going to charge in Chicago to represent you?  has he disclosed his fees for representing you yet?

                     

                    Well, I wish you luck.  Because in the end, (in my opinion) 90% of the outcome is determined by the judge you get, not  "lawyer versus no lawyer".  I just hope you get a pleasant judge, not a bitter one.

                     

                    The Plan '15 →   ///    "Run Hard, Live Easy."   ∞

                       

                       

                      --- I remember that game so well, and I am not even a big baseball fan, or from Chicago for that matter.   All I can say?  If the Cubs were a good team, they would have come back from that 'fan interference' issue.  Good teams bounce back.  Crappy teams fold under pressure or onebad circumstance in a game....

                      The Plan '15 →   ///    "Run Hard, Live Easy."   ∞

                        Berner is about the only person who has truly added any value to Red Bird in this thread.

                         

                        However, I can't help but take this opportunity to tell my own story of avoiding a trespassing conviction without a lawyer. This was in Rhode Island in about 1991 so who knows how relevant it is, but hey, it's a good story.

                         

                        When I was in my junior year at Providence, my cousin, Brendan, was in his sophomore year at Bryant College just down the road in Smithfield, RI. The Bruins were playing the Whalers in the playoffs at the Hartford Civic Center and it was impossible to get tickets to the Garden so we bought tickets to an "away" game in Hartford and a bunch of my cousin's hoodlum friends from the Cambridge projects came down for the weekend. We were all going to drive to Hartford on Sunday for the game. We spent all day Saturday drinking beer and playing softball and by the time night rolled around we were pretty oiled up. At some point as we were walking across campus one of my cousin's hoodlum friends, Donny, (not a college student, himself) had an open container of beer and an RA tried to confiscate it from him. Since Donny was barely literate and didn't know what an RA was, he punched the RA across the face. Smithfield Police came and arrested him for assault and battery. Since my cousin's 2 other friends had no local address and had actually been signed in as guests, they were allowed to stay on campus, but the cops drove me to my apartment in Providence.

                         

                        When I got home, I started thinking, which was a bad idea in my present state...we were all supposed to leave for Hartford at like 11 the next morning...my car was at Bryant...this was before the days of cell phones...my cousin didn't have a phone in his room. In an alcohol induced moment of bad decision making, I had one of my friends drive me back to Bryant and drop me off. I figured I'd just keep my head down, walk to my cousins dorm and go to sleep and nobody would be the wiser. I wasn't on campus more than a minute when the security guard recognized me, called the cops and I wound up in the Smithfield jail (in the cell right next to Donny) charged with trespassing.

                         

                        The cops took my sneakers and I spent the night freezing on a metal bench wearing shorts and a t-shirt, listening to Donny scream and yell like an idiot about his rights and suing people, etc. I just kept my mouth shut the whole time wishing I'd stayed at my apartment in Providence. Any time the cops spoke to me I said yes sir, no sir, thank you sir. In the morning, the cops brought me a hot cup of coffee but nothing for Donny. It was a Sunday morning so we had to wait for a magistrate or something to come so we could get our court summons and be released. I was charged with misdemeanor trespassing and given a court date soon thereafter.

                         

                        I didn't hire a lawyer. I was a broke 21-year-old college student and I was trying to avoid telling my (broke) mom about the whole thing. On my court date I put on my classic blue blazer with the brass buttons (I didn't own a suit yet) and some dress paints and a red and blue striped tie. I showed up at court and said, "yes your honor, no your honor," and "yes I've learned some valuable lessons here your honor, mostly about the kind of people I should not associate with, your honor," and "I am sorry, your honor."

                         

                        The judge suspended the charges, I had to pay some court fees and if i kept out of trouble for a year or something the charges would go away. I did, and they did.

                         

                        The best part of the day was after it was over I went straight back to campus where I was late for Sister Helen O'Neil's gospels class. I walked in 15 minutes late in my jacket and tie and took a seat near the front because all the back seats were taken. I was so happy and relieved, I just blurted out, "Sorry, Sister," I said, "I was in court this morning." The class all laughed, Sister just glared at me and went on with her lecture.

                         

                        What ever happened to Donny, you ask? I only saw him one other time after that weekend and last I heard, Donny had graduated to bigger and better crimes, eventually doing a stint at MCI Walpole on some kind of drugs and weapons charges.

                         

                        So, I'm not necessarily advocating this approach, Red Bird, and I think your best bet is to stick with Berner's advice. But since you've already received a cavalcade of bad advice and irrelevant bullshit in this thread, I thought I'd throw mine on the pile too.  Good luck!!

                        Runners run

                          Yeah from my limited experience it will be a lot about the judge.  Hopefully he is a runner.  The only person who is really going to do much in this case will be you.  The Lawyer is going to walk in doing minimal work and the prosecutor is going to have done a lot less.  Most likely not even having looked at your case until court.  All three of these people will buddie around leaving you feeling like a complete stranger.

                           

                          Honestly I would go without a lawyer.  It is just in my nature and I've done this with two speeding tickets with only the fine and points at risk to lose.  Mainly I did it to learn more about the judicical system and learn quite a bit.  City court is a whole lot different than surburban court.

                           

                          In Ohio each ticket has an ORC (Ohio Revised Code) on it that you can look up to research the exact charge against you.  Ignorance of the law is not a  deffense but you should also have something clearly written on the ticket that tells you what you got ticketed for.   I got off on one ticket because of the missing ORC code.   The other because the Cop did not know the legal speed limit of an unmarked road in Ohio.  I had three cops tell me I was wrong.  However, I had the Ohio Department of Transportation tell me I was right and that is all I needed.

                           

                          Good luck with this.  I really think things are in your favor but all it takes is a judge in a bad mood or one who hates runners and you up a creek.

                          2014 Goals: (Yeah I suck)

                          • Sub 22  5K
                          • Sub 1:35 1/2 marathon 
                          • Sub 3:25:00 Marathon
                          xhristopher


                            Redbird, One good thing about hiring the right lawyer is that they will know the judges, which will dictate strategy. On your own it will be guesswork.

                              Berner is about the only person who has truly added any value to Red Bird in this thread.

                               

                              Clearly you missed my picture of a typical Cardinal fan.

                               

                              I'd also nominate whoever grabbed the google images of the crime scene because that gave us some good mental images.

                               

                              The court date isn't until April 30th?  How will we ever keep the suspense up?

                              "Good-looking people have no spine. Their art never lasts. They get the girls, but we're smarter." - Lester Bangs

                                 

                                No trespassing!

                                 

                                Good story, Mikey. I was looking sharp as a 15 year old in my green sweatpants and green whalers starters jacket that night. I stayed home though and listened on the radio.

                                Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and rogues
                                We're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes