Justice, Not Only Blind, But Deaf And Dumb Too

Justice, Not Only Blind, But Deaf And Dumb Too

Image by Cayusa
Day 141 of 365 (Year Three)

So today we finally had our day in court, if you can call it that. For those of you who don’t know, Kathy and a friend were involved in a traffic accident back in November. It wasn’t a major deal as there was only minor damage to her car and none to the other vehicle and nobody was hurt.

At the scene of the accident, the woman who Kathy and her friend struck, got out of the car, checked for damage and called the police. When the police arrived, the woman claimed Kathy and her friend switched seats to make it appear as if the driver was Kathy’s friend and not Kathy.

Kathy, as some of you know, suffers from debilitating migraines and the night of the accident had been suffering from one and had asked her friend to drive. At the scene, Kathy was obviously impaired and both her and her friend explained this to the cops.

None of that mattered. The woman had made an accusation and the cops went with that and both were taken in and processed and then released.

There is no doubt in my mind that Kathy and her friend are telling the truth. I can’t imagine why this other woman would make this accusation, but she did and apparently that is all it takes.

When we got to court, the Public Defender went over the case with us and explained the process. As far as we knew at that time, both Kathy and her friend would have their chance to explain the events of that evening in rebuttal to the testimony of the woman they struck.

The woman got up and told her side of the story. It was obvious after this woman’s testimony that the judge bought it hook line and sinker. There were several inconsistencies in her story that I felt the lawyer should have capitalized on, but never did. The judge was sold and there wasn’t much else we could do after that. Their lawyer suggested they don’t take the stand as it would only make things worse. We had a sympathetic judge who didn’t like to hand out jail time unless absolutely necessary and taking the stand to rebut the other woman’s testimony would only hurt our cause and they could both be found guilty of purgery.

The DA was out for blood and was convinced of their guilt before even hearing their side of the story. The things we overheard the DA saying during a recess were shocking and personally, a bit offensive. She made it a point to speak loud enough so that we could overhear here and several times during that conversation she had with the police officers she would look up at both Kathy and her friend as if to make sure they heard her.

The other woman’s behavior and demeanor as well as that of her passenger who was the other witness wasn’t that of people doing their civic duty. There was a smugness to her attitude that really bothered me….a lot.

In the end, some of the charges were dropped and both Kathy and her friend walked out of the courtroom. It could have been much worse. What I have an issue with is that neither Kathy or her friend were able to rebut the accusations without fear of the possibility of further charges. To be told, sure you can take the stand, but the judge could find your guilty of purgery or that your testimony, the truth, could do more damage than good is just bullshit.

There are two sides to every disagreement. This other woman claims she saw something. Kathy and her friend claim she is wrong. Now neither Kathy nor her friend are rocket scientists, but neither one of them are dumb. You would have to be pretty damn dumb to try and pull a stunt like switching seats, especially by exiting the vehicle and walking around the car in sight of everyone and really REALLY dumb to do it in front of the person you just hit. The one point that the lawyer, judge and cops kept bringing up was why would this woman lie. Funny enough, it was the one question they never asked this other woman. Maybe she was having a shitty day. Maybe she was pissed about getting hit. Who knows. The question that none of them, the DA, cops or this woman, wanted to ask is why would Kathy and her friend do this in plain sight of the other accident victim? The answer is they wouldn’t and they didn’t.

I’m a strong believer in Karma and I have no doubts that this woman and her passenger will face consequences for their actions today. I’ve read the testimony she gave to the cops. There were no screeching tires. The heavy rush hour traffic she spoke of on the stand didn’t exist that night at that time. I find it surprising that she could so clearly identify Kathy behind the wheel of the car as the driver, but didn’t even realize there were two people in the car until they got out. She testified that she never took her eyes off of Kathy or her friend yet she claims she was examining her rear bumper for damage. Pretty hard to look at a bumper in front of you and two people and a vehicle behind you all the while talking on a cell phone at the same time. I’ve also seen her car. Jeeps are many things, but those soft top plastic rear windows aren’t the same as a clear glass windshield.

I don’t know why she did this or what her motivations were, but I really hope Karma comes and bites her on the ass. I’m not one to wish bad things on others, but in this case, here’s hoping.

You know, it really makes it hard to teach your kids that the truth will prevail and that you should always tell the truth after an experience like this where the truth was never allowed to be told and we were told that telling it would only hurt us. Yeah, the justice system really works well don’t it?