|
CarForumPoster posted:The Police and district attorney wouldn't return her calls unless they needed something. This was my experience. My state doesn't make documents available online. My ex, the defendant, drove my car to another state after attacking me, and that state did post online records, which I was able to find. A non-profit agency guided me through the process of getting a restraining order, and went to court to bug the DA for me to get info. My problem was not that I needed stuff aggregated, so much, but that literally no info was unless I bugged them or sent someone to bug them. I think the part that might help and be feasible to do would be the middle part where it just says "on average, dna testing takes this long in your state" or "this is the average sentence for this crime."
|
#
¿
Sep 8, 2017 01:38
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 15, 2024 04:02 |
|
|
Well, the one thing I could see online was upcoming court dates for the case, so I was constantly having to ask if I needed to be there. The 2 times I actually had to go, it ended up being an "oops, can you be in court tomorrow/2 days from now?" after I had been endlessly checking for literally 2 years. I'll PM the name of the non-profit if I can figure out how, they helped me figure out forms, and sent someone to court with me every time I had to go. I had an e/n thread about it with more detail than you would probably need, updated as it happened: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3750499&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 and the case just wrapped up last month: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3830435 Most of the info I got (other than literally if I had to show up) was just valuable for peace of mind that something was progressing. The forms they informed me about were for victim compensation for medical bills and possible restitution from him, victim impact statements, etc.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 8, 2017 04:43
|
|
|
So, I guess as far as the court dates, it would have been useful to see, "this has been filed as an administrative court date to ask for a continuance, there is no way you have to go" or, "this has been filed as a type of court date that determines whether the case is thrown out...be sure to contact the DA office!" and also most of the info I could find about specific crimes or charges was aimed at defendants...sort of annoying when you're the victim and it's all defense lawyers saying "so that's what that charge means; don't let them take away YOUR FREEDOM by successfully convicting you blah blah blah!"
|
|
#
¿
Sep 8, 2017 05:14
|
|
|
CarForumPoster posted:I'm definitly going to read them and appreciate you sharing. How complicated were the forms in your opinion? Did that feel like a pain in the rear end? Since I had someone helping me line by line, the forms were ok, but there are a lot of crimes that don't have specific groups dedicated to helping the victims. It definitely helped me to hear from someone familiar with the form, "this is WHY they need the info, this is what they're looking for," when the instructions on the forms can be kind of dryly written or non-existent (for example on the victim impact statement). They also were able to clue me in to what programs were available and just directly give me the form for it. I would never have imagined that there was a form I could fill out to be reimbursed for my medical bills related to the crime, or keep my address secret when I moved. My physical address is not on my driver's license or voting registration, so it can't be looked up in the public record. Anyone with a stalker or other such abusive/violent person threatening them can use this program, but I had never heard of it. I was also able to talk to a publicly-funded lawyer about my restraining order, and by chance, it was on one of the days when I found out I would have to be in court the next day and "preview" my testimony to the public defender. I don't remember what this was called, but it was a deal where I didn't have to testify in open court in front of the judge, his lawyer waived some sort of a hearing if she could hear what my testimony was going to be. Anyway, my lawyer for the restraining order (a civil matter) was nice enough to help me practice my testimony and gave me some really good tips. just things like, "I can see smiling and laughing is a coping mechanism for you, but a judge or jury may think you are lying or don't care if you do this." Well, duh, you might think, but I didn't even register that I was doing it, when I am in an uncomfortable situation, I try to put everyone else at ease. She had to point out that I should not be trying to make people more comfortable with my horrible situation, I should be making them uncomfortable enough to take action on my behalf. Another was describe the incident in the present tense, it makes the judge or jury engage with it more. I feel like some kind of FAQ with tips about different stages of the process would be really helpful because the DA is not YOUR lawyer, you are not the plaintiff, the state is.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 8, 2017 05:38
|
|