Legal Question in Criminal Law in Louisiana

I was charged with criminal theft from a failed business venture that failed after three months in 1999, found out about the charge when i was arrested for a traffic charge 2 years later, pleaded not guilty, after 4 plus trial dates set all of which no jury was ever assembled, missed a date, was charged with contempt of court,sentenced to 6 mos. without ever being before the judge, returned to New Orleans in mid 2009 and was arresed for the charge, served 90 days before I found out sentence was illegal. Filed motions and habeas corpus myself. was brought into court where sentence was vacated and re applied in 2009, The original charge from 1999 had exceeded the statue of limitations and when I conveyed this to the Public defender was told that the contempt charge that was vacated kept the charge active. To get out of jail I pleaded guilty. This was a mistake, but it was my impression they were never going to let me out. Studied the law a little and I assert that I was railroded into this plea. Without income, I am unable to try and resurrect and prove not only was I innocent originally but was further mishandlede by the court system. The original charge was filed by the district attorney based on a police report filed by a former businessw associate that claimed I sold mechandise and retained the earnings. The D.A. assessed criminal charges without any evidence, witnesses, or testimony by aqnyone other than the plantiff. There were never any statements taken from myself and I continued to question why the case was continued over and over without any discovery or facts being produced to support thier charge. The public defender was also questioned as to the reason for this repeated continuance with no responce or actions toward the benifit of the myself . It seem as though this would go on til they wore me out or as it happened, failed to appear at court. The contempt charge was filed illegally on that occasion and again no jury was assembled on that date which would had ended in another continuance had I not failed to appear....Do I have any remidies for my lack of legal knoledge that has led to this delima. I will be failing to appear at a probation revocation hearing on sept. 9th out of fear of again being re-arrested and sentenced to jail time. I thought that thier might be something of this nature that has happened in the past. I was told by one person, not a lawyer, that the time I spent incarcerated, since illegal, that the courts owed me for lost wages and damages as I lost my living quaters and all of my personal posessions while unlawfully imprisonned. HELP IF YOU CAN


Asked on 9/06/10, 4:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Martha Amanda Mandi Lucas Mandie Seale Lucas

First, when a bench warrant issues from the judge, this stops everything until you appear or are found. Contempt is a fine/sentence by the judge for failing to abide by his orders, in this case, failing to appear. Continuances are requested and it is up to the judge to allow or disallow them. It appears that this charge is a misdemeanor as you were not being held, so there is no jury, it is a judge trial. If a felony, the jury is never seated until the actual trial. You would have an arraignment date, a motion date, a pretrial date and a possible trial date date. This date is often changed because there is a case ahead of yours that would require the jury. If you are to appear for a revocation hearing, you have failed to follow the court's orders and you could be jailed for the remainder of your sentence. It still sounds like a misdemeanor. The DA can bill anyone he sees fit from whatever evidence he feels sufficient.

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Answered on 9/12/10, 3:23 am


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