February 20th, 2024
We arrived in the lobby outside of the courtroom half an hour early. We were there for the woman’s third court appearance. The young woman expected to meet up with her newly appointed lawyer from the public defender’s office before the hearing started. She had not yet met the lawyer, and they had business to discuss. We waited and waited. Finally, the woman looked at the time on her phone and asked me,
“Should we just go in?”
I nodded.
We walked into the courtroom and the young woman checked in with the bailiff. We waited for the public defender to come. She didn’t. No reason was given for the lawyer’s absence. The court commissioner called the woman’s name. She came forward. The commissioner set up a preliminary hearing for March 4th. The woman never had the chance to enter a plea. Nothing changed. Nothing was resolved. Basically, she was told to come back in three weeks and try again.
The whole process took less than half an hour. As we exited the courtroom, I said,
“We didn’t get anything done in there.”
She replied by saying, “Well, at least I wasn’t sitting in jail waiting for it.”
True.
The young woman is not in custody. She is out on a signature bond, at least for another three weeks. She was in custody for a week back in December. That was unpleasant. Some people sit in jail until they get to see a judge, and that can take weeks or even months. The young woman had been with other women while in jail. She told me that they were there mostly because “they hit somebody”. I found that to be interesting, considering that this woman is also accused of a violent crime. Why is she free and other women are not?
I don’t know the answer to that. There seems to be a certain amount of randomness in our judicial system. It might be that other women were repeat offenders or flight risks. It might also have to do with the fact that some people cannot come up with the bail money. That means that these folks are incarcerated prior to their hearing just because they are poor.
Even though the young woman is on the outside of a jail cell, it does not mean that things are all good. At some point in the future, the hammer will fall. We just don’t know when or how. It’s not like when we walk into a courtroom for the fourth time, the attorney for the State of Wisconsin will just shrug and say,
“You know, we thought about it, and we are just going to drop the battery charge. Go on home. Have a nice day. ”
No, that’s not going to happen. In some as yet unknown way, the woman’s life will be turned upside down. This slow and arduous process is subtle form of torture. She cannot make any plans for the future. Neither can the other people in her life. Everything is tentative, and that causes enormous anxiety. She has this doom hanging over her head, even though she not incarcerated. She is free, but not really. This is American justice at work.
The young woman has a little boy in her life. Her son adores her. If she goes to prison, she will be temporarily absent and that will hurt the lad. Even when she was only in jail for a week, her boy asked me,
“Where is mama? When is she coming home? Why isn’t she here?”
I had no answer that would have made sense to him. I had no answer that even makes sense to me.
I have often heard the statement, “Play stupid games. Get stupid prizes.” That’s true. If someone commits a crime, they should be punished. The problem is that there is always collateral damage. Innocent people suffer along with the offender. If this young woman does time, her son will be traumatized. That is guaranteed. He did nothing wrong, but he will be hurt.
I don’t know what the final verdict will be. I don’t know what is in the future of this young woman. All I know is whatever happens will affect both me and a three-year-old boy.
Frank is Emptiness 