A Paris Hilton Can of Worms

As I write this, Paris Hilton is still at home although the Sheriff's Dept. arrived some time ago to take her to court (presumably to be properly returned to custody). The judge is in a very ticklish position. There is infighting between the prosecutor's office, the court, and the Sheriff.

I am of the strong opinion that the legal system is broken, and I am engaged in a battle in another part of California over issues which involve refusal to apprehend criminals in the process of committing crimes. There is even evidence of a conspiracy. But it is a matter is yet to be tried by the courts.

Now I am currently a couple of thousand miles from California and do not have a California Penal Code on hand. But the Penal Code Section that seems to apply is 1203, having to do with custodial authority. It strikes me that this Penal Code Section is quite likely to be used by the Sheriff to confer the final authority on him due to the ostensible overcrowding of the system, which severely affects the male inmate population.

I know what I would do as a judge, to retake judicial control in the face of this clear contempt, made possible by Federal orders to reduce overcrowding which give the Sheriff wide latitude to thumb his nose at the State Court.

If I were the judge, and I determined that this Sheriff had made an end-run around my sentence, I would preclude the possibility that it would happen again. I would use a provision of this same statute PC1203(.03). This allows the judge to order her to the Intake Center of the California Prison System for a ninety day evaluation period to determine if she is in fact an incorrigible criminal, and then decide her appropriate punishment. She would not ever get as far as State Prison. She is too rich and powerful and she is not a convicted felon. It would cost her many thousands of extra dollars to fight it though. And meanwhile, she would be in a very privileged enclave of the the Sheriff's County Jail.

Of course, some of what I have said is a bit on the whimsical side. This is not exactly how this statute was originally intended to be used, but it would not be the first time that it was used in such a creative way. Other judges have deliberately used this particular law for the very practical purpose of simply adding three months of "dead time" which would not be counted as time served. It is actually "prior" to the ultimate sentence. Something on the order of 98% of inmates who are evaluated under this program are returned to State Prison afterwards with the full sentence prescribed by law. Rarely do they get an abbreviated sentence and do county time instead of prison time.

But in Paris Hilton's case, let's see how this could work. She would be ordered immediately back into custody and held for several weeks while the Prison System determined if she fit their guidelines. She could not be released just to free up a cell for more important prisoners. (I think even Paris Hilton herself would agree, there are no more important prisoners.) Under these conditions, she could not be released without the judge himself playing the decisive role.

For poor people, the result is almost automatic. 95+% are accepted for the program. Virtually all the prospective candidates wait for such acceptance while in custody. But even in this case, where she would clearly have a large chance of being ultimately rejected by the prison system, she could not be released in the same fashion by the Sheriff. She would at the very least do a few weeks in custody waiting for the prison system's decision.

But let us say, just for argument, that she is accepted in this evaluation program. Okay, now she does the ninety days (which for a poor person) is all "dead time." That is to say, it does not need to be counted at all in the imposition of the ultimate sentencing when she is returned to appear before the judge. Of course, that is just for the poor criminals. The ones with no resources to defend themselves.

I do hope someone E-mails this to the judge and the prosecutor, and maybe even His Honor the Governor. I have it on good authority, he has some huevos grande.

I would do it myself but I am already involved in a battle in another part of the State. A battle which I am economically ill-equipped to fight. A battle brought about by another County Sheriff's Department and the collective gross dereliction of duty of five Watch Commanders and assorted Deputies and other Sheriff's personnel, as well as the workers in other enforcement agencies.

Any gutsy, skillful, crusading lawyer practicing in Riverside County, California may contact me to discuss my case. I realize that this is not a matter which is likely to have great impact in the larger scheme of things, and therefore not well placed here. But since this blog has so far accomplished not even the development of some interesting conversations, I see no good reason not to, while discussing someone as noteworthy as Paris Hilton, bring up other lawbreaking by other California Law Enforcement Agents sworn to uphold the law.

I think it is important to point out that most such breaches of the law by law enforcement do not directly challenge the courts authority because they occur at the street level before the courts have become involved. It is "street justice" performed by individual deputies with scant supervision by, in this case, five different Watch Commanders with whom I was in continuous contact or attempted contact while the crimes were ongoing with no arrests or other effective intervention.

It would also appear that the courts exercise considerable latitude to avoid inconvenient involvements, even when there are clear-cut crimes committed against citizens and complete failure of enforcement officers to do the duties they are sworn to perform.

Today I saw a judge in Tennessee drone on for what seemed like a half hour to justify giving the wife of a minister three years after she was convicted of killing him by shooting him in the back. Among other things, he cited such mitigating circumstances as how well behaved she was with her investigating probation officer and that she had no prior criminal record.

Look, I'm sort of reaching here. I have no idea what will catch the thoughts of the readers enough to get them to actually participate and contribute to improving our world. Take a look at my archives. Many of my posts have something concrete to say about a specific problem. Some, like this one, range more widely.

The widespread cynicism affecting our institutions from top to bottom is caused in part by our widespread ongoing apathy. It is not just the widespread corruption of public officials. It is not just incredible illogic. We are not paying attention. We elect idiots and then pay no attention to what they are doing until the disasters they produce are almost beyond repair.

Maybe the new piece of cheesecake will get someone's juices going. This is a good place to stop and give others a chance to express themselves.

If you would prefer to talk about Pandemics or Germs or War, Chess or Medicine, instead of something really important like Paris Hilton, go to the January archive.

In February there is an idea about Taxes, a little poetry and some more thoughts on medicine.

In March is a big post that will enable you to prevent viral infections like colds and influenza. There is also an interesting letter to an eye surgeon. Somewhere in March is also something or other on Heresy.

Then in April there is an eye-opener about more unpunished Genocide, and some encouragement to do something for Mother Earth throughout the year, instead of just on Earth day.

If you have anything to say about any of these subjects, let's hear it.