Fiance Robbed/They Have the Wrong Guy

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

On March 3rd my fiance was robbed in the alley beside our apartment complex by three men. Well no that’s not exactly right. It was an attempted robbery. When they demanded money he pulled out a knife and they backed off until he turned around to run away. Then they pelted him with rocks and the cover of a barbeque grill. Our apartment manager witnessed the entire thing and repeated this several times for the officers when they arrived. Mig (fiance) had seen two of the men before at the apartment of one neighbor. The police talked to the neighbor who first insisted he didn’t know anyone by that description, but then said the guys were chasing Mig off because he was trying to steal their car. Reports were taken, witnesses questioned, Mig was told to go to the hospital but he refused (he shouldn’t have; he had a huge knot on his head)

On March 6th he had to go look at pictures of possible assailants. He chose one he was absolutely positive was the right man. The other he wasn’t sure about so he didn’t circle the pic and sign his name.
He was instructed to go to a specific clinic to have a written statement from a physician so he missed a day of work and paid out 200 dollars. Wasted money apparently.

On March 10th police swarmed our complex and took away several men from the apartment above.

The next day we found out that two of the men picked up were our neighbors, brothers from another apartment. Neither of them were guys Mig picked out, but one of them was the guy he wasn’t sure about. The next morning we called the detective handling the case and were told he was out of town until the next week. We explained what was going on and they said they could do no more than take a message for the detective.

That day several of our neighbors (most of us are very close to each other around here for the most part; it’s a small complex) came by to ask why Mig identified the guy and he explained he never identified this guy as an assailant, only said the picture looked familiar. We assumed this detective straightened things out because that one fella was released a few DAYS later.

However, and this is where it gets complicated: The other guy still in jail was never identified by Mig, wasn’t even at home when it happened, and we know without a doubt he had nothing to do with it. Mig never even saw his picture. The guy’s mother came to us the next day begging us to call the police again and straighten this out. We called immediately but as before, we could only leave a message. We assured her we’d straighten it out. It was not exactly Mig’s job but he felt guilty because of the other guy he misidentified (even though he was clear with the detective from the beginning he wasn’t sure and refused to sign the picture).

We asked our apartment manager to help us since he was a witness but now he refuses to discuss anything with the police. After initially saying he saw the whole thing…Mig actually ran to HIM as they were chasing him and the manager chased them off…well now he says he didn’t really see anything. Thanks dude.

Two days later the guy was still in jail, and somehow he got our phone number. Our number isn’t listed so I have no idea how, but it doesn’t really matter. The point is, he is STILL in jail. He had a court date but it was postponed until April 3 and his parents can’t afford the 55k bond set. This man calls us five and six times a day now! I can understand his desperation but we’ve done everything we can do. We’ve both called several times. Mig has gone back up to the police station twice. The first time they only let him leave a message but the second time someone bothered to look up the case and told him he’d need to contact the DA.

Friday he called three times and I called once to leave a message with the DA’s office. Yesterday we received a letter confirming the case was coming to trial and it listed a name and number to call if we had any questions. We’ve called that number and left no less than six messages. This man has been sitting in jail for what, three weeks now? Twenty days…and nobody seems to care!

And that’s not all of it. The guy that he identified as being an assailant has not even slowed down visiting this complex. Several neighbors have seen him at other units here since it happened. I saw him Sunday afternoon…he walked right by me in the courtyard like he had not a care in the world. The police have been told via these increasingly desparate phone calls we’ve made.

What else can we possibly do? The letter we received said he probably wouldn’t have to appear in court, but just to be available in case he’s called so he won’t even be there for the trial probably. I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before, but it just seems so wrong that he wouldn’t have to be there at all!

Nobody wants to return our calls or let us see anyone past the front desk if we just go to the station. Mig’s lost several days of work because of this, paid out doctor bills, it’s kept him up at night, made him miserable…and imagine what it’s like for the OTHER guy in jail. I know he probably shouldn’t be calling us and at this point we’ve blocked his number because I got so frustrated with saying “sorry no news” when he’d call with his pregnant girlfriend on three-way.
I will call his girlfriend or go to his parents if and when we learn anything though.
His father just walked by me outside today and just gave me a sad nod. He’s done asking I guess. His mother has come to my door crying at least three times and I feel so horrible for her. But what can we do at this point? Call the news stations?

Any ideas?

please excuse typos and general poor grammar. trying so hard to get this posted while my little girl crawls all over me.

2

The guy in jail should get an attorney. There’s no reason for him to be sitting in jail. Unless they are literally dirt poor, and even then doesn’t he get a public defender? I can’t believe they wouldn’t let him out on bail.

IANAL

3

That’s what I’m thinking too! But as of the last time I talked to his mother he hadn’t even been assigned a public defender; this is why the court date was postponed I believe.

They would have let him out on bail but the bond was set for 55 thousand dollars and even ten percent is far more than anyone around these parts could cover. I know if something like this happened to Mig I’d never be able to raise the money to get him out either. Thank goodness I never have because now I’m not even sure about this whole bond/bail thing. I thought they were the same thing. I’m clueless.

4

Maybe they’re keeping the wrong guy because he’s the right guy for something else? Or maybe he had outstanding warrants?

5

From my understanding, public defenders are only there to make sure things are done legally. There doesn’t seem to be anything illegal here; the guy sitting in jail has a trial date set, and, I assume, been charged with something. Whether or not there is enough evidence to proceed with a trial probably isn’t something that a public defender is going to spend time questioning at this stage (what with the trial date already being set an’ all). Or, as AuntiePam suggested, they might be keeping him for another reason.

That said, he should get a lawyer of some sort (public defender or otherwise), there’s the possibility that the bail amount could be lowered…not to mention that it’s just a good idea all around.

6

Call the news stations. If the police won’t get back to you there’s something fishy going on.

7

I suppose that could be, but the letter we received yesterday stated that there was a case against the man for attempted robbery and the victim’s name listed was my fiance’s.

What’s bothering me about this whole thing is the sheer amount of calls we’ve made since the day after he was arrested that nobody will return. Nobody will speak to him about this. They told him the detective assigned to his case was out of town for a week, then yesterday when he was supposed to be back in town we were told he was “in school” so we left yet another message. You would think a message of “HEY YOU GOT THE WRONG GUY! with love, THE VICTIM” they might want to at least check into it.

I’m not saying the police are doing anything illegal, but they are making a mistake about this man being the one that committed this particular crime and they don’t care enough to listen to the victim of that crime.

8

Contact your local newspaper or television station. Nothing like the glare of publicity to get politicians involved - and maybe they can get something done.

9

Have you tried the detective’s supervisor (chief, whatever is above him)?
If the guy is too busy/blasé about it, perhaps the superior can light a fire under the situation.
If that doesn’t get results I fully agree with news coverage - I know from personal experience how little local PD and SA’s care about some of their cases.

[blah blah bastardges story]
Hell, I sent two certified letters about a month apart to my local SA (and a big FU to Mr. Meggs) and after the second I got in return got a nasty personal phone call to tell me my case was ‘handled good enough’.
As the victim I was:

  1. Notified of the court date and my option to attend after the date had come and gone (as per the postage meter stamp, the letter informing me wasn’t even mailed out until 2 days after the freaking court date :rolleyes: )
  2. Being harassed almost daily by the person who had assaulted me so I called my ‘detective’ at TPD and left messages (which weren’t responded to until several days later) and was told that we were “acting like teenagers” - because the person and family harassed me and I dared called him to let him know so he might, um, stop them!?. :eek: )
  3. Had voicemail messages threatening my life, which the ‘detective’ refused to even listen to and then informed me that “it’s not a crime unless they follow through” (uhhhhh…wouldn’t that mean I’d already be dead? :eek: ) - wouldn’t even document it.
  4. Had damages in excess of $300 that I did not get to present in court because of the SA’s complete bungling of the case.

I honestly thought, “Hey, the head SA should know about what is going on in his office - how his people are not only dropping the ball, but setting it on fire and letting it roll down into the gutter as well”. That phone call set me oh so straight. :mad: Didn’t give a shit, basically, and was mad I was pointing out how effed up their system is.
I wish I had the presence of mind at the time to relate all that to at least the editor of the local paper.

Sorry, I had to get that out - still pissed about that one. :mad:

Besides that I deal with local PD routinely in the course of work. As a rental company we get a lot of people who rent something once or twice and walk away with it. Rather than pursuing the thief, they think it’s easier to try to investigate us and our practices…because if we’re doing something wrong then they don’t have to pursue all the cases we turn over. :rolleyes:
WRONG - we ain’t shady and pur-please - quit taking the thief’s word over ours. We’ve shown you time and time again, we aren’t the ones taking advantage of them. :rolleyes: [bbbs]

As for if your person is possibly being held on other charges, I know we have a ‘clerk of courts’ website that you can enter a name and find out any local law issues they may be having - speeding tickets, evictions, etc. You might could do a search for that if you haven’t already.
Good luck with it and if the person is innocent of any wrong doing and being held just because someone doesn’t want to do their job - don’t let them get away with it. :mad:
Another thought: doesn’t ACLU handle this type of stuff?

10

Wow, what a nightmare situation! I would also recommend going to the mayor, city council or county board of supervisors (whether you’re in a city or county), your local state delegate or your local Congressional representative. All of the above people have web sites with phone numbers, call them. What is being done to that guy is a travesty.