Posted on 05/28/2002 5:04:16 PM PDT by marshmallow
TAMPA -- The 16-year-old boy sat before the Hillsborough County judge, asking for an attorney. He didn't understand what was going on, he kept saying.
Juan Carlos Elias was in the middle of a restitution hearing. He had pleaded guilty to stealing one car and burglarizing another. Reimbursing the victim was the issue at hand now.
But Elias said he didn't know what restitution meant. His frustrated mother repeatedly rose from the first row, instructing her son in Spanish.
Judge Richard Nielsen, relatively new to the bench, had her tossed out of his courtroom.
"You don't have a lawyer, Mr. Elias," Nielsen said. "So you're going to represent yourself in this matter."
And so, for more than two hours on May 6, the 16-year-old struggled to deal with the arcane language and procedures of a courtroom. It was a scene unfamiliar to some observers. Under Florida law, juveniles are entitled to legal counsel unless they and their parents waive that right.
"Mr. Elias, any objection to these exhibits?" Nielsen asked at one point, referring to car repair bills submitted as evidence.
"I don't have nobody representing me?" said Elias. "I don't understand these things."
"Show these to Mr. Elias," Nielsen instructed the prosecutor.
Soon after, Nielsen asked Elias whether he had trouble understanding English.
"No, but sometimes the words you all use, like, um, I don't really get 'em that much. But I understand English," said Elias, whose family is Puerto Rican.
Restitution hearings are routine and are rarely covered by the press. A reporter for the St. Petersburg Times chanced upon Elias' hearing. His mother later gave a tape recording of the proceeding to the reporter.
Nielsen did not return repeated calls from the Times. Nor did officials at the Hillsborough County Public Defender's Office.
Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger said he has never seen a juvenile represent himself during such a hearing.
"That would really bother me," he said, when told that Elias had asked for a lawyer and had said he didn't understand the proceedings. "I would be surprised if our judges (in the Pinellas-Pasco circuit) wouldn't give him a lawyer."
Nielsen, 52, built his reputation in civil litigation with an emphasis on business law. He was head of the litigation department at a Tampa firm, Salem, Saxon & Nielsen, when Gov. Jeb Bush appointed him to the bench in November 2000.
Nielsen graduated from the University of New Mexico and got a law degree from the University of Florida. He had no judicial experience before his appointment. In his application for nomination to the circuit court, Nielsen wrote that certain traits would serve him well on the bench, including honesty, integrity and fairness.
Elias' mother, Evangeline Castillo, had hired a private attorney to hammer out a plea agreement weeks earlier. But she could not afford to retain the lawyer, Tina Dampf, any longer.
She figured her son would be assigned to a public defender for the restitution hearing.
"Mr. Elias, do you have a lawyer representing you in this matter?" Nielsen asked the youth at the beginning of the hearing. He said he did not.
"So, Ms. Dampf is no longer representing you in this matter, is that correct?" Nielsen asked.
Yes, Elias said.
"All right, well we're going to proceed . . . at this time," Nielsen said.
Elias, lanky and wearing a shirt that showed off his abdomen, said nothing. Nearby was a co-defendant represented by Public Defender Elizabeth Beardsley.
At one point during the proceedings, Elias asked whether the prosecutor was representing him.
"No, sir, she's not . . . she is handling that case on behalf of the state," Nielsen said.
"On my behalf?" Elias asked.
"Not on your behalf. Against you, sir. Now, in a moment, you'll get an opportunity to ask questions of the witness."
"I don't know what to say," Elias said.
His mother spoke up. "You want me to say it for you?" she asked her son in English.
"No, if you're going to do anything, you need to tell him what to say," Nielsen told her. "You're not the attorney."
Several attorneys sounded perplexed when told of Elias' travails. George Richards, deputy chief of the juvenile division at the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office, said indigent youths are appointed an attorney unless they specifically decline one.
"A judge has to find that it's a knowing waiver," Richards said. "If the child understands, the parent understands that they're waiving their right, and they say, "No, we don't want an attorney,' then (an attorney) won't be appointed."
Judy Estren, executive assistant public defender at the Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender's Office, said the co-defendant's attorney should have intervened. "I would have instructed my attorney to jump in."
Castillo, 36, was a janitor at the Hillsborough courthouse for years until she was injured a few years ago. She got to the courthouse an hour before the hearing May 6, she said, to line up a public defender. Castillo said a bailiff she knew told her not to worry, that the judge would handle everything.
Nielsen ordered restitution of $4,608.94. Elias, who has dropped out of school, is on probation. He is doing his court-ordered public service at a youth center, Castillo said.
On Monday, Elias said he was still reeling from his day in court.
"They were acting like I was a lawyer and I know how to speak," he said.
"I'm like, dang. The way they speak and the way they put their words, I don't understand
Baloney,she thought if they showed up without a lawyer the Judge would postpone or go easy.
They were told to get a lawyer and they didn't.
Tough.
You can't dress trashy and expect due process and Constitutional rights. Constitutional rights come with good grooming and fine clothing!
Awww... our public edukayshin system at work...
Where did it say that?
More importantly, what about a judge that doesn't follow the law? Isn't that more important than this kids motives?
Your lucky,obviously you have never been to court.
More importantly, what about a judge that doesn't follow the law?
What law would that be?
Interesting.
Ah!! Sarcasm.
/john
Considering that the little miscreant was guilty (already determined, I note...and with private counsel!), the judge seems to have been the very soul of fairness.
Not arranging for a public defender in a timely manner was a further irresponsible act. And appearing in court dressed in a t-shirt is idiotic at best. If they could afford a private attorney to begin with, surely they could acquire an inexpensive dark suit as well.
Now as to whether the victims of the crimes will ever see a dime....I hesitate to speculate. I would not be optimistic.
Yes! Like hate crime legislation or additional penalties for using a gun in a crime, additional penalty should be assessed for bad grooming and sloppy dressing. We've got to draw the line somewhere, or before you know it, anybody will think they're entitled to equal justice under the law.
"Guilty! Of poor fashion sense!"
Castillo, 36, was a janitor at the Hillsborough courthouse for years until she was injured a few years ago. She got to the courthouse an hour before the hearing May 6, she said, to line up a public defender.
Why would she do that?
Maybe a Judge in the pretrial hearing made it blantently obvious by asking a question such as ,oh,I don't know,
"You have the right to an attorney,one will be appointed to you if you cannot afford one,are you sure you want to waive that right?
You understand that if you are convicted of this offense the penalty could be.......,I will ask you again,you have the right to have a lawyer,are you now waiving that right?"
or something like that,I've heard.
Mistake number two was proceeding with the on-the-record hearing with the defendant claiming he didn't understand the proceeding and continuing to request an attorney and the judge barrelling along to assess the restitution despite the defendant's protests. You can bet the public defender's office, once it gets off its butt, is going to appeal this, and the judge is going to be hauled before the Judicial Review Committee. Heck, the kid may not even have to pay the restitution because the judge screwed up so badly.
Mistake number three was not recognizing the reporter.
You might be able to excuse the fundamental lack of knowledge about the law and case law, but you cannot excuse the absolute stupidity of the judge in not recognizing a reporter on the courthouse beat busily scribbling notes.
The judge says, "That's exactly what you get."
Lyrics care of Bob Dylan!
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