April 14th - "Fukin' Around in Court" and "Let Justice be Done"
14Fukin’ Around in Court
Today I had the pleasure of participating in one of the key foundations of the United States. I had my day in court.
As described here, I had to appear at a hearing to present evidence supporting my assertion that an item stolen from me should be returned to me, rather than being awarded to the pawn shop which purchased the item in a pawn transaction.
As part of the proceeding, I was afforded the opportunity to present any evidence I had supporting my claim to the property in question. I gathered up all I thought may be helpful, and carried it into court in this bright red bag most of you will recognize.
After traveling 35 minutes in rush hour to the downtown civic center, finding a paid parking garage, then responding to several inquiries and confirming “no, I haven’t been to Japan or China or Korea” or a couple other random locations curiously connected to the unusual writing on my bag, we moved on to…
Let Justice be Done
It was an excruciatingly long, brain numbing wait for my day in court. Eventually I was called into the hearing room. As it turns out, no representative from the pawn shop appeared in their behalf. I assumed I would receive a default judgement. I was mistaken. The hearing went on, and I was asked to present my evidence then provide testimony to support my claim on the property. Fortunately, the judgement was swift. Immediate in fact. After only a moment of consideration, I was awarded unconditional ownership of the item, with the decision being binding and final. In other words, the pawn shop can’t decide to sue me later in a civil action to recover their loss.
So… JUSTICE BE DONE!
Well, mostly. It turns out there’s a long waiting period, after which I can claim my item at the police department evidence warehouse, conveniently located about 45 minutes from my home. And of course, only open during regular business hours (another day off work).
In about a month I should have my stolen item back in my possession. Justice prevails! (in a month)
Now if a couple of the more valuable items would show up, I’d be a happy goat.
Go democracy!
- 5 comments, 14 replies
- Comment
@woodhouse
Twilight Zone - S02E29 - The Obsolete Man
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4y1ga6
Another relevant episode from @PlacidPenguin!
@woodhouse
Don’t really know why this one sprang to mind.
There are other episodes which I could have selected instead.
@PlacidPenguin I really thought I might stump you last night.
/giphy too shrewd
@ruouttaurmind
Happy to hear. But you are still out a bunch of stuff, right?
If they found all your stuff at pawnshops, and you had to do a hearing for each item, you might go broke taking all that time off work to testify so that you could once again claim your own property. : (
@f00l Aye, you surely speak the truth. The property that was recovered was a Wii U game system worth about $100-$150. Probably the lowest valued “recoverable” item (with a unique serial number).
By the time I bought the gas to get there (and again to claim it next month), paid for parking, spent all day sitting around waiting for my case to be called… it hardly seems worth it.
But… it’s the only item to be recovered so far, and likely the only thing recovered at all. I kinda had to try. Like some kind of cathartic exercise to purge the last of the post-burglary mindfuck.
@ruouttaurmind I’d say it’s the principle of the thing, value be damned!
Care to remind us what state you live in? I want to add it to my “never move here” list.
"Let Justice be Done"
@mfladd I think they need a little more Photoshop airbrushing.
@RiotDemon Right? Everything other than the face and hands looks like a cartoon.
@ruouttaurmind
@RiotDemon
Skin tones on the face and hands match each other, but don’t match the other skin tones.
Badly airbrushed body double?
@f00l I doubt there’s a backsde anywhere on the planet that looks like that without Photoshop.
@ruouttaurmind @RiotDemon @f00l Better?
@mfladd Lynda Carter is authentic at least.
@ruouttaurmind @f00l the thing that annoys me is that she’s probably very pretty without the Photoshop.
I look forward to your post in a month or so about how it took them 3 hours to find your now broken item in the police warehouse.
@nogoodwithnames Ha! Let’s hope not.
Good thing your item is with the police or the pawn shop might have claimed that the item was sold and they have no idea to whom…
@Kidsandliz In most states, when a pawn shop buys an item, they are required to hold it for a certain period of time (varies a little per state). Then they submit the item specifics (description, serial number, etc) to the police. If the police identify the item as stolen, they take possession until final disposition. This prevents pawn shops from selling or misplacing it, and makes it available to police and prosecutors in the event they can match up a suspect to the crime.