Hello, I have been charged with a very serious felony. I'm not going to get into it other than that I'm innocent. My case has been going on for 2 years now and there's no end in sight. My lawyer said there's no magic button he can press to make the process go faster. I assumed that since I'm innocent the case would be done by now. But it could go on for years still and it might not even get dismissed.
I feel really hopeless. I lost my job. I can't get a new one. Ever time I've been offered a job it's been declined due to a failed background check. How ridiculous they can do that without a conviction. Every day I grow more hopeless that my case will ever end. The prosecutor is the only one who can end the case but he refuses to cooperate with my lawyer. It's very frustrating.
I am not at all looking for legal advice. I'm just venting and want to share my frustration with the legal system. It's absolutely not fair. I just want to have Christmas with my family one last time and that will be it. I know my death will cause a lot of pain but it is not my fault. I wish people could understand what I'm going through.
it's understandable
there was a case with a man who got convicted at a jury trial and then immediately took poison after, collapsed and died. i guess he aquired the poison first, made sure he had a way to bring it into court, and was ready if he lost. In certain places people have a right to a speedy trial and, if they feel they are ready, they can request that at any time
Regarding your financial situation, you can start your own business. there are loans available from the small business administration. it can be anything: mowing laws, fixing appliances, painting houses, walking dogs. honestly, in today's horrible corporate environment, this may end up being a good thing.
the case against you going on a long time may mean the district attorney will be more likely to drop it if the case is weak. when they get a backlog of many cases, they want to start clearing them out. More likely, they will eventually offer a good deal, and depensing on the evidence it my make sense to take it, even if you are innocent.
if you are out on bail and not working, you should volunteer with a local community service helping people. it will make it harder for the DA to prosecute you if it can be shown you're a decent person. even if may feel fake or seem contrived, it doesn't matter: community service is always useful, as long as you do it. you should only do it if it agrres with the bail terms.
You shouldn't mention anythijg about your case on here. SaSu is hosted in the US and there could be IP logging here. It's unlikely your internet is monitored, but you don't know. Tor browser is a good option.
My guess is you are charged with rape. It's the only charge where you are likely to be out on bail, innocent, and a DA unlikely to drop it. Rape cases are hard because people sometimes remember things differently and honestly believe their differing memories. Although polygraphs aren't admissable, have you taken one, just to show to friends and family? This is also something you could include in any resume after the cover letter, and in the cover letter state you are wrongly charged and innocent and out on bail. An employer still will be unlikely to hire you if they are a large corporation with a charge like that due to liability concerns. If you fail a polygraph and a DA finds out, it would be bad.
This is a lot to deal with and it's understandable if you want to commit suicide anyway.
You should keep records of every background check you fail and get a lawyer to sue the background check company. Be meticulously organized, logging everything including the ongoing emotional harm. If you are found not guilty, see if some lawyer will take rhe case on a contingency, or without cost, and take any settlement that is offered. Don't do this until your legal case has settled if you are found not guilty.
You can also demand an injunction to stop background check companies from saying you did a crime you didn't. You could probably do the filings yourself if you are poor. You could also sue them for damages yourself if no lawyer will take this.
Do not sue or try to get an injunction now. If you do that, the companies that do the background checks could hire an investigator to try to prove the charges, and this adds financial resources to the DAs office. Let the case drag on unless you are innocent and the accuser isn't believable and make sure your criminal charges are gone before suing anyone. For now, just keep meticulous records. Make sure to store them in a secure encrypted way (ad don't rely on a corporation to encrypt, since they can be required to decrypt if a court demands it). Privayguides.org has resources on this.
If you want to commit suicide because life is generally awful, it's understandable but also, this isn't a situation that you can't overcome if you are otherwise healthy. There are people who beat charges and go on to have decent lives, and if you beat the charges, you can easily sue the background check companies and probably win money.
If this isn't a rape charge or something similar, and the charges are trivial, letting the case get stale is probably smart. The DA often wants a conviction though just to improve their conviction rate statistics. You should know neither your overworked public defender or expensive pruvate attorney nor your DA usually want a trial, as it's more work and expensive and pain in the ass.
If you did rape this person, and can't admit it to yourself, or if the situation was ambiguous (and when both people are wasted it can be a confusing situation, because a person can consent and then later say they were too drunk to consent), take any good plea deal and then start a company after, or don't and end it.
I'm sure one of the worst things about this is your lawyer told you not to discuss the case, so you can't even talk about it in a way.
If you really are innocent, you could possibly overcome this if you want to, and even have a way to avoid suffering in prison if you can't overcome it and lose at trial.
it is harder and more painful to commit suicide in prison. it's very understandable tha you are here to at least know your options.
What is the max possible time you are facing? 25 to life? 20 years? I wish I could know, but don't tell me. Don't talk about your case. In a rape case it can turn on if there is some informant testifying against you, and informants will make up lies if they have any info to reduce their own sentences.
Be careful what you are saying if you are directly connected to SaSu. Although the connection is encrypted by https, if they are monitoring your connection, see you are connecting, and can guess it's you, it could be problematic. (Without a VPN or Tor, your connection will show you connected here, but not the content of your post, as long as you have a real https certificate.) If you are using Tor browser to connect, it's safer by a lot. It's very unlikely they are monitoring yoir internet. It's too resource intensive.