Well, January 11 came, and I still never really got my "day in court", thanks to Anthony Kirkland and a bloated, nearsighted county justice system. As for the final results of this mess...well, it's not what we had hoped for, but at least it is over with. Basically, I had to take a plea deal, as the judge in my case had drawn a big high-profile case and they were trying to clear his docket. If I hadn't taken the deal, the case would have been continued until April 27, and I would have had to remain on electronic monitoring. So, in the interest to getting back to as normal a life as possible, I copped to a misdemeanor, resulting in a sentence of 1 -2 years of "community control" (probation), and restitution + costs. It sucks, but it is what it is, and though standing up there and entering a guilty plea to this nonsense was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, I felt it was the best choice for me, since the house arrest was far more restrictive than probation - four more months on it would have bankrupted me, because I couldn't work any more than my scheduled hours, and had little free time to go look for secondary employment. All of this, of course has destroyed any faith I had in our justice system, and feel like I have been put through a ringer, but given my lack of resources, and having to use a public defender (who really did the best he could), I guess thing could have been worse.
P.S.
Boycott Portofino - that guy is a complete asshole.
