Hell Hath No Fury . . .

This week, the grand jury declined to indict two of my clients. That's the first time that I've ever had a double no-bill day. All is well and good. But, these two cases were very similar to one another, and they both piss me off. One client was charged with felony theft; the other was charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Both are state jail felonies that carry up to a two-year prison sentence. In each case, my client's girlfriend/friendgirl/babymama alleged that my client had stolen her car. In each case, it appears that no stealing ever took place, but rather, that the complainant was mad at my client over issues in the relationship. Their response to this was to call the police and report their car stolen. Now, everything turned out okay for my clients since neither were indicted. But, because neither could afford to bond out of jail, they both spent a considerable amount of time locked up--two weeks for one and one month for the other--for something they didn't do. And what is the consequence to the complainants? Nothing. No criminal charges. No inconvenient jail time. Zilch. Now, one on hand, I am glad they were willing to fess up to the false charges without worrying about being charged with a crime themselves. It helped my clients immensely. On the other hand, it really annoys me that they walk away from this without a scratch, while my clients wasted away in jail for weeks.