‘ You have had 80 charges since 2006’

‘ You have had 80 charges since 2006’

Judge Thorne gives career criminal 90 days to ‘ learn something’ about his life choices

ralphhardin@gmail.com West Memphis District Court had a large crowd in jail and in the courtroom. Three men in jail were called up together on their felony charges.

“How old are you?”

“19.”

“Where do you live?”

“Marion.”

“Do you work or go to school?”

“Work.”

“How long?”

“Two years.”

“Do you have means to hire an attorney?”

“No, sir.”

The second man was asked, “Do you have means to hire an attorney?”

“No.”

“How do you know each other?”

“We are cousins.”

“What are you doing with your life?”

“I work.”

“How long have you been at this job?”

“Six months.”

To the third man he asked, “Where do you live?”

“West Memphis.”

“How old are you?”

“22.”

“Are you working?”

“No, sir.”

“Who supports you?”

The man mumbled something and Judge Fred Thorne said, “Not a human being on this earth can make it without money unless they are on one of those shows where they are living out in the woods finding their own food. Either somebody is helping you or you are committing crimes.”

“I worked through a temp service.”

“Where do you work?”

“Nowhere I am here.”

“When did you work? How long ago?”

“Monday.”

“All three of you go talk to the public defender.”

The next man had felony charges of theft by receiving, dope, and carrying a weapon.

“Where do you live?”

“Memphis.”

“What do you do?”

“I am an entrepreneur. I own ‘Kids Lives Matter Memphis.’” “You are doing that? Do you have priors?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How many?”

“One.”

“Are you going to file taxes this year and how much will you say you made?”

“I just started this business about six months ago. I ran a forklift before.”

“Why were you here?”

“I was on my way to St. Louis to pick up my daughter.”

“See the public defender.”

The next man with felony charges of possession schedule 1 or 2 was asked, “Do

Judge Fred Thorne you have charges pending in Marion?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Dope?”

“No, sir. DWI.”

“Can you afford an attorney?”

“No.”

“See the public defender right now.”

A man in jail charged with criminal trespass pled no contest.

“You were barred from Southland. Why do you keep going back?”

“Do you have priors?”

“No.”

The judge counted the charges on his sheet and said, “You have had 80 charges since 2006. You are never going to learn. Maybe after these 90 days you’ll learn something. Have a seat.”

Two men were called up together, one with a charge of disorderly and the other with disorderly and firing a weapon. They both pled not guilty to their charges.

“Trial date will be Feb. 19 at 1:30 if you make bond.”

Another man barred from the dog track pled guilty to his criminal trespass charges.

“I got some free play in the mail from them and thought it was okay for me to go back. It was for $10.”

“You came from Tupelo to use a $10 free play?”

The galley laughed.

“Yes. We came down here to go to the tax office in Memphis.”

“When did you go to jail?” “The beginning of the week.”

“Jail when did he go to jail?”

“Wednesday, Jan. 17th.”

“That was the middle of the week. Let him out of jail tomorrow at noon unless he has state charges too.”

Aman in jail was called up. He was using a walker.

“How do you plead to not paying your fine?”

“Guilty. I got shot in a carjacking on Oct. 6th. I got shot twice.”

“You owe $320. Pay half and I’ll put you on a new plan or stay in jail for eight days.”

The next man was charged with careless driving, no insurance, leaving the scene and driving without an interlock

system.

“I’m not too happy with you. Go talk to the public defender.”

A man in jail was charged with disorderly conduct and pled not guilty.

“You were with those two other guys. Make his trial date the same as theirs, Feb. 19 at 1:30.”

A woman in the courtroom was charged with driving on suspended, failure to appear and no insurance. She pled guilty to all charges.

“Whose car was it?”

“My daughter.”

“Why was your license suspended?”

“Failure to appear.”

“$295 plus court costs and two days house arrest on the driving on suspended. $100 plus court costs on the failure to appear and $295 plus court costs on the no insurance.”

A young man in the courtroom was charged with not stopping at a stop sign and possession of drug paraphernalia. He pled no contest to all charges.

“Mother, what do you know about this?”

“Only what he told me. He said he picked up someone who had the stuff. Not him.” “Let me read you the police report. Police said the car had a strong odor of marijuana. They patted him down for a weapon and in his right pants leg there was a large plastic scale. It fell out of his pants. Did you have friends in the car?”

“Yes.”

“What was his name? Just tell me his first name.”

“John.”

“John! John! He is not here. Your mother is here. The police also said he had two cigarette rolling devices and a pipe. There was marijuana in the car side pocket. Did he tell you all that mother?” “No.”

“What are you doing with your life?”

“I work.”

“How long have you had this job?”

“One year.”

“When did you graduate?”

“2016.”

“Okay mother. He can pay $750 plus court costs with one year suspended to probation for six months with the Justice Network or $500 plus court costs and six months probation. He will do random drug tests and I will keep it off his record.”

“He will do the $500 and drug tests,” said his mother. “You will have a review March 21st. Pay all your fines and I’ll take it off your

record. If you don’t you are going to jail. Don’t lie to your mother.”

By Ralph Hardin