Appearing as a Witness for Crime Involving Firearms

Update, the trial was rescheduled for August. I got a letter saying the DAs office has to decide whether to file a petition and forward the complaint or to handle the matter "informally" without involving the court.

I'm going to talk with a lawyer friend I have, but it sounds like they may want to try to settle? My question is if we settle do they still have an equal obligation to pay? The DA office told me if we went to court and my restitution was approved, which it will be because I have a receipt and I am on the police report, that they would either pay or go to jail for a short stint of ~ 2 weeks.

Had a punk neighbor who kept doing burnouts in our quiet culdesak. Local Sheriff would not do anything. So I set up a VCR & camera. Caught him! Called MSP. They sent a trooper who watched my video then walked over to dudes house and wrote him slew of tickets. Finally some Justice or so we thought.
I get a notice saying court has been cancelled. WTF?
I call DA office. The case was dropped in lieu of a $100 donation to a drug prevention program.
I screamed at her. We (all the people who lived there) would not accept that! She said OK. New court date set.
12 witnesses appear.
DA comes to us and says go home. He pleaded guilty to all charges, paid fines.

Texas solo said:

Had a punk neighbor who kept doing burnouts in our quiet culdesak. Local Sheriff would not do anything. So I set up a VCR & camera. Caught him! Called MSP. They sent a trooper who watched my video then walked over to dudes house and wrote him slew of tickets. Finally some Justice or so we thought.
I get a notice saying court has been cancelled. WTF?
I call DA office. The case was dropped in lieu of a $100 donation to a drug prevention program.
I screamed at her. We (all the people who lived there) would not accept that! She said OK. New court date set.
12 witnesses appear.
DA comes to us and says go home. He pleaded guilty to all charges, paid fines.

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"mess with the bull,,ya get the horns!"

ENDuRUN said:

Update, the trial was rescheduled for August. I got a letter saying the DAs office has to decide whether to file a petition and forward the complaint or to handle the matter "informally" without involving the court.

I'm going to talk with a lawyer friend I have, but it sounds like they may want to try to settle? My question is if we settle do they still have an equal obligation to pay? The DA office told me if we went to court and my restitution was approved, which it will be because I have a receipt and I am on the police report, that they would either pay or go to jail for a short stint of ~ 2 weeks.

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Juvenile case then (based on “file a petition” and “forward”)? That adds some complexity in that it is circuit court and dealing with an “adjudication” compared to a “conviction.” As noted by a few others, likelihood of actually having to testify is exceedingly small. If you do, just remember you are only there to answer the questions asked; lots of folks want to “give a statement” but that isn’t how it works - and when one/both counsel and/or the judge shut a witness down it is inevitably frustrating.

jmiller320 said:

Going to court in Maryland as a witness is a joke. The first court day they will show up with out an attorney, and the judge will instruct them to get an attorney or public defender and then reschedule their first appearance. The second appearance day they will show up with their attorney and will ask for a postponement so the attorney can prepare for the trial. The judge will grant them more time and reschedule their trial date. The third appearance they will asked to be tries separately. The Judge will grant the request and reschedule their trials. The forth appearance they will ask for a jury trial and that will be granted and depending on how many defendants there will be that many more court days. This doesn't include getting a different Judge that doesn't know what the previous Judge instructed. Happened to me once and after three visits to the court house I raised my hand and informed the presiding Judge that they were given those instructions by another Judge and they ignored it. I already had my property returned the night it was stolen and told them I would not be coming back a forth time.

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This is exactly what will happen, in spades.

And the first day of the jury trial (fourth or fifth time in court) with a PD they will then ask for a delay to secure paid counsel causing YET another delay.

Mack C-85 said:

Been there, done that.....

Attempted murder trial where I (Paramedic) treated the victim. Having a Degree in Law Enforcement and having worked in LE, the Defense Attorney almost crapped a brick when my run report was entered into evidence. Yes, it documented the injuries to include a crude, but effective diagram of the locations of the stab wounds (four steak knife wounds between the shoulder blades in the victims back). The only question in cross examination was "Did you believe the wounds were life threatening?" PM Mack answers...."I flew her to Shock Trauma"

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"Four stab wounds and flown to Shock Trama, so, just speculation on your part".

MigraineMan said:

I had a similar experience. Executive Summary - Douchenozzle perp broke into my house, stole my stuff, bragged about it in the parking lot of his apartment down the street, was arrested. I provided police with a detailed list of stuff stolen.



The District Attorney subpoenaed me as a witness for the prosecution. Subpoena was served to me by an off-duty police officer. I contacted the DA's office in Rockville to confirm the subpoena. They asked for an in-person meeting. I met with an ADA who was handling the case. We spoke for about an hour, and she described the questions she wanted to ask me, and gave me a basic outline of how the trial would progress. I was provided a phone number to call to confirm that the trial was still on-schedule, and was tasked with checking the status the night before. The morning of the trial, I was greeted by the ADA and the lead investigating MoCo Sheriff. Call to Order. Defense attorney immediately requested to approach the bench. Three minutes of animated discussion resulted in a plea deal and a 5-year sentence for the perp.



Afterward, I had separate discussions with the ADA and the MoCo Sheriff. Both independently asked "You own a gun, right?" So began my quest to own a firearm ...

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You were the Plaintiff.

K31 said:

"Four stab wounds and flown to Shock Trama, so, just speculation on your part".

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Prosecutors only needed to establish intent, not that it was actually life threatening. At least that was how it was explained to me by the State's Attorney when I asked the question "Why only me?"

As he explained it to me. I could establish that the victim was stabbed multiple times in a vital area that could have been fatal i.e. intent. By not introducing medical records and those involved in more invasive treatment it eliminated the possibility of cross examinations mucking that up.

Sent from my LG-G710 using Tapatalk

ENDuRUN said:

Update, the trial was rescheduled for August. I got a letter saying the DAs office has to decide whether to file a petition and forward the complaint or to handle the matter "informally" without involving the court.

I'm going to talk with a lawyer friend I have, but it sounds like they may want to try to settle? My question is if we settle do they still have an equal obligation to pay? The DA office told me if we went to court and my restitution was approved, which it will be because I have a receipt and I am on the police report, that they would either pay or go to jail for a short stint of ~ 2 weeks.

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Unfortunately this is how it works. The defense attorney will play this game to get you to give up coming. Then their client will get off.

Blaster229 said:

You were the Plaintiff.

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No, this was a criminal case, so the State was the Plaintiff. I was the Plaintiff's chief witness, as well as the victim of the crime.

MigraineMan said:

No, this was a criminal case, so the State was the Plaintiff. I was the Plaintiff's chief witness, as well as the victim of the crime.

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No. The state is the complainant. So you didn't want to press charges?

<sigh>

Civil cases always involve at least one party making claims against another or multiple other parties. The person starting the civil law suit is called the plaintiff,

Criminal cases are different animals. They are never brought by private individuals, but always by a prosecutor, district attorney or some other agency representing the people. That is why criminal cases have names like "People vs. O.J. Simpson." The prosecutor has nothing personal against the person accused of a crime, nor does she stand to personally profit from winning the case. Rather, it is the prosecutor's job to handle criminal cases for the state or federal government.

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I was subpoenaed as a witness for the county in Maryland regarding a guy's municipal infractions (MI) of which I was the victim. I did testify. It was brief and painless except for having to get up early and waste half a day. At the hearing, a lawyer from the County Attorney's office asked me a few questions that they had already gone over with me. They were pretty much yes or no aside from identifying myself. The defendant then asked me one yes or no question. The judge found him guilty and ordered him to pay the fines and court costs. He did.

I had asked the county lawyer if I had to show up. They said no, but that if I didn't, then they couldn't proceed with the case and the defendant would be found not guilty assuming he showed up. I was angry about what he did initially, his refusal to take responsibility, and his gamble that I wouldn't show up so he wouldn't have to pay. So I decided to testify to ensure he paid the fines even though the money went to the county.

The defendant made a number of miscalculations. At the time of the MI's, I insisted he provide me with his contact information. He initiated a scuffle which is second degree assault, a criminal misdemeanor in MD. Our physical confrontation was so trivial I didn't think anything of it until he decided he didn't want to pay the MI fines and instead wanted to waste my time. Since I was in court anyway to testify, I stopped by the Commissioner's office and asked that they charge him with assault. They did and that started another process for him with the State DA's office that I imagine he still regrets. And that's another story.