The other horrible thing... happy ending this time

Okay, so I alluded to another horrible thing that happened on Christmas night.  Well, really it was the morning of the 26th, around 5 am. 

I'd just gotten into my apartment by climbing the pillars to my balcony and getting in through the sliding door.  

I was cold, hungover, upset for a number of reasons, and bone-weary.  

My mom's friend chose this moment to call me from the east coast. I don't know why she was calling at that hour, but I answered, and she said she needed to know if a particular piece of mail had come in.  

I'd been putting all the mail (except my Netflix DVDs) in a big pile since the holidays had started. So I went through that pile for her mail, and found something official looking addressed to me.  Uh oh.  

After I concluded the call, I opened the official thing. It was from the Santa Ana Supreme Court, and it was a $50,000 warrant for my arrest.  ($50,000 was the bail amount.)

Now, some of you may know I got a DUI last April.  I've been dealing with the fallout ever since.  The court gave me a bunch of things I was meant to do to keep my parole.  One of these was to attend a Mothers Against Drunk Driving panel.  Not sure what that entails exactly, but I was fully willing to comply with everything. 

Thing is, I lost the paperwork that told me where to go, when to go and how much to pay.  So not only did I no longer have the info, but they also required that I bring said paperwork to the panel.  Which I couldn't do, having lost it. 

I spent a lot of time looking for this solitary green sheet of paper amongst the reams of crap I've got in general and the reams of legal stuff in particular.  No dice. I tried calling the MADD people.  That was useless; even if I could've gotten through to a real person (I couldn't), they still needed the papers I no longer had. 

I didn't know what to do. And neither, it seemed, did anyone else. 

So now I find out that because this qualifies as a parole violation, I could be arrested and thrown in jail for up to six months (unless I posted the $50,000 bail) and/or a $1,000 fine. 

Needless to say this killed the tattered remnants of my Christmas spirit (see previous blog).

On Friday, I asked one of the staff at the DUI class I'm required to take weekly.  It was a move of desperation, but it turned out to be the right one.  He gave me the information I needed:  What I had to do was go to the courthouse and try to get my panel attendance rescheduled.  

I had a 50/50 chance of getting arrested in the process but showing up on my own volition was the best chance I had. 

Today I went. I spent a lot of time being shuffled between departments and smiling hopefully at bored men and women behind plexiglass windows.  Finally I ended up in a courtroom with a paper that said, "Parole violation. Parole Revoked."

I don't mind saying, I was terrified.  Getting thrown in jail, while not the Worst Thing Ever, would still fuck a lot of my shit up.  I'd lose my job, I'd miss my payments on all the things I have to make payments on, and of course I'd have to become much more conscious of my grip on the soap.  

When my time came up, I stood before the judge.  Because of my hearing problem, they'd given me a sheet with my rights on them to read. He asked me if I understood those rights. 

"Mostly, sir," I said, striving to keep my cool. 

He smiled kindly and said, "Well, what didn't you understand."

I swallowed and replied, "Well sir, I had no idea I was in this much trouble." I went on to explain why I'd missed the panel. "I've really been making an effort to comply with all the court orders, sir. I've not missed a single class or meeting.  There was just this and I only just found out what I was supposed to do about it."

He looked at me for a moment, spent a few minutes going through my file. I waited nervously. Finally he said, "Okay, you really need to pay closer attention to dates and requirements, James.  I'm putting you back on the program, lifting the warrant for your arrest and reinstating your probation.  You'll be rescheduled for the M.A.D.D. panel and you just need to be sure to do that, okay?"

I could not believe my good fortune.  The judge was letting me off the hook! Giving me another chance.  I thanked him profusely and sat shakily down. 

It took another hour or two to get all the paperwork, but by 3:30 I was walking back to my car with a little of my faith restored in the goodness of my fellow men.  

I hope none of my friends ever have to face a DUI charge -- because the whole business sucks from beginning to end -- but take it from me if you do: Follow the court's orders exactly and with alacrity. Don't procrastinate, don't let anything slide. Because they will not let you get away with anything. 

I mean, yeah, I got away with this, but it was an honest mistake; I wasn't trying to pull anything. But even so, I had to go through some major unpleasantness to get it sorted. Not worth it. Hell, the trouble you can get into for Driving Under Influence = SO not worth it.  

I hope my readers learn from my mistakes so they don't have to learn it firsthand. 

Sermon over. I'm SO relieved right now that I don't have this warrant hanging over me anymore. I'm going to be celebrating tonight!

So Christmas sucked, but things are already getting better. I think New Year's Eve will be big fun and I've still got like a week of vacation left to make up for the suck!