This page and its contents are Copyright 1998-1999 by Fred Koschara.
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01/28/98n04:15:00 Sitting in court, listening to the process, I 01/28/98_04:15:27 could see I had a "hanging" judge in front of me: 01/28/98w04:15:40 No matter what evidence or argument *anyone* put 01/28/98_04:15:56 up in their defense, they *all* were found guilty 01/28/98w04:16:06 and a sentence imposed. All of the court cases 01/28/98_04:16:34 were done before they called me, except that the 01/28/98_04:16:46 prisoners were being brought in from the station, 01/28/98w04:16:57 according to comments made by the court staff. 01/28/98n04:17:14 The clerk called for "William Koschara" as I 01/28/98_04:17:30 expected they would, and I got up saying I didn't 01/28/98w04:17:39 think it was appropriate for them to be calling 01/28/98_04:17:48 my father in their court. After I'd made it 01/28/98_04:18:16 clear I thought their attempts to rename me were 01/28/98_04:18:34 wrong, the judge asked the prosecuting attorney 01/28/98_04:18:55 if the state was ready to proceed, and she said 01/28/98_04:19:09 they were. As the first officer that had stopped 01/28/98w04:19:19 me started to the stand, I interrupted to say I 01/28/98_04:19:28 wanted to know if there were charges against me 01/28/98_04:19:37 in the court, and if so, I wanted to know what 01/28/98_04:19:45 they were. That slowed them down a bit, and I 01/28/98_04:19:56 was finally presented with tickets citing the 01/28/98_04:20:11 charges against me. The judge didn't want to 01/28/98_04:20:24 wait, but said I could sit down and read the 01/28/98_04:20:36 tickets and they'd call me back to the stand. 01/28/98_04:20:51 After clearing a couple of the other people from 01/28/98_04:21:08 the room (I guess there might actually have been 01/28/98_04:21:18 two or three people that were still waiting when 01/28/98_04:21:27 I was first called), they brought me back up. I 01/28/98_04:21:38 said that since I hadn't been informed of the 01/28/98_04:21:46 charges against me prior to that time, I had not 01/28/98_04:21:57 been able to adequately prepare my defense, and 01/28/98_04:22:11 asked for some time to do so. The judge said I 01/28/98_04:22:23 should have asked, and the prosecuter said I 01/28/98_04:22:35 should have called their office, and the judge 01/28/98_04:22:44 announced they were going ahead anyway. This, I 01/28/98_04:22:53 was prevented from obtaining the services of an 01/28/98_04:23:03 attorney, even if I wanted to. 01/28/98n04:23:13 Since it was quite clear this court was intending 01/28/98w04:23:30 to railroad a conviction through, no matter what 01/28/98_04:23:47 I said or did - unless I gave the judge a chance 01/28/98_04:24:08 to lock me up for "contempt" as he would probably 01/28/98w04:24:23 liked to have done - I decided to sit down and 01/28/98_04:24:38 let them have their farce. 01/28/98n04:24:51 The woman cop - Ms. June Frechette (as indicated 01/28/98_04:30:00 by the tickets I received) - presented her story, 01/28/98w04:30:23 which, for the most part, was fairly accurate. 01/28/98_04:30:35 Two points of misinformation stand out: She said 01/28/98w04:30:55 she was following "several" cars when she turned 01/28/98_04:31:11 to follow me when she left her position in front 01/28/98_04:31:25 of the dog track - where I was the only car on 01/28/98_04:31:36 that part of the road, and she said I had first 01/28/98_04:31:55 started to allow them to put me in handcuffs, 01/28/98_04:32:06 then pushed away in an attempt to resist. 01/28/98n04:32:19 The other cop, Officer Decker, or Becker (I don't 01/28/98w04:33:49 recall his name exactly, and I wasn't given any 01/28/98_04:34:12 papers with it on it), said he had been traveling 01/28/98w04:34:36 south on Route 28 when he fell in with the other 01/28/98_04:35:01 officer to follow me. (I think a transcript of 01/28/98_04:35:28 the radio broadcasts for the night would probably 01/28/98w04:35:41 reveal that to be an inaccurate statement - made 01/28/98_04:35:59 under oath). He also said I put up my hands to 01/28/98_04:37:16 prevent them from being restrained with their 01/28/98_04:37:29 handcuffs, and that he had to throw me against 01/28/98_04:37:39 the car so Ms. Frechette could put the cuffs on. 01/28/98w04:37:59 He also said I had told him that everybody had to 01/28/98w04:38:29 call me "the wizard" when he was putting me in 01/28/98_04:38:40 the patrol car - which is a _complete_ 01/28/98_04:38:55 fabrication: The only way "wizard" had come up 01/28/98_04:39:15 in relation to me that evening is the business 01/28/98_04:39:23 card I pulled out of my pocket and handed them in 01/28/98w04:39:31 the police station happened to be one that has my 01/28/98w04:39:49 name, phone number, and the title "Wizard" on it. 01/28/98w04:40:02 At _no time_ during the course of the incident 01/28/98_04:40:16 did I ask them, or anyone else, to address me as, 01/28/98w04:40:28 or call me "wizard." 01/28/98n04:40:40 Once this officer got done making his statement, 01/28/98_04:40:48 I asked, in cross examining him, when it was that 01/28/98w04:41:07 I had said I should be called "wizard" - and he 01/28/98_04:41:18 again said it was when he was putting me in the 01/28/98_04:41:26 patrol car. I asked him if he intended to stick 01/28/98_04:41:42 to that statement, under oath, and if he would be 01/28/98w04:41:50 willing to subject himself to a polygraph test of 01/28/98w04:42:01 his testimony. The prosecutor announced 01/28/98_04:42:14 "objection" and the judge said "sustained" (I'd 01/28/98_04:42:28 like to know *what* the objection is - which they 01/28/98w04:42:41 never stated - I should have asked at the time), 01/28/98_04:42:57 so I said if the witness is going to be allowed 01/28/98_04:43:06 to lie on the stand, there's nothing more I have 01/28/98_04:43:16 to ask him. 01/28/98n04:43:23 I was then allowed to take the stand. I said I 01/28/98_04:43:34 had gone home that night, and sat down at my 01/28/98_04:43:52 computer to take notes about the incident, and I 01/28/98_04:44:04 would be reading from those notes. I summarized 01/28/98_04:44:21 the first few lines by saying I had intended to 01/28/98_04:44:31 go to Applebee's that night, but had ended up at 01/28/98_04:44:42 the Grand China to meet a friend. I then started 01/28/98w04:44:54 reading, starting with the 2:37 entry. 01/28/98n04:45:07 After I'd read about 2 1/2 pages of my notes, the 01/28/98_04:45:23 judge interrupted me, saying I'd gone beyond the 01/28/98_04:45:39 case at hand in reading my narrative, and asked 01/28/98_04:45:53 if I wanted to say anything about my driving 01/28/98_04:46:07 after suspension, which I hadn't said anything 01/28/98_04:46:21 about in the notes. I thought about it for a 01/28/98_04:46:31 moment, then said I didn't have anything to say, 01/28/98_04:46:44 so he asked me to step down from the witness 01/28/98_04:46:54 stand. 01/28/98n04:47:17 Once I got back to the "defense" table, he said 01/28/98_04:47:31 that based on the evidence and hearing the 01/28/98_04:47:44 testimony, he was finding me guilty of disobeying 01/28/98w04:47:59 a police officer, $100 fine with a $20 penalty 01/28/98_04:48:11 assessment, guilty of driving after suspension, 01/28/98_04:48:23 $100 fine with a $20 penalty assessment, and 01/28/98_04:48:36 guilty of resisting arrest, with the sentence 01/28/98_04:49:00 suspended. I was then dismissed to wait for the
Fred Koschara's Time Log for January 28, 1998 (excerpt) /
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