State v Hardlock (Judge Sparks and ?)

Ash Lǐ

@Magistrate HC Blake Moore @Leah Evans @M. Sparks Just letting the court know that this time is double scheduled, and shares a scheduled time at the moment with the corresponding civil case. Mr. Tiffin forgot to put it on the calendar I believe. I apologize for not bringing this up at trial, it was only posted 15 hours beforehand.

Magistrate HC Blake Moore

Ash Lǐ The civil case was moved pending the criminal case, the civil will need to be heard after this or at another time.

Martin Clark

Motion to add witnesses:
Guy Mann

Leah Evans

Motion for Dismissal

Reason for dismissal request: Reasoning for appeal are demonstrably false and unsupported by the facts.
False claims are "being convicted without being properly arraigned, charges not presented to the defendant, and not being provided a lawyer when required."

Facts included are:
The dependent completed a full processing sequence, was incarcerated for the entirety of her processing which is a normal procedure for the department. Processing is not uncommon to be completed within the prison due to various circumstances.

The defendant was in the presence of a lawyer and informed of their charges by myself personally, throughout processing and was personally asked if they would like to go to a bench trial then and there. She refused.

She was asked for a plea against charges multiple times and refused to plea she then wasted time for about 35-40 mins complaining profusely about her charges and refusing to plea.

I believe this is a grotesque waste of court time and resources, the defendant is clearly stating facts that are false before the court.
She was never denied a lawyer and when offered to take the case to bench she refused of her own volition.

Conviction and sentencing was appropriate due to circumstances with the DOC and I personally ensured that the defendant was offered all of her rights.

If the defendant were appealing the charges based on a claim she was innocent and not hinging on a civil rights violation claim that has not been proved & presenting false facts as the reasoning for her appeal claim, I would be more wiling to entertain that this was appropriate for the courts time. However this is not the case.

Signed,

Leah Evans

Ash Lǐ

Rebuttal to motion.

 Your Honor,

The fact of the matter is that Ms. Hardlock was arrested, taken to the cells, and was charged and sentenced without being notified of her charges or being asked to plea, which would have been the arraignment I've been mentioning, beforehand. To Ms. Evans point of processing sometimes being completed in Boilingbroke, I'd like to hear when, how, and why this happens, and how it applies to Ms. Hardlock. Its silly to act like this situation was a matter of course when its been said on the docket multiple times by the state that it isn't. If it was a matter of course, and this was inconsequential, why was Officer Mann reprimanded? Regardless, I would like to ask the court and the State what would have happened if Ms. Hardlock had wished to plea guilty at Boilingbroke? Charges get dropped all the time in plea negotiations - Failure to Obey a Lawful Order comes to mind as one frequently dropped - and dropped charges amount to more than just less jail time; charges being dropped removes the potential fine, not to mention the fact that its one less charge on the defendant's criminal record. It would be impossible for this to happen if Ms. Hardlock were to try to negotiate a guilty plea at Boilingbroke. Those previous charges cannot be dropped, and Ms. Hardlock's options, along with her leverage, were cut off at the knees because all of her charges except for her possession of a class 1 had been finalized. Unremedyable. Simply taking time off only mends part of the problem. This isn't to mention the fact that Ms. Hardlock wasn't even aware of her charges until she was already sentenced for them, she only found out when BCSO deputies came up to Boilingbroke to charge her with the possession of a class 1 that was not on the original arrest report and list of charges. As far as the lawyer, previous statements about a lawyer were accurate to my understanding at the time but as discovery has progressed I've come to the following understanding. Ms. Hardlock was asked by Guy Mann whether she wanted a lawyer. In response she said 'I would like to hear my charges first before I decide on that'. Guy Mann then steps away to presumably finalize charges, and before he returns DOC spirits away Ms. Hardlock. Ms. Hardlock then calls herself a lawyer once she gets up to Boilingbroke. The lawyer is James Spencer. They discuss a bit together until the BCSO deputies show up to Boilingbroke. Ms. Hardlock, Mr. Spencer, and the deputies of the BCSO discuss the charges. To Mr. Spencer's own admission, he wasn't sure how to properly represent her in that case, at least according to Ms. Hardlock. What can a lawyer do when there is only one charge to dispute and they have a picture of the firearm in your clients pockets? Even Mr. Spencer understood and remarked on the precarious situation Ms. Hardlock was put in, it seems. As far as more traditional argument of criminal charges, this counselor has some concerns as well. I would love to be able to cross-examine the statements regarding failure to obey a lawful order and grand theft auto, with current evidence available to me in mind.

M. Sparks

Motion to Dismiss is denied. None of those facts have been presented to the court thus far. For this, particularly, Counselor Evans, if you are saying you were also an officer involved and providing that testimony, then it is expected to be heard. The implications in this case are heavy enough grounds for dismissal, so this will be heard at trial. That being said-

No further evidence or witnesses were provided by the State as they claimed in their Motion for Continuance that was evidently so crucial. This will be discussed with the remainder of the Judiciary.

M. Sparks

I've sat on this, and discussed this with a few judges on the idea and situation, and this is the conclusion I have - we will be granting the States request to dismiss all charges on this matter with prejudice and reverse the ruling of this court. There will be further Sanctions placed on Counselor Evans for providing falsehoods and reasoning behind the Motion for Continuance at a later date.

@Court Clerks - Please count the time and ensure a note is placed on Miss Hardlock's MDT profile for repayment for the time in-prison for the charges dismissed by the State.

SO ORDERED.

Magistrate HC Blake Moore

I will cancel the scheduled case and leave this open until further Court ruling.

@Ash Lǐ @Martin Clark @Leah Evans

Theodore Lars

Deputy Evans is NOT to receive any further sanctions along this trial or other trials for any court proceedings prior to this ruling unless it is unrelated to previous rulings related to her BAR or threat Sanctions. The Current suggestion of Sanctions by Judge Sparks is also hereby OVERTURNED due to being unable to complete the sanctions in absence. Even upon return delayed sanctions would be inappropriate.

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