Digital Impulses

Aldo released from Eastlake Juvenile Detention Center

Yes!  Finally!

We just returned from the Inglewood courthouse where we sat all day waiting for Aldo's case to be heard.  Aside from a 45-minute lunch break in which we drove to the Bakery to get something to eat, it was an all-day ordeal.

Finally, around 1630, we were called into the court room and his case was heard.  All proceeded without a hitch and after some warnings from the judge, Aldo was released to us right at the courthouse.  As a result of his pleading guilty to Accessory After The Fact, he will have:

1. 60-days house arrest
2. 1 year probation
3. No consorting with known felons
4. No consorting with people who drink or do drugs
5. No consorting with people carrying a concealed weapon

and about 40 other restrictions that make up his parole.  The crime that he pled guilty to carries a maximum incarceration time of 3 years and any violation of his parole parameters could and most likely would land him back in the clink to serve out the remaining time on the 3 years.

Hopefully this incident will have served as a wake-up clarion for this kid and he will get back on the straight and narrow path now.

One can always hope.  What else can you do?

What a Saturday

The events that took place on this Saturday in March are such that they are going to require two posts.

The day started off routinely enough, with Breakfast at Piggies followed by giving Claudia a ride to Eastlake Juvenile Detention Center near downtown L.A. to see her son Aldo.  After dropping off Claudia, I called Bert and told him I was near by.  He asked me to come by and we drove to an In N' Out burger joint off of the 60 freeway and had lunch there.

After lunch, on the way back to the factory, we stopped at at Coffee Bean for some drinks and then I dropped off Bert and picked up Claudia from her visit with Aldo.

Later in the evening we had dinner at Asela's and that was pretty good.  After dinner, we drove to Palos Verdes to play Scrabble. 

Bert's black aura
How it all started I have no idea, but as the night seemed to go on, Bert just seemed to get darker and darker and the tension in the room and with his boys was so thick you could cut it with a knife.  At one point, Bert pushed back from the table and left the kitchen and I was certain he was going to deal with his boys.  as it turned out, he just went upstairs to wash up and change his shirt, to see if he could snap out of it a little bit.

Scrabble was ordinary and I do not recall the results of the games.

Aldo: Not good news from Court

*** UPDATE @ 1403: Just returned from lunch and I had a voicemail message on my phone at work, from Zavala, Aldo attorney.  In the message there was good and not-so-good news:

• Parole Office's report is recommending PROBATION + 50 hours of community service for Aldo.
• Judge does not have to abide by the report, but a lot of the time they do.
• It would seen that the DA is still wanting to charge Aldo with accessory to a felony robbery which is a STRIKE.
• The Attorney wants to hire a PI to track down the victim and get their story.
• Attorney needs evidence to try and get the DA to reduce the charge to something that is not a STRIKEABLE offense.

I will be getting back in touch with the Attorney to see about getting him the $500 for the PI. 

And the beat rolls on... and on... and on.  *sigh*

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*** UPDATE @ 1215: AJ just called me. They are leaving Court.  Aldo was *NOT RELEASED*.  The Attorney Zavala has asked for a postponement of 1 month, making the date of the next court appearance Wednesday, April 2, 2008.

The Attorney is asking for an additional $500.00 to hire a PI to speak to the witness/victim to get their side of the story.  The reason Aldo is still inside is because he is not going to plead guilty.  So now I have to speak to the Attorney and see about investing an additional $500 and see just how that is going to benefit Aldo's case.

And the nightmare continues, stretching off into the distance, with no end in sight.  God, this sucks.

________________________________________________________________________________________

My son just called me from the courthouse in Inglewood.  States that the Attorney finally walked in and he is not being very friendly.  Here is what I know so far:

• Attorney was *late*
• Seems harried
• Was sort of rude to Luis, barely let him get a word in edge-wise
• Claudia is unhappy with the Lawyer, stating that he is not letting them talk
• Says Aldo is not being released today
• Says the state wants to charge Aldo with a *strike*
• Says there is a Witness
• Says he wants to hire a private investigator to track down the witness and talk to him
• Says what he heard from the PO is *different* than what Claudia is telling her the PO told her
• Says that the police reports states that Aldo was right in front of what happened and waited in the car
• The Attorney has finally walked away and spoken with Aldo

I have asked AJ to tell the Attorney to call me when he has a moment and he has had an opportunity to get his bearings and speak with Aldo.

I will update this entry during the day as I hear more from my son, live from the courthouse.

Aldo: Voicemail message from his Attorney

I just returned from lunch to find a message on my work voicemail. In the message he sez he just barely received the case notes from the P.D. and will be looking at the documents today and will show up in court tomorrow morning at 1030.

The actual case is set for 0830 and he says he has to be in court in Van Nuys first thing in the morning and will be showing up in room 240 in Inglewood tomorrow morning at 1030.  In the message he states that he can't predict what will happen tomorrow, that we need to wait until tomorrow to see how things play themselves out.

The fact that he just barely got the case notes today, a few hours before tomorrow's court date is unnerving.  He hasn't been to see Aldo, has not spoken to the D.A, etc.

I suspect things may not have an optimal result tomorrow morning and that portends to much drama for me emanating  from the women directly involved in this case that are family members of Aldo's.

I can't see the light yet at the end of this tunnel.  That sucks.

Aldo: 2nd phone conference with Francisco Zavala

Just got off the phone with Aldo's attorney. 

Unfortunately, here we are, 72 hours before court, and he *still* has not received any paperwork regarding the case from the public defender.  He states he expects to receive the paperwork soon, and that once he has received the paperwork, he will be better prepared to both talk to the DA and to go see Aldo.

He asked that we exercise some patience and have faith that everything will be O.K.

For now, he states he will call me back once he has received the report from the Public Defender and has had an opportunity to digest all of the information contained therein.

We'll see what happens.  This fucking nightmare cannot be over soon enough.

Aldo: 1st phone conference with Francisco Zavala

Just completed the 1st phone conference with Francisco Zavala, Aldo's Attorney.  Initial contacts have been made:

• Has already spoken to the probation officer.
• Has already spoken to the public defender Case paperwork on it’s way via snail-mail.

So, it's seems like this guy is on the ball and is taking charge of the case.  I hope we have made a good decision in hiring this guy.  We'll soon see, I guess.

Aldo: 1st Interview with Parole Officer

Just got a verbal report from Claudia, Aldo's mom on the results of her initial interview with the parole officer.

She gathered all of the documentation that the lawyer said she needed to take to her and they had a somewhat productive, 1 hour interview.  From what Claudia states, the lady parole officer was nice enough and seemed to be interested in building a fair case for Aldo.

I gather also that she was duly impressed with the "reference letter" package that I put together in a 3 ring binder for her.  We'll see what kind of a favorable report she writes with all of the input she has been given.

Aldo Lawyer: 1st Interview with Francisco Zavala

This evening we drove to Sherman Oaks to meet Francisco Zavala for the 1st time. The wife, my son, Aldo's mom and I took about 50 minutes to drive from Lawndale to Sherman Oaks and we ended up arriving 15 minutes late.

The offices were OK and we had to wait a few minutes for Mr. Zavala to come out and greet us. eventually he did and walked us into a large conference room with a large table where we all sat down and talked about what happened with Aldo.

Mr. Zavala didn't record the proceedings and never offered us anything to drink. He asked a lot of questions and the whole session lasted about an hour.  During the conversation, Mr. Zavala became exasperated with Claudia, because he felt like she was going off on constant irrelevant tangents (she did, multiple times) and he also expressed concern at the fact that Claudia did not have a firm idea/answer to the question regarding Aldo's academic progress.

When we were getting ready to go, Mr. Zavala expressed admiration for the fact that A.J. was studiously taking notes for his cousin to refer to later.

Predictably, Claudia took exception to how she was treated by Mr. Zavala and was very put off by him. Considering that this is basically her problem and that it is her son who needs her help, I am a little surprised that she is taking this attitude with the Attorney.

At the very end of the meeting, we gave Mr. Zavala the amount of money in CASH that he had requested and we looked over the contract and had Claudia sign it.

We'll see what happens from here.  For better or for worse, Aldo has an Attorney.

Lawyer for Aldo

Just got off the phone with Francisco Zavala, the attorney we have decided to hire to see if we can extricate Aldo from the current mess he is embroiled in.

We have an appointment with him tomorrow, Tuesday 2/26/08 at his office in Sherman Oaks, CA where we will have our initial 'official' consultation and sign the contract that will make him Claudia and Aldo's Attorney.

Mr. Zavala charges $7,500 for a full meal deal "result" (as he puts it) and does not charge per the hour for phone visits and phone-based conversations/case status updates.  We are to give him $3,500 up front and the rest in 60 days.

We will see if this is the shining prick point of light at  the end of this tunnel or whether I have just committed to a whole new set of headaches regarding responsibility for the fees involved in getting this kid out of trouble.

I fear that many days riddled with FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) lie ahead.  I hate this.

Aldo's 1st court date

And so the current level of drama regarding the teenager with the faulty judgment was ratcheted up about 4 levels today because he had his first court date and he was not released.

Family members were there from 0800 to 1600 and they got to speak to the Public Defender.  She was typically busy and harried and did not impart much information.  They judge in the case said little, other than to state that said teenager would be held until 3/6.

The ensuing drama, crying and gnashing of teeth at home because he was not released was elevated.

Not much to do now but to wait until 3/6 and see what ensues.  In the mean time, lawyerly options (costing thousands, no doubt) will be investigated.

This is a disaster.