OT: Legal question. | Page 2 | The Boneyard

OT: Legal question.

Rocktheworld said:
I’m a speech therapist and I know dementia. Especially given you have documentation, I have to imagine SHE will likely get off fine, however I am no lawyer.

However, prepare for folks to turn to you as her caregiver and POA as to her supervision; forgetting that her condition has annoyed neighbors, it sounds like she could end up in a dangerous situation without more thorough supervision. You could be considered legally responsible for her health and behavior.
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she is supervised and cannot be left alone. she is allowed to walk around the block, and watched. I am only one person, so if I take a leak, she may be alone for a minute. I have a POA, and am her caregiver. So the supervison is quite thorough. Can she get out of eyesight? It happens. The fact that it has happened twice over several weeks speaks to that. The guy is just a jerk.
 
Madmannsucks said:
she is supervised and cannot be left alone. she is allowed to walk around the block, and watched. I am only one person, so if I take a leak, she may be alone for a minute. I have a POA, and am her caregiver. So the supervison is quite thorough. Can she get out of eyesight? It happens. The fact that it has happened twice over several weeks speaks to that. The guy is just a jerk.
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Ever consider a wearable GPS tracker w/ geo-fencing capability to let you know when she wanders a bit when you might be understandably distracted/engaged in something?
 
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huskymedic said:
All well and good except he's in Aurora Colorado ;)
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Ahhh...missed that somehow...

My wife and I like that area...she worked for the Colorado Springs law enforcement many years back.
 
Madmannsucks said:
she is supervised and cannot be left alone. she is allowed to walk around the block, and watched. I am only one person, so if I take a leak, she may be alone for a minute. I have a POA, and am her caregiver. So the supervison is quite thorough. Can she get out of eyesight? It happens. The fact that it has happened twice over several weeks speaks to that. The guy is just a jerk.
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What I’m getting at is that that level of supervision does not seem to be doing the job, or they will say so at the least.

FTD is really tough. I imagine this is incredibly hard. Sorry.
 
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Madmannsucks said:
Here is my reality. I have had to cut back at work to deal with her, and even with good insurance, the medical bills are unreal. I called a few lawyers,,,,lowest was 1200, IF we don't go to trial. Additionally a diagnosis around 18 months ago projected her to live around 2 years. Based on her progressing deterioration, that seems pretty realistic. So I decided to go it alone.
The letter explains her condition in detail. So i will try that. I suppose I can always request a continuance and go back with a lawyer.
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Wish I lived near Aurora, your neighbor's house would be littered with exploding bags of s^&t.

Sorry you have to deal with all of this, what a nightmare.
 
TRest said:
One thing I did not consider is whether a criminal court will honor a POA when trying to act as a pro se. The POA allows you to handle her financial/health decisions, I assume, but I don't know if it can operate in the same manner when you are trying to present a criminal defense as a non-lawyer.
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This. I don't pretend to know Colorado laws on this, but if you own a company and the company is sued you are not allowed to represent it pro se -- it needs a lawyer as pro se is limited to the named party itself. While I don't know the answer, I would fear that representing an individual defendant under a POA could be viewed as you practicing law without a license. I would guess that if the Judge didn't let you represent your wife he'd grant a continuance, but who knows.

More importantly, I'm sorry for you, your wife and your family as to her condition.
 
Rocktheworld said:
What I’m getting at is that that level of supervision does not seem to be doing the job, or they will say so at the least.

FTD is really tough. I imagine this is incredibly hard. Sorry.
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We paid a "walker" to walk behind my father. My father had GPS tracker. My father at 80 yrs old could walk more miles than Roger Daltrey could sing about. 90% of the time he'd end up at some diner in another town where he had friends. 5% of the time we'd track him down through the tracker.

The walker worked 9 hours a day.

Nursing facilities have locked wings, key only elevators, etc., and yet, many of them still fix up bus stands to nowhere in front of their facilities because of frequent escapes.
 
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Madmannsucks said:
Local news station took interest. So I guess I will be meeting the producer and photographer at the courthouse. Be careful what you wish for.
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Shame could be a nice motivator here. Hard to imagine the community at large wouldn’t be outraged by this callous and unneighborly behavior. Trade one doorbell rung once every two months for a hundred people in front of his house chanting and carrying signs. That’s not a good trade.
 
businesslawyer said:
This. I don't pretend to know Colorado laws on this, but if you own a company and the company is sued you are not allowed to represent it pro se -- it needs a lawyer as pro se is limited to the named party itself. While I don't know the answer, I would fear that representing an individual defendant under a POA could be viewed as you practicing law without a license. I would guess that if the Judge didn't let you represent your wife he'd grant a continuance, but who knows.

More importantly, I'm sorry for you, your wife and your family as to her condition.
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I’d be surprised if he can represent her, but perhaps he would be allowed to explain her situation under the POA since she cannot do it herself.

Some interesting lawyer geek stuff on competence to represent yourself pro se. Competence to Proceed Pro Se
 
I am a Assistant District Attorney (prosecutor) in New York State. In NY you could not technically represent her but in a local court things can get pretty informal.

Bring her if she can come because the court will need her there to even dismiss and some documentation. Any prosecutor with some sense of justice shouldn't be hard to convince for a dismissal. I personally have dismissed similar things with elder people having health issues.

But if you are unrepresented it may be hard to speak with prosecutor directly prior to going on the record- not all offices talk to pro-se defendants. If the prosecutor won't speak to you once the case gets called try to tell the judge directly sometimes that will get the job done if the judge will listen.

In NY at least we have an obligation with a named "victim" to offer services before resolving cases so prosecutor may be hesitant to dismiss first appearance.

Good luck.
 
What’s the worst case legal scenario? A fine? Jail time?
 
Coming from the perspective of someone who has investigated countless neighbor complaints prior to being promoted... If your wife was previously warned by the police not to go onto your neighbor's property AND there was an extensive history of complaints made against your wife, I can understand why the summons was issued. That doesn't mean I agree it should have. I feel the officer called to investigate this incident had zero desire to take any enforcement action whatsoever but again IF theres history there and IF the complainant persists, we cant just simply tell the complainant to go F themselves ... although we'd love to. I'm confident the court will drop the charges but it sucks you have to take the steps necessary to get to that point.
 
@Madmannsucks Try these guys:

Colorado Legal Services
1905 Sherman St., Suite 400
Denver, CO 80203
303-837-1313

In most cases, CLS is required to follow the Federal Poverty Guidelines (find them here) in order to determine financial eligibility, but the eligibility requirements may differ in some instances, for example if you are 60 or older, or depending on the legal issue (for example you are a victim of domestic violence). For that reason it might be helpful if you contact CLS in order that CLS can accurately determine your eligibility for our services.

If you meet certain income limits and are eligible, you won’t pay for help. Some CLS offices help seniors 60 and over regardless of income, but only if your legal problem falls within CLS priorities and if financial and staffing resources are available.
 
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CL82 said:
@Madmannsucks Try these guys:

Colorado Legal Services
1905 Sherman St., Suite 400
Denver, CO 80203
303-837-1313

In most cases, CLS is required to follow the Federal Poverty Guidelines (find them here) in order to determine financial eligibility, but the eligibility requirements may differ in some instances, for example if you are 60 or older, or depending on the legal issue (for example you are a victim of domestic violence). For that reason it might be helpful if you contact CLS in order that CLS can accurately determine your eligibility for our services.

If you meet certain income limits and are eligible, you won’t pay for help. Some CLS offices help seniors 60 and over regardless of income, but only if your legal problem falls within CLS priorities and if financial and staffing resources are available.
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Thanks. I know we would not meet income guidelines, but they might help anyway.
 
Any prosecutor should just drop this case. In fact the cop should have just sent her home. They have discretion too. FWIW I would also contact your Mayor/ city councillor/state rep etc. While it might not be completely kosher politicians have been known to unofficially intervene in such cases and get prosecutors to shall we say be reasonable. Or even just continue the case for months.

Final note. The neighbor sounds like whale crap in the bottom of the ocean. If you have friends who are willing to harass him I wouldn’t say do it but I wouldn’t say don’t either. And notify the press. A sympathetic story in the local paper will make the Court and prosecutor very antsy and they will look for a way out.
 
Madmannsucks said:
Thanks. I know we would not meet income guidelines, but they might help anyway.
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It's worth a shot. If you are 60 and over they'll make an exception and they seem to indicate that they'll make exceptions for compelling cases. I think that your wife's situation might qualify, particularly since it does not seem like it would be time intensive for them.
 
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I may be wrong but are DAs elected in your area? There is a scene in the original Chris Kringle movie where the judge is sitting in chambers with the party boss who says we have an election coming up. You can’t get re elected if you say there is no Santa. Same principal applies here. They will deny it but these guys hate negative stories.
 
freescooter said:
Any prosecutor should just drop this case. In fact the cop should have just sent her home. They have discretion too. FWIW I would also contact your Mayor/ city councillor/state rep etc. While it might not be completely kosher politicians have been known to unofficially intervene in such cases and get prosecutors to shall we say be reasonable. Or even just continue the case for months.

Final note. The neighbor sounds like whale crap in the bottom of the ocean. If you have friends who are willing to harass him I wouldn’t say do it but I wouldn’t say don’t either. And notify the press. A sympathetic story in the local paper will make the Court and prosecutor very antsy and they will look for a way out.
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I really don’t understand what the cop was doing here. He’s almost as cruel as the neighbor. It’s just a total waste of the OP and his wife’s precious time and resources.
 
freescooter said:
I may be wrong but are DAs elected in your area? There is a scene in the original Chris Kringle movie where the judge is sitting in chambers with the party boss who says we have an election coming up. You can’t get re elected if you say there is no Santa. Same principal applies here. They will deny it but these guys hate negative stories.
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I'd be surprised if the prosecutor wouldn't be satisfied with additional safe guards to prevent it from happening again. Then again. I'd expect that the neighbor would be cool with that as well. You'd really have to be an to press this thing given the circumstances.
 
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huskymedic said:
I wish it was local... I have a whole boatload of friends who would be more than happy to play ding dong ditch at all hours of the day and night in a circumstance like this.

Hang in there...
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I was just about to ask for the neighbor's address. I'm a very bored, very vindictive man (surprised?). If it were local ...
 
Is there a public defender option if you aren’t allowed to represent pro se?

Colorado State Public Defender

The Office of the Colorado State Public Defender is committed to excellence in the representation of any person accused of a crime.
www.coloradodefenders.us www.coloradodefenders.us

I’m no attorney but seems like you always have the right to one if you can’t afford one (at least that’s what they say on Law & Order).
 
CL82 said:
It's worth a shot. If you are 60 and over they'll make an except and seem to indicate that they'll make exceptions for compelling cases. I think that your wife's situation might qualify particularly since it does seem like it would be time intensive for them.
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Would, or would not be time intensive?
 
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