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I once had a client in a parole revocation hearing who was falsely accused of stealing a car.
Thread 1/13
Thread 1/13
What really happened: his construction site coworker rented him the coworker’s mother’s car – $200 for the weekend – to take his 7 year old son to an amusement park. 2/
When mom noticed the car was missing, coworker told her it was stolen. She didn’t find out until months later that her son was lying. 3/
When client was pulled over after police ran his tags, he thought he was getting ticketed for driving without a license. He was shocked when he learned the real charge: car theft. 4/
Client had been perfect on parole up to that point, but he got scared. The court had released him, but he knew that if he kept reporting to his parole officer, he’d get arrested and held in jail on a parole warrant until his case was over. 5/
He needed to make sure his son was taken care of; he was a single parent. 6/
He kept in touch with his parole officer but didn’t come to appointments for a few weeks. After he set his son up in his mother’s care, he turned himself in and was arrested. The car theft case was dismissed in court, but he still had to have a parole revocation hearing. 7/
At the hearing, coworker’s mom showed up to testify against client. She came in thinking he stole her car, but she realized over the course of cross-examination that her son had set him up. She apologized to client. It was an incredible moment. 8/
The US Parole Commission’s hearing examiner found client not guilty of car theft, but she had to find him guilty of a technical violation: missing meetings with his PO. She recommended he be released immediately. But, client would stay in jail until the USPC’s final decision. 9/
3 weeks later, a USPC Commissioner – who was never in the same room as my client, never looked him in the eye or listened to him speak – disregarded the recommendation and sentenced my client to a year in jail for missing meetings. 12 months behind bars. 10/
The U.S. Parole Commission has always treated DC citizens this way, ever since DC relinquished control over its own people in 1997. 11/
Folks are starting to see it now with the USPC’s apathetic response to COVID-19, but the truth is that the USPC’s disregard for human life is par for the course. And yes, client is a young black man. 12/
I just hope this moment brings about real change for people on parole or supervised release in DC. The US Parole Commission has to go.
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