The Voting Machine

A Well-Meaning Citizen

An hour later I was transported to the Criminal Justice Center on Bunker Hill for my arraignment. I was assigned a young public defender who told me to expect jail time, a suspended license, and a high bail.

"Is that typical?" I asked him.

"Fifty-thousand dollar bail is standard for DUI with an accident," he replied coolly. "Doesn't matter if there was no injury. If someone got hurt or killed, you'd be looking at something much worse."

There was no way I was going to pay $50,000. That would wipe out a big chunk of the remaining award money, which Suzy and Reina needed to live on since there was no steady income.

I would have to ride out my time at the Twin Towers. I had no home to return to anyway. At least jail would provide shelter and a steady diet of peanut butter sandwiches, plus the pendant of Santa Muerte to protect me.

When we finally arrived in the courtroom, I was greeted by my old friend Todd Okamoto, who served as my lawyer during the Employee of the Year trial. During that case, Todd outsmarted the powerful district attorney and won my release in a case that had seemed hopeless. Based on his stellar performance, Okamoto became famous enough in criminal justice circles to start his own private practice.

Todd shocked me by offering to represent me in the DUI trial, taking the case off the hands of my inexperienced public defender.

"I don't have any money to pay you," I told him.

"You don't need to worry about that," he said. I took him at his word. If anyone could find a way out of this mess, it was Todd.

When we entered the court for my arraignment, Todd respectfully approached the bench. "Your Honor, I have been hired to represent Mr. McCarthy by my client, who also wants to pay bail on the defendant's behalf."

"This County takes DUI charges very seriously," the judge replied. "Even if you were to post bail, I think some jail time is appropriate punishment for Mr. McCarthy's offense."

"Your Honor, I would like to make the argument that the defendant is an upright member of the community, who has assisted local and federal law enforcement in good faith in the past. It's true that the facts of what happened last night indicate reckless driving and alcohol abuse. But my client contends that another car actually caused the collision on the freeway and this has not been disproven. Moreover, my client has already spent a night in the Twin Towers jail. He has endured a lockdown and witnessed the death of a fellow inmate. This has served Mr. McCarthy with a traumatic reminder of his last confinement in the Twin Towers during the Employee of the Year trial, when he was nearly killed by gang members in his cell."

The judge seemed displeased. He didn't like where Todd was going with this, drudging up the past, pointing out the failings of the security in the county jails.

"What exactly are you proposing, Mr. Okamoto?"

"Your Honor, I think we can all agree that Mr. McCarthy is not a criminal. He is a well-meaning citizen who has the potential to contribute to society. He's done so in the past. He cooperated with police in the Employee of the Year investigation, and he also assisted the FBI in breaking up a crime ring that specialized in identity theft.

"I think we agree that the best resolution to this unfortunate incident would include a reprimand that was fair and adequate, but also put the defendant on a path to build on his prior history of positive contributions.

"I've been hired by a friend and supporter of Mr. McCarthy who is the executive director of The Sunflower Foundation. As you know, Your Honor, The Sunflower Foundation has established a track record as a highly effective public-private partnership for drug and alcohol rehabilitation. The statistical record of the foundation's treatment program shows a consistent pattern of effective intervention with first-time offenders like Mr. McCarthy."

"The foundation's work is rooted in the philosophy that drug and alcohol-related offenses are often rooted in mental illness and neurological afflictions. Their treatment-based approach shows much lower rates of recidivism than imprisonment. I would argue that the court release the defendant into the custody of the Sunflower Foundation, whose executive director will take responsibility for ensuring that Mr. McCarthy completes an appropriate treatment program.

"In the past year, the Sunflower Foundation has a strong track record of cooperation with the district attorney in negotiating treatment as an alternative to prison. Since this cooperation began, there hasn't been a single repeat offense by any defendant who went to a Sunflower program instead of jail."

Todd seemed to be persuading the whole courtroom with the logic and purity of his suggested approach. Even the prosecution raised no objection as he touted the benefits of Sunflower over extended imprisonment. I was dying to know more about the Sunflower Foundation and its mysterious executive director, the unnamed benefactor who had swooped out of nowhere as my guardian angel to post bail and hire Todd to defend me.

The judge called Todd and the prosecutor to the front for a conference.

"I'll agree to the defense's terms," the prosecutor finally said, "as long as the DUI stands on the defendant's record. His driver's license is suspended for a period of six months."