witnes in a legal case / want opinions

[Soundguy]

a month back I was taking a walk at night ( like.. 1am? or so ..I get off of work late.. etc..) in my neighborhood and overhear some loud verbal 'fighting'... continued on my walk.. got back to my house, and one of the 'loud' people was walking down the center of the street continuing to be loud.... again.. I just avoided all contact and slipped into my gate and let them pass on by.. if I had to 'guess' i'd say there was alcohol or drugs or some sort of bad mental state involved.. but again.. that's a GUESS. i don't know the guy.. never seen him, couldn't pick him out of a lineup if my life depended on it... my wife had worked late that night and was just about home, so i called her and warned her there was someone walking down the road, and to watch out and i would wait at the gate and open it for her, and close it.. ( didn't want to leave it open and have someone wander in ya know! ).. anyway.. a few minutes later.. county sherrif is driving thru community.. you could vaugely still here the guy screaming.. cop stops at my gate when he see's me, and I merly point my finger/arm down the road toward the noise / last direction the guy was headed.

cop speeds off.

10m later i'm still waiting for the wife.. cop comes back, gets out of car wants to talk to me ( oh boy... ) I honestly don't remember all the details here.. somebody lived with somebody and somebodies relative or in law called the cops.. etc. it's way on the far side of the community.. I don't know but 1 person over anywhere on that side.. and that guy lives in a cul-de-sac and is a state trooper.. only reason i know him a lil is because his kid went to the school my wife teaches at.. yada, yada.. couldn't pick him out of a line up either I know the 2 people who live directly north of me, and 1 guy south of me, have met maybee 2-3 other people in the community.. don't know em really.. everyone pretty much keeps to themselves.. etc.. ) ( again.. i am fuzzy here.. don't know who this guy is.. what relation he is to anyone.. or if he is a resident, lives with a resident, etc.. etc.. this is just what the cop mentioned to me.. none of my business.. I didn't commit it to memory.. etc.. ) so.. cop said somebodies realative called in.. cop gets there.. guy apparrently is uncooperative, cop says the guy is/was going to be arrested.. etc.. etc. I didn't ask any questions.. cop just stated this to me.. I mentioned several times that I wasn't making a complaint nor did I call the cops.. etc.... at that point my wife is hom.. i tell the cop i need to go inside.. good nighte.. etc. but then he asks me for my name and address. well ok.. what do you do? cop asks you for your name and address.. you give it to him..

fast forward to friday afternoon.. i get home from work.. public defenders office has left a message on my phone mentioned i'm a witness for 'some guy' I don't know or recognize the name.. etc.

so i call in this am.. get some secretary.. leave them my cell phone.. was told i might hear back after lunch.. so far nada.. etc. i can only 'assume' this call is about that night a month ago.. etc..

sheesh.. I hate court stuff.. Not only am i not interested in being any witness.. I don't even know details.. i didn't call the police.. ..99% of what I know was told to me by the cop without me asking.. it's been a month.. it was late at night.. etc.. i don't know the guy.. couldn't id him if MY LIFE depended on it.. truthfully never saw his face..

why does the PD want to talk to me?? if anything.. 'apparrently' the guy WAS causing a disturbance. if that's so and is illegal.. then what's the deal.. he should go to jail or pay his fine.. whatever. if he gave the cop a hard time and is charged with something there.. that's not anything i know about.. so again.. no witness value there.

in case i didn't mention it i REALLY don't like dealing with legal stuff.. just being inthe courthouse gives me the creeps. i'm an honest law abiding citizen an all.. i just don't like legal proceedings. I freeze up. back a couple months ago when i was pulled over inthe middle of the night on a deserted road pulling a trailer( not speeding.. not even 1mph over the limtit.. no swerving.. no lamps out.. nothing ) and the cop just wanted to do a 'vin check' ont he trailer ..e tc.. i got clammy and nervous about that.. and I didn't do anything even.. no ticket, 'thanks have a good night.. just seeing if the traielr was stolen'

( was that weird or what.. makes me think he just wanted to pull me over for driving late at night and check my driver license, insurance and registration .. ie.. fishing? )

anyway.

what's my involvement here.. I'd sure like to just get out of this...

opinions...

soundguy

 

[David Ferguson]

So far, all that has happened is you heard some noise and saw some folks walking. That resulted in a cop recording your name as a potential witness, and a follow-up phone call from a lawyer.

Return the phone call, and answer any questions they have. It's unlikely you will be needed as a court witness, they just want to know what you saw/heard. If it's not much, then it won't be useful to them.

Relax, don't worry....

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Rule #1 - always tell the truth. If you don't remember, that is the truth.
Rule #2 - I'm guessing you are not an expert on evidence and don't know all the facts, so let the authorities decide whether what you saw and heard has any value.

Cop was just doing his job in gathering the names of witnesses.

BTW, is "PD" the Public Defender or Police Department. Kinda hard to tell in the context.

 

[Soundguy]

so far i got #1 in spades..

 

[MasseyWV]

A few years ago a guy had stolen a motorcycle then wrecked it near my property before coming up what he thought was an empty hillside trying to avoid the police before coming onto my property. I happened to be outside at the time so when he popped up at the edge of my yard I immediately confronted him only to be told that he "was lost". Yea right! He then asked if he could "cross my property" and I said sure, so he would leave and I could go call the police.

About a week later, I was delivered a subpoena by the county sheriff, wanting me to appear as a witness in court. Not wanting any part of it, I called them and got out of it, thankfully.

 

[Short Game]

I'm just like you. There's a scene in the movie Barfly where Faye Dunaway says to Mickey Rourke, "don't you just hate cops?" and he answers,, "no, but I feel much better when they're not around."

I didn't always feel that way.

Late one night in 1965, I was driving back to the ship from LA to SD, going through Camp Pendleton on US101 when a wildly swerving car overtook me. I dropped back a safe distance and continued on. This was back before it was freeway there, and after a bit, the road went into a divided section and the car just missed the center guardrail, but on the wrong side of it! I was afraid I was soon going to see a terrible head-on. Just past where the guy crossed over was a CHP cruiser. On came the cherry but the officer could only parallel the guy for a few miles. Everyone in the northbound lanes got over to their right and missed him. Eventually, the two sides of the highway rejoined and the highway patrolman got him pulled over. I stopped and told him I had witnessed miles of the erratic driving. He took down my ID info.

A couple of months later I was called into the Chief Master At Arms' office and read the riot act. The subpoena meant to them that I must be in some kind of trouble. I checked into the courthouse in Oceanside only to find out the case of the State versus one Raymond Aurthur Barrela was continued. I took the opportunity to have a couple days off at home. Over the next couple of months, I was subpoenaed twice more. Both times the same thing happened, and I continues on to LA and home for some more of that nice unofficial R&R liberty. I never did have to go into a courtroom.

A couple of months later, on the news was the story of a terrible car crash. One Raymond Aurthur Barrela drove his car off an overpass, killing himself, his wife, and his two children. It's weird, I just remembered about this two days ago and related it to my neighbor.

I suppose I would still try to help out if I witnessed something like that. But I wouldn't want to. I am very slow to call a cop when someone messes with me. It almost never does any good. I don't even want to be noticed anymore. Like I told my VA shrink, "I try to be a hermit and I even screw that up."

 

[Soundguy]

w, public defender just called.. asked me a ton of questions.. told me the DA will likely be calling me.. and might have me in court.. sweet

 

[Short Game]

Worst case scenario is you get subpoenaed, you make a few bucks for saying, I really don't remember a bunch of times.

Oh yeah, they did pay my mileage from SD to Oceanside and back each time.

 

[Redbug]

SoundGuy...What a pain in the rear. If the cop never saw you, you would not be harassed like that. Next time...

I can guarantee alcohol was involved...

 

[hr3]

I feel for ya SoundGuy.. I'm about the same way about this type of thing.. It won't be easy but when it's over it's over.. Life will go on..:thumbsup: