You're not necessarily "in trouble," but the e-mail is permissable. Meaning that if you admitted guilt then the prosecutor can present the e-mail as an exhibit which would look pretty convincing. Maybe a real lawyer will chime in here and help you guys out. It kind've makes me wish I was a lawyer, 30 - 40 clients in one fowl swoop!
I think your strategy should depend on your situation. If for example you're a school teacher, student on financial aid, or pilot then you probably want to assemble all the evidence you can to refute the charges and solicit a lesser offense. In Vail I had a possession knocked down to a "disturbing the peace" which I thought was pretty ironic.
If you'd rather make a point and you have nothing to lose then by all means ask for a jury trial. The penalty for a conviction may be more severe, but you will definately waste more time and energy than you'll pay out which sends a pretty clear message.
Judges are temperamental people. If a judge were to see a bunch of these cases in a day, I would argue he may be more likely to throw the book at the offenders than the police. I've seen a judge hold a guy in contempt and send him to jail for the night for wearing a short sleeved shirt with a picture of a pot leaf on it in his court.
A better strategy might be to organize a river clean up with all "offenders" and then partner with the rangers and the prosecutor to have all of the charges dismissed for the parties who participate. When you go to war with the man, the cards are stacked against you. As the ranger pointed out, you were breaking the law, whether he agrees with the law or not.
Thanks for the advice...any ideas on how to propse a river clean up for offenders. Do we need to wait for court? Should I email Ranger Rick again with the idea?
Cheers
Everyone - just got this from a friend in Southwest CO who was involved in the incidents last weekend on the Dolores. Apparently we should re-direct our rage to someone other than Ranger Rick. Ranger Rick is our friend!
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Folks need to stop raging on Rick Ryan, Dolores River Ranger, in regards to the incidents on the Lower Dolores this past weekend. Rick had nothing to do with it, & has no power to change what happened.
If you wanna complain, contact Steve Beverlin at the Dolores Public Lands Office. He has the power to put the reins on Barney Fife. Also, Rick has nothing to do with the release of water on the Dolores. To whine about that, contact Vern Harrell at the Bureau of Reclamation in Cortez.
Rick Ryan is a totally cool fellow.....a friend to all boaters, & a huge asset to our community. He is getting totally reamed via email, & he does not deserve one bit of it. So, please stop harassing one of our few allies down here in the Four Corners.
We were not expecting a release this year at all. Thanks to a sudden heat wave, & no irrigation being used, we got a blessing from above. It caught everyone with their pants down, & Rick was slammed trying to get the facilities ready with only 2 days notice. He has no staff this year. So, it is Rick we all need to thank for having clean outhouses stocked with plenty of TP.
I have heard directly from one of the people who rec'd a citation tha he was summoned into federal court in Durango.
BE VERY CAREFULL!!!!! Federal Court is different than your local County court for DUIs and so forth. The $100.00 fine only penalty is a state law, I do not know the penalties for federal violations, they are likely to be more severe.
The NORML website link below has a chart setting out the penalties for simple possession in Federal Court. It appears that simple possession is an offense that COULD lead to jail time even for a first offense, but jail is not mandatory.
A couple of years ago a buddy of mine got popped on BLM land near Zion. Similar deal... sitting in camp and BLM rangers came out from the bushes and ticketed them for passing a oneie. It was a fedral offence that they pleaded guilty to and got a year probation and random piss tests for a year. It's crap all around, but one thing that really bothered me is that they didn't have to pay for the drug testing. It was paid for w/ tax payers $$$.
I'm a lawyer, but not your lawyer. And here is some free legal advice: If you care about having a possessions conviction on your record you need to get yourself a criminal defense lawyer, not a water lawyer or boating lawyer. There is a man in Durango named Joel Fry. He used to be the drug prosecutor in the Durango DA's office. He is now is private practice. Do yourself a favor and look him up. If you can't find him pm me.
Remember, criminal defense attorney. (preferably one that has practiced in federal court).
I defended a marijauna possession case in federal court and was able to get the kid a deferred sentence (which is very rare in CO Fed. Court as the prosecutors are not inclined to cut deals that don't lead to a conviction of some sort). It is not a petty offense like Colorado. It's a misdemeanor and the potential fine is more severe (I can't remember exactly but I seem to recall there was a potential of about $1000 fine), aside from the implications on student aid alluded to earlier.
I knew there were a few in the woodwork. I don't think Shakespeare was holding a ticket to appear in Federal Court when he said, "the first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers!"
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