9 people, 9 different current results . . . 
Ok, 8 of us had our court dates today – and this is what happened. (For background, read here)
Ed and Allen have a trial set for June 6th at 2:00.
Ed’s sign reads: “400 of our fellow Madisonians cannot sleep legally anywhere in our city. I stand mute because the average age of a homeless person in Madison is 9. I stand mute, Reserve all additional objections, object to the sufficiency of the complain and request a trial.”
Allen’s t-shirt reads: “Madison’s homeless solution: Greyhound Therapy”
The back says: Discover America (It’s an actual Greyhound Bus Shirt – he just added to the front of it.)
This is me and Ed being silly in the courtroom. Yeah, you’re not supposed to take pictures in there.
Meg got an offer of dismissing the ticket as long as she doesn’t get in any more trouble for a year. She asked for 30 days to consider the offer. Her review date is June 13th at 10:30.
Meg’s sign reads: “Meg is standing mute today for me – after I lost my home, savings and job when I took my little girls underground because my husband was going to kill all of us. We need help and voices. Thank you. – Anon.”
Meg entertained me by making up stories about what was going on when people approached the bench . . . since we could hear what was going on. We decided that the one woman’s biggest crime was probably dropping a snow cone, she looked so sweet and innocent.
I asked for another pretrial date so I could get a copy of the police reports. (PEOPLE! THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO TO PRESERVE YOUR RIGHTS!!! Never agree to anything until you see what they are charging you with and what the police reports say – the are often inadequate!!!!!) Unfortunately, the city attorney figured out they charged me with the wrong charge and they amended it. I go back to court on May 14th at 8:30. They also did give me the police reports for about 3 minutes, and there was 6 – 8 pages, they told us to share them with the group – but then they took them back. I didn’t get to read them. I had to fill out some form to get them, and . . . I think they are going to charge me for them, just like an open records request. I don’t think they can do that.
My sign reads: “Standing Mute: For my firends who live on the streets, in doorways, in tents, in parks, under bridges . . . and EVERYWHERE”
Tami took the offer to dismiss her ticket as long as she doesn’t get into trouble for a year.
Tami’s sign reads: “Standing mute for the 2,063 people turned away from shelter in 2012”
Noah got 18 hours of community service, he settled.
Noah’s sign reads: “Standing mute for the >400 people who sleep on the streets every night.”
Anne also has a review date on April 13th at 10:30am where the case can get dismissed and she can’t get into trouble for another year, or she could just pay $177 and be done.
Anne’s sign reads: “Standing mute for the 1,025 homeless children in the Madison school district”
Anne was so cute sitting there knitting while she was waiting for her appearance.
Steve mailed in a not guilty plea, guessing I may see him on the 14th as well.
Sasha – oops, his parents forgot about the court date! They were straitening it out as I was leaving.
Thanks to everyone who showed up to show support (Luca, Train, Linda, Marti and Marty)
And to Leslie, who took group photos before we went to court, watch for them on facebook! (and see the awesome first photo in this post)
