DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Chicano conference programs and speeches, April 1973-May 1974 | 1974-04-14 Workshop IV, Chicano: Legal Process Page 9

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Chicano conference programs and speeches, April 1973-May 1974

1974-04-14 Workshop IV, Chicano: Legal Process Page 9

down to police I do not think we will ever be able to say, we as a people will reach some form of liberation, it is impossible.

PETE RAEL: I would like to give you an example here. When I was working with the legal clinic here in Iowa, of what kind of problems you can run into, when you try to help someone in the criminal area you can find many rights that you have. The problem is the judge does not want to pay any attention to them. You can't take every case to the Supreme Court because they will not accept them. But, I was trying to keep this guy out of jail, that pleaded guilty to possession of beer. The judge fined him $87.00. It was his first offense. The judge told him: "Pay the fine or else you will go to jail." The length of sentence is equal to $3-5/ day. There is a Supreme Court case which states: "If you are too poor to pay your fine they have to give you some time to pay it."

I went in to see the judge about this specific case and started to discuss the case relating that he had a family, he was supporting his entire family which consisted of seven brothers and sisters and neither of his parents were working; they had been laid off from the factory. He was their only source of income. His income was $87.00 a week for nine people. He will not be able to pay this fine, he will lose his job if he stays in jail. So, the judge answered, he has already had two weeks so I am going to put him in jail anyway. I brought up the Supreme Court case about paying fines and stated that you can't put that man in jail.

I asked the judge if he was familiar with this specific case. He said yes and pulled out a newspaper clipping. That was all he knew about the case. I then proceeded to tell the judge about the case since I had a copy of it. He responded: "I am not going to follow that case, we do not feel we are bound by the U.S. Supreme Court decision until our Supreme Court in this state says the same thing I am going to keep doing things the same old way." We could have appealed it to a higher court but in the mean time the man was still going to be in jail he didn't have the money to put up bond, so, he was going to be in jail, lose his job and his family was going to lose the only source of income they had.

This is one of the problems you are going to run into even if you do have the rights.

Once area I would like to discuss is police harassment in the barrios. Can we stop the police from doing this? Can we stop them from prosecuting us? My comments are as follows. If you find they are applying the law unequally, you must realize it is more difficult in this area to prove it. You have to show there is a pattern or a practice of discrimination. I would now like to hear some comment from Professor Bartel about

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down to police I do not think we will ever be able to say, we as a people will reach some form of liberation, it is impossible. PETE RAEL: I would like to give you an example here. When I was working with the legal clinic here in Iowa, of what kind of problems you can run into, when you try to help someone in the criminal area you can find many rights that you have. The problem is the judge does not want to pay any attention to them. You can't take every case to the Supreme Court because they will not accept them. But, I was trying to keep this guy out of jail, that pleaded guilty to possession of beer. The judge fined him $87.00. It was his first offense. The judge told him: "Pay the fine or else you will go to jail." The length of sentence is equal to $3-5/ day. There is a Supreme Court case which states: "If you are too poor to pay your fine they have to give you some time to pay it." I went in to see the judge about this specific case and started to discuss the case relating that he had a family, he was supporting his entire family which consisted of seven brothers and sisters and neither of his parents were working; they had been laid off from the factory. He was their only source of income. His income was $87.00 a week for nine people. He will not be able to pay this fine, he will lose his job if he stays in jail. So, the judge answered, he has already had two weeks so I am going to put him in jail anyway. I brought up the Supreme Court case about paying fines and stated that you can't put that man in jail. I asked the judge if he was familiar with this specific case. He said yes and pulled out a newspaper clipping. That was all he knew about the case. I then proceeded to tell the judge about the case since I had a copy of it. He responded: "I am not going to follow that case, we do not feel we are bound by the U.S. Supreme Court decision until our Supreme Court in this state says the same thing I am going to keep doing things the same old way." We could have appealed it to a higher court but in the mean time the man was still going to be in jail he didn't have the money to put up bond, so, he was going to be in jail, lose his job and his family was going to lose the only source of income they had. This is one of the problems you are going to run into even if you do have the rights. Once area I would like to discuss is police harassment in the barrios. Can we stop the police from doing this? Can we stop them from prosecuting us? My comments are as follows. If you find they are applying the law unequally, you must realize it is more difficult in this area to prove it. You have to show there is a pattern or a practice of discrimination. I would now like to hear some comment from Professor Bartel about