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lawyers and reptile related laws
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by richardduckworth on May 22, 2008
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do NOT waste your money on a "good defense attorney" and assume he'll be useful in a case that involves reptiles EVEN in the slightest.
i had to get a lawyer to defend myself from forged permit accusations, should be a simple thing since it's 99.9% about the forged permit and .1% about snakes.
well, the initial meeting consisted of me providing a few pages of info of anything i thought may be useful in the case and him going nuts about how someone could keep snakes. he said nothing relevant to the case at all. totally unprofessional. but hey, good reputation and this case was supposedly right up his alley.
first, they forget to tell me about how i didn't have to go to the arraignment since "one of the papers i signed made it unnecessary". OK, simple mistake, no big deal.
then, nothing. months of nothing. i make payments and i'm told nothing. i follow up on some things that were pertinent to the case and should have been simple for a lawyer, but guess what, they've not done this, haven't done that, etc, etc, etc.
the problem is MAINLY that this guy isn't a good lawyer when it comes to actually doing "lawyer stuff" but it has a lot to do with the nature of the case. i'm a weird snake-guy to them and there is no precedent for this case in this state. you have a forged document that doesn't exist in physical form and can't be linked to me in anyway, but it's a document that doesn't exist which also changes things, no money is involved whatsoever, it has to do with snakes which automatically forces people to see it differently and rack their brains about "why this weirdo would go against jesus and worship snakes" or whatever and it's just more than they can do while on "autopilot" and they just don't really care. it's a comical case to them i suppose.
so people, if you EVER need reptile/snake-related representation for ANY reason, go with someone with experience in that, not in criminal defense because normal people can't get to the actual case for the "snake keeper" shock. it will be put on the "to do" list and never get done. best advice is to just not keep snakes period. i can promise you, if fish and game wants to get you, they'll get you. if they can't get you for having snakes then they'll make up something else. proof doesn't have to exist. i'm already out what i make in 2.5 weeks + missed time and that's enough to throw someone's life out of balance right there. if everything was dropped today, they'd still have won. they'd still have done what they wanted to and that's complicate my life. they don't care about this or that, they just wanna throw their weight around.
i've always heard that "the nail that sticks out the most gets hammered" and i promise you that no snake-person on earth is a nice, counter-sunk nail. even the ones in the good with authorities stick up just a bit more than the "normal people".
it sucked for a couple of months when i decided to give up the reptile hobby but i don't care one bit now. wish i'd done it sooner. my life would be far simpler and happier if i didn't have to deal with this crap from these corrupt people.
and the money i've wasted, wow. now i can't afford another attorney and have to apply for a free one but that has to be approved by a judge i'm told.
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RE: lawyers and reptile related laws
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by carbonfiberrules on May 27, 2008
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I couldent see the state you are from, but your shirt says Florida. Anyway It dont matter ware you are from, all f&g Dept's law enforcement officers are the same. They write them & you fight them. In most cases it is better not to fight them,and just pay them there fee.It sucks but 99.99.9% of the time the Judge will go there way and that is for what they would call a game violation. Even in those cases a lawer is useless unless the Deputy DA or who ever is prosicuting offers jail time. The officer will show if he/she has to and ware wildlife is concernd will be considered the expert. If it were me and it only came down to a fine I would pay it and be done. If you fight it they may make it harder on you,and in the long run it will cost more then an atturney. It is a diffrent storey if they want to throw you in jail. If you dont mind me asking, What did you do for them to get there hooks into you ?
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RE: lawyers and reptile related laws
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by richardduckworth on May 27, 2008
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this isn't in florida, it's in alabama, home to the world's longest constitution.
i was ticketed for a snake i didn't have or sell. they searched my home and found nothing illegal. i paid the fine. all of THAT started because i found out that certain sheriffs were writing exotic venomous permits to people and then fish and wildlife were NOT honoring those, so people who thought they were doing nothing wrong all of a sudden were criminals.
then, a mystery permit from one of the accused sheriffs pops up with my name on it and i'm charged with forging it. it's not my county, sheriff's name isn't spelled properly and my signature is more like proper cursive and nothing remotely resembling my signature. and this wasn't found at my home or anywhere, but was sent to a snake dealer and didn't have a header, so basically, no return address. that's a dead give-away it's fake, not that faking a header is hard either, it's as easy as writing the wrong return address on an envelope and dropping it in a big blue mailbox, but stripping it is easier.
well, this lawyer is an idiot and has done nothing at all for me for $1000 of the $1750 i was paying and today i had to go apply for a freebie lawyer since i can't afford to pay more for another lawyer. i'm kinda to the point i don't care anymore anyway. let the chips fall where they may. reptile lovers are hated whackos and if law enforcement wanna cover their own ass and put blame on me, they'll do it and nothing i can do will matter. why go hungry fighting it. at least they feed you in prison.
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