[Michael Piziak]

I want to throw a legal problem i have out to the pentax community and get your opinion.

Moderator, sorry I thought I put this in General Talk, not gen. photog., please move it.


Well, I'm now a common criminal
I bought a new Yamaha xt250 street and trail and couldn't wait to ride it, unfortunately before I licensed it. I'm a bit manic now, which didn't help - my shrink is trying to level me off, but that's another story.

Well, a W.V. State Trooper was called because I was fishing on a state stream/federal stream. The trooper made me leave because the trooper agreed with the man that I couldn't park my motorcycle close to the flood plain of the creek, which I've been told by one West Virginian, the Flood Plane is even apart of the stream - I dunno. The man actually gave me permission to park there 3 days ago, but him and his neighbor changed their mind when I came back "too soon."

Well I left on the motorcycle with no license and the Trooper didn't persue me; however, my mp3 blew off and I noticed that and did a U turn to go bACK AND find it. Sorry I hit the caps lock key cause half my pinky is numb via a pinched nerve. Anyways I seen the mp3 player and did another U turn to the very end of a private mans drivceway, whom was outside at the moment and said it's fine for me to park my bike there and pick it up. I actually think the stATE RoAD Here does extend an additional 10 feet on both sides of the white lines of the road - if so, I have no case.

I can't remember if the state trooper seen me do that last u turn into the driveway - I surely would have seen him during the first half of the u turn!. Any ways, he pulled up on me flashing and siren and arrested me for riding the motorcycle on the road. The only thing I can add is that farm use is ok for vehicles carrying "herderd animals." Well, I'm a Scientist (visit my science page at www.piziak.com). Believe it or not I had vials of different fruit flies in my bag on my rack (modern genetics is based on crossing fruit flies. Also, I had a few fish I caught in the bag. Aren't these "herded animals" ? LOL! Well, biologically they are in the animal kingdom.

Also, WV code says a motorcycle that has its engine off coasting or parked is considered a bicycle and not a motor vehicle. I actually can't remember if I turned it off as soon as the trooper pulled up on me or not, but either he or i turned it off & he gave keys to tow truck. I guess I need to see the police report and any video he may have made and talk to the private citizen that owned the driveway. There may not be enough info. here to determine anything.

Regardless though, perhaps my best shot of getting off with a high dollar lawyer is the motorcycle was assumed to be given permission off the road at the end part of the citizens driveway..

I'm going to police station now to get my i.d. and cell phone that he didn't turn over to the jail. I'll ask for the report and a copy of any video - I wander if that's another charge.

Anyways this cost me 2 nights in jail, $325 bonded out (a $3,000 bond), and a $156 tow truck/storage fee to get my cycle back (or is it a farm vehicle or was it a bicycle) - one has to laugh at the things I come up with sooner or later !!!

Michael Piziak

Here is a WV news story of interest about what I typed too: https://www.wsaz.com/2020/09/03/atvs-now-allowed-to-drive-on-wva-roads/

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Last edited by Michael Piziak; 05-21-2023 at 07:43 AM.

[ramseybuckeye]

That all just sucks, sounds like the trooper was having a bad day and decided to kick you around to compensate for it. But you should have got the license first.

[pschlute]

2 nights in jail for riding an unlicensed bike ?

What have you been charged with ?

If it was unlicensed, i guess it was also uninsured ? Is that a legal requirement ?

[aslyfox]

With all due respect

The worst place to get legal advice is on the internet

Consult a local attorney

BTW I have been a licensed attorney since 1982

[Michael Piziak]

2 nights in jail for riding an unlicensed bike ?

What have you been charged with ?

If it was unlicensed, i guess it was also uninsured ? Is that a legal requirement ?

i added a video i want you to watch

---------- Post added 05-21-23 at 07:44 AM ----------

With all due respect

The worst place to get legal advice is on the internet

Consult a local attorney

BTW I have been a licensed attorney since 1982

btw I added a video to it from wv

what would be your guess/opinion on the chances a paid attorney would get me off, with no record, or even countersue for bail, towing, & jail really is pain and suffering~!

p.s. my ex wife is a defense attorney, but she won't speak to me

---------- Post added 05-21-23 at 07:47 AM ----------

I will price a "high dollar" attorney. I'm currently disabled and they said they would offer a public defender =- what is everyones opinion on public offeders, are they too in cahoots with the prosecutors in most places???

[pepperberry farm]

With all due respect

The worst place to get legal advice is on the internet

Consult a local attorney

BTW I have been a licensed attorney since 1982

^^ this ^^

call an attorney if you want advice from one - you'll get a full spectrum of advice online....

[Michael Piziak]

yeah, i need to get the police report and any audio or video taken by the trooper, and even talk to the citizen witness to see how he interpreted...

I have filed 2 pro se lawsuits in federal court myself, but I'm not doing all that work, besides this is a privilege situation not a U.S. Constitutional Issue - as required by Fed. Court.,.,...


Michael

p,s., i got to go over there aNYWAYS cause he has my i.d. and cell phone still. the secretary that answers is SO HATEFUL for a southerner! She wouldn't even take down a note from me and put it in his box and ANY question i ask she tells me i have to contact him or he call me. She will NOT help me with when he's there or ask if he got my request to mail that stuff to me, etc.. etc.. etc.. Some of these secretaries, even at doctors offices, think they run the whole place....

[pschlute]

Better call Saul !

[aslyfox]

. . ..

I'm currently disabled and they said they would offer a public defender =- what is everyones opinion on public offeders, are they too in cahoots with the prosecutors in most places???

Public defenders are usually over worked, under paid and short staff

However that doesn't affect their legal obligations to their clients. They are not " in cahoots " with prosecutors

[GUB]

Here am I - a little peeved that you haven't responded to my post giving you what you requested re business cards!
I guess you have had a "bad hair" couple of days!!.
Hint for the above fiasco - Own the parts of it you should own. And look at the rest from an outside point of view.
How on earth did you manage 2 nights at the State's pleasure out of that!!!?

[Michael Piziak]

Here am I - a little peeved that you haven't responded to my post giving you what you requested re business cards!
I guess you have had a "bad hair" couple of days!!.
Hint for the above fiasco - Own the parts of it you should own. And look at the rest from an outside point of view.
How on earth did you manage 2 nights at the State's pleasure out of that!!!?

In West Virginia it isn't like other states - like in Salem, N.C. there is a magistrate at the jail on duty 24/7.
In WVa., we're lucky to get a magistrate to visit each inmate once a day, and if you're put in jail after he has done his 'VIDEO" call then you can't bond/bail out until the next day when he gets around, usually around 7:30pm or 8pm each night - it sucks.
So i got araigned (sp?) around 8pm and all the bail bondsman had gone home in our sparcely populated county. So we rot in jail until the slow processes proceeds.
Then it takes the jail at least 6 hours to get you out even after you get bonded out.
Most people here are lucky if their family bonds them out, because you think your friends are your friends until they are asked to pay 10% of $3,000

I've always considered to be guilty until proven innocent, because eve if you are innocent you are punished with long jail time. Here, if a person can't bond out on a misdemeanor, then the State has up to 3 months to bring them to court. But if it's a felony, they must bring them in within 10 days, and nearly every person charged with a felon gets shackled into magistrate court on the 10th day!

We are a very rural/low taxes though, but that also means not many magistrates.


A coal miner was in jail with me, he swore his wife and stepdaughter told the police he pointed a gun at them after he did admit to calling his wife a "whore.'
Even though he had thousands of dollars in the bank, coal miners get paid very well, the bail bondsman told him it didn't matter, he wouldm't bond/bail him out unless someone he knew would bring him the 10%. I memorized his name, his wife's name, and the step daughter, and told them (he wasn't allowed to contact them), but I messaged them on facebook and told them that he said if they donj't get him out he's llosing his job and they wonm't be able to keep the house, go to the malll, go to the hair dresser, etc... It hit home hard with them and they got him out.

One woman was in there, she was very cute but probably 65 to 68 years old. She told me all her relatives (mom, dad, husband), were deceased. So she couldn't get out even though she had the $ in the bank. So sad.


Michael

I want to add an addendum. Black people are treated much worse than whites. A black guy was put in jail here, he's from Virginia the next state over, he was put in jail because he had a gun in his back seat. He had no previous criminal record - not even misdemeanors. Our state is very pro NRA and a law was passed here that anyone but fellons could carry concealed guns. I said, why did they put you in jail, he said, the differnce between me and you is I'm black. Another black man was in jailed for petty open alcohol container in public - walking. Hell, I was on a dirt road and drinking and had weed. The police let me just give them my weed and have my dad come drive my truck home. A black person here won't get that type of treatment - it's sad.

[GUB]

In West Virginia it isn't like other states - like in Salem, N.C. there is a magistrate at the jail on duty 24/7.
In WVa., we're lucky to get a magistrate to visit each inmate once a day, and if you're put in jail after he has done his 'VIDEO" call then you can't bond/bail out until the next day when he gets around, usually around 7:30pm or 8pm each night - it sucks.
So i got araigned (sp?) around 8pm and all the bail bondsman had gone home in our sparcely populated county. So we rot in jail until the slow processes proceeds.
Then it takes the jail at least 6 hours to get you out even after you get bonded out.
Most people here are lucky if their family bonds them out, because you think your friends are your friends until they are asked to pay 10% of $3,000

I've always considered to be guilty until proven innocent, because eve if you are innocent you are punished with long jail time. Here, if a person can't bond out on a misdemeanor, then the State has up to 3 months to bring them to court. But if it's a felony, they must bring them in within 10 days, and nearly every person charged with a felon gets shackled into magistrate court on the 10th day!

We are a very rural/low taxes though, but that also means not many magistrates.


A coal miner was in jail with me, he swore his wife and stepdaughter told the police he pointed a gun at them after he did admit to calling his wife a "whore.'
Even though he had thousands of dollars in the bank, coal miners get paid very well, the bail bondsman told him it didn't matter, he wouldm't bond/bail him out unless someone he knew would bring him the 10%. I memorized his name, his wife's name, and the step daughter, and told them (he wasn't allowed to contact them), but I messaged them on facebook and told them that he said if they donj't get him out he's llosing his job and they wonm't be able to keep the house, go to the malll, go to the hair dresser, etc... It hit home hard with them and they got him out.

One woman was in there, she was very cute but probably 65 to 68 years old. She told me all her relatives (mom, dad, husband), were deceased. So she couldn't get out even though she had the $ in the bank. So sad.


Michael

I want to add an addendum. Black people are treated much worse than whites. A black guy was put in jail here, he's from Virginia the next state over, he was put in jail because he had a gun in his back seat. He had no previous criminal record - not even misdemeanors. Our state is very pro NRA and a law was passed here that anyone but fellons could carry concealed guns. I said, why did they put you in jail, he said, the differnce between me and you is I'm black. Another black man was in jailed for petty open alcohol container in public - walking. Hell, I was on a dirt road and drinking and had weed. The police let me just give them my weed and have my dad come drive my truck home. A black person here won't get that type of treatment - it's sad.

Thank you for the insight and good luck with things. Little things like contacting the miner's family puts you in a good light!

[Racer X 69]

With all due respect, your posts thus far only cause me to have more questions. This just sounds so bizarre.

You say you were arrested, but don't describe what for. In the United States one cannot be detained arbitrarily. And once arrested one has the right to a phone call, and a right to due process. Even in West Virginia.

You say you are disabled, yet you were riding a street/trail motorcycle. What is your disability?

You indicate you are a scientist, which indicates you are more highly educated than the average guy. I looked at the link to your "page", and I don't see Facebook as an appropriate venue for the scientific community, and there isn't really anything there that is relative to any specific field of science.

As an adult, you should know better than to operate any motor vehicle that is not properly licensed and insured. Your description of the circumstance thus far really doesn't add up, and is disjointed and unclear, with lots of extraneous stuff that has nothing to do with you and your situation.

As others have said, hire an attorney.

There is nothing that any of us can do for you.

Good luck sir.

[Rondec]

It doesn't sound good to me. Get an attorney and see if you can do some kind of plea deal.

[Michael Piziak]

With all due respect, your posts thus far only cause me to have more questions. This just sounds so bizarre.

You say you were arrested, but don't describe what for. In the United States one cannot be detained arbitrarily. And once arrested one has the right to a phone call, and a right to due process. Even in West Virginia.

You say you are disabled, yet you were riding a street/trail motorcycle. What is your disability?

You indicate you are a scientist, which indicates you are more highly educated than the average guy. I looked at the link to your "page", and I don't see Facebook as an appropriate venue for the scientific community, and there isn't really anything there that is relative to any specific field of science.

As an adult, you should know better than to operate any motor vehicle that is not properly licensed and insured. Your description of the circumstance thus far really doesn't add up, and is disjointed and unclear, with lots of extraneous stuff that has nothing to do with you and your situation.

As others have said, hire an attorney.

There is nothing that any of us can do for you.

Good luck sir.

It's a new street/trail bike and I couldn't wait to ride it, so I hadn't licensed it yet