By Kimberly Torres
VENTURA, CA – A man facing an infraction here in Ventura County Superior Court wound up sentenced to 45 days in jail because he missed his court date due to what he claimed is a lack of transportation.
The accused was charged with “failure to appear,” which meant his simple infraction charge had morphed to an additional misdemeanor.
The defense attorney explained to the judge, “My client apologizes to the court…he does not reside in Ventura County and does not have reliable transportation. For this reason, we ask the court to overlook (his actions) this time.”
But the judge didn’t overlook it.
The judge, instead, lectured the accused, “Well Sir, it does not matter the reason why you failed to show” and continued to say “you have to figure it out one way or the other this is not probation” referring to the accused’s previous encounters with the law.
The accused said he was more familiar with the probation office’s flexibility.
The accused was sentenced to 45 days in jail, with the judge stating, “Because you failed to appear last time, unfortunately, the lowest I can go is 45 days in county jail.”
