I was watching body cam and court footage on YouTube and stumbled onto a case that had me talking to my screen.
The defendant has about five recent arrests. Career criminal. And they are in court trying to get bail. The defense attorney gets up there and says these are crimes of poverty. That this person is a victim of circumstance just trying to survive.
Then comes the line that really got me. The attorney argues that the defendant is doing everything right because every time they get arrested, they call their parole officer to let them know.
Let me sit with that for a second.
You are on parole. You keep catching new cases. And the argument in your favor is that you are responsible enough to pick up the phone after the fact?
That is not doing everything right. That is doing the bare minimum after already doing everything wrong. Calling your parole officer when you get arrested is like calling your doctor after you already broke your arm doing something you were told not to do. You get no points for that call.
The crimes of poverty argument is one I understand on a surface level. Economic desperation is real. But at some point that framing stops being an explanation and starts being an excuse. Five new cases while on parole for a slew of other cases is not a rough patch. That is a pattern.
Body cam footage does not lie. The courtroom arguments might, but the footage does not.
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