‘ This is not my first rodeo’
‘ This is not my first rodeo’
You can’t get anything past Judge Thorne
news@theeveningrtimes.com
A felony case started with the man telling Judge Fred Thorne all kinds of details, rambling on and on. “Don’t get up here and start all this BS with me. This is not my first rodeo.” To the people in jail and the audience in the courtroom, “You will do a lot better if you tell me the truth.”
A man in jail charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest pled no contest to both charges.
“I was at the dog track. I wasn’t disorderly. My girlfriend was having the trouble with them.”
“$250 plus court costs. Do you owe money at Wynne?”
“Yes. When I pay my fine can I pay here for what I owe in Wynne?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never been in jail and I’ve never paid a fine. You owed money in Wynne but you still came over here and went to the dog track. I don’t think your priorities are in order.”
“I understand where you are coming from.”
A woman in jail pled not guilty to 1st degree assault.
“Your court date will be Feb. 2 if you make bond.”
Another woman in jail was charged with a Nov. 2014 ticket of no driver’s license and then a failure to appear. She pled no contest to both charges.
“It was a warning ticket.”
“No. I’m looking at the ticket now. It was not a warning ticket. It has your signature on it and tells you your court date. Have you been in trouble before?”
“I’ve never been in any trouble over here before.”
“$75 plus court costs on the no driver’s license.
$150 plus court costs on the failure to appear.”
A man in jail pled no contest to a 2010 possession charge and no contest to his failure to appear.
“You moved to Kentucky after this?” asked Judge Thorne.
“I was in Kentucky all the time. I just got out of prison.”
“How old are you?”
“31.”
“You have been in trouble your whole life.”
“No.”
“$250 plus court costs on the failure to appear. I’ll dismiss the 2010 charge.”
A woman in jail pled guilty to shoplifting.
“You had charges in 2012.
Did you move?”
“No.”
“Where do you live?”
“Crawfordsville.”
“Why do you keep stealing? The report says you have a job. How long have you been at this job?”
“A year and a half.”
“Why do you steal?”
“I don’t know.”
“$500 plus court costs, one year jail suspended. You are on six months probation with the Justice Network.
Be back here April 15 for a review.”
A woman in jail pled guilty to criminal trespass.
“Why wouldn’t you leave after they told you to?”
“I wanted to stay with my friends. I fell.”
“Were you drunk?”
“Yeah!”
“What do you do?”
“I’m a student at University of Memphis. I’m going for my masters degree.”
“In what?”
“Criminology. I thought I could get time to get a lawyer.”
“This doesn’t make any sense. You are going to school to be someone and you are drunk at the track.
You can change your plea to not guilty and get a lawyer. You can pay $250 plus court costs today with six months suspended and do three months probation or come back with a lawyer for a trial. It will cost you $500 plus court costs and 30 days jail if you loose.”
“I’ll take the $250 with the probation. Thank you, your honor.”
“Come back for a review on April 15 and bring me something proving that you are a student at University of Memphis.”
A man and a woman in jail came forward at the same time.
“How do you plead to drug paraphernalia?”
“No contest.”
“No contest.”
“Where do you live?”
“Memphis,” said the woman.
Judge Fred Thorne “West Memphis,” said the man.
“How long have you been using heroin?”
“I’ve been trying to get clean,” said the woman. “I picked him and his girlfriend up. They were going to buy me some gas to take them somewhere.”
“You should know he has a drug problem and if you are with him it is more likely you will use also.
You have to tell them you can’t be around them if you are trying to kick the habit.”
To the man Judge Thorne asked, “Whose spoons were those?”
“All three of us.”
“I hope you would be the man and say they were yours and not hers. $500 plus court costs for both of you. The third person didn’t
get arrested. I guess she got off Scott free.” A man in jail was charged with criminal trespass, disorderly
conduct and possession of a controlled substance. He pled no contest to all charges.
“I didn’t have dope. I had a little money in my pocket.”
“You were banned from Dollar General the last time you were here.”
“You gave me a charge of $500. I learned my lesson then. I went to Dollar General to get a cell phone. I’m a government man. I did go in there. I needed to go to the bathroom and I asked them if they was hiring.”
The man continued to talk and try to explain himself.
“Be quiet. Go talk to the public defender.”
A man in jail charged with theft pled guilty.
“Why did you steal $96?”
“I wasn’t thinking.”
“How old are you?”
“46.”
“You have been in the system since 1991. You had a felony charge in 2014.
$2500 plus court costs and one year jail.”
The next man in jail was charged with obstructing governmental operations.
He pled guilty.
“You have been in the system a long time too.”
“Not here.”
“No in other cities. Jonesboro and Osceola. $500 plus court costs and 30 days jail. After this you can go back to Osceola.”
A woman in the courtroom was charged with bogus tags, driving on suspended and failure to appear. She
By the Evening Times News Staff
