The Judicial Radicalization Of A Idiot
My name is William Troy Cates. And I am one of those idiots that You and all of Your Kind, have a declared war upon.
I am writing today to indoctrinate Other People’s Children with the importance of civilian and or professional “pattern and practices study” of your local “judicial officers”.
First, I want to draw your attention to what one Alabama Circuit Judge called “a judicially sanctioned extortion racket” and how those over educated yahoos failed to abate the judicial overreach that “sanctioned” the shizzle in the first place.
They followed the money and turned a blind eye to the overt and braggadocious color of law crimes and other such goal oriented abuses of judicial discretion.
The same abuses of judicial discretion that killed Vincent Rowell and radicalized me, back 2009, are still being perpetrated, to this day.
Take for an example of those goal oriented abuses of judicial discretion, how the municipal magistrate for the Town Of Parrish municipal court, administered her duties related to bail and exercised absolute control over what appears on the “case action summary” for my 2009 arrest .
I was arrested on March 10, 2009 on Park Dunn Road and the magistrate conducted the required initial appearance within two hours of me being booked into the municipal jail .
She informed me of my two charges and told me, my bail was set at $1,500 and that I would need to give them $750, in cash, to be leased. I interrupted her and told her 1) that I had no money 2) and I would not be bailing out of jail 3) and that I wanted an attorney.
The magistrate claimed she could not appoint me an attorney and reiterated the cash only bail, which was to be partially secured by posting $750 with her office. She claimed that the judge was very strict but added that if I was unable to come up with the $750, in the next few days , she would allow me to use a bail bondsman, for which I would need $150.
The magistrate made it clear that the $150 was a fee that would not be refunded. And that the $750 would go toward my fine if convicted or returned to me if found not guilty.
Again, I told her 1) that I would not be bailing out of jail 2) and that I wanted an attorney and a jury trial. She then claimed that I had to ask the judge “directly” for an attorney and that I would only be allowed a jury trial on appeal for “trial de novo” in the Circuit Court
Even though the magistrate had already set my bail, the magistrate inquired into my ties to two people who are stakeholders in the property, which is directly across the street from the municipal park on Park Dun Road.
On March 11, 2009, the head dispatcher claimed that she told my Dad that she would have me call him. I had made no attempt to call anyone and had no desire to call anyone (sorry Mom). My intent was to do my time and MAKE YOU PEOPLE STRIKE A JURY. (Again, insert whatever “B” word that offends the whole of Alabama’s judiciary, both state and federal alike)
I called my Dad, anyway, and he claimed 1)that he had spoke to the magistrate and made arrangements for my release 2) and that he had already paid the bondsman her fee 3) and that he and my stepmother were on their way to Florida for a week or so 4) and that I would be released the following Friday (March 13, 2009). I asked him not to post bail but I did not tell him why I didn’t want to be bailed out. And he insisted.
At some point, I was told at the magistrate went out of town, as while. At the time, I believed she was the only town magistrate.I didn’t learn about Ms. Killingsworth until much later.
And though, I still do not know if Ms. Killingsworth was the Chief Administrative Officer of the Municipal Court retained by the Town of Parrish, Alabama, at the time of my prosecution. I am, still, offended that this jailer was ever allowed to be a judicial officer, of any kind, while being a Walker County Jailer, or any other type of Law Enforcement Officer. (And yet again, insert whatever “B” word that offends the whole of Alabama’s judiciary, both state and federal alike)
On March 12, 2009, shortly after the second shift began and without warning or reasonable explanation, I began to protest with the intent to see just how far “they” would allow the situation escalate and or how “they” would retaliate. Among the things I did, during this protest, was to slightly disassembly and drank from the water pipe that leads to the toilet bowl from the flushing handle. I made a mess but did not flood the jail or break any property, I simply disassembled the pipe.
This caused my first face to face encounter with Parrish Police Chief Nick Smith to occur.
Surprisingly and in spite of the fact that I was attempting to hold Chief Smith and his entire department accountable for what I, now, believe to be a systemic and institutionalized Judicial corruption within Alabama’s 14th Judicial Circuit (Walker County), I was not maced, tasered or otherwise assaulted.
Young Mr. Smith chose to reason with me and he made no attempt instill, within me, the fear of summary punishment by Law Enforcement. (that I noticed) Unlike what I would later witness (2013) in the Walker County Jail, where summary punishment and the threat thereof, was the rule and not the exception .
On March 13, 2009, I was released without incident or threat of punishment for disassembling the water pipe. Just as previously planned.
And to be clear, I was intentionally punished, for three days and without an attorney or any effective, meaningful or timely access to the courts. And all because I was worthless and my family was unwilling to gift me $750 to prepay my fines.
I was required to show up for court, once a month for several months. It was on my August court date that they first mentioned restitution for the water pipe. They offered to dismiss the cases against me, if I agreed to pay court cost of “at or about $750” and restitution of exactly $150 for the water pipe. Or they would charge me with criminal mischief for the water pipe.
The Municipal Judge released me on my own recognizance and I signed a bond that had no cash amount on it, at the time I signed it. And my cases were placed on what they called an “administrative docket.”
I would later learn by viewing court records in the Circuit Clerk’s Office;
1) that the magistrate put a $500 amount on the bond, after I had signed it .
2) that both the magistrate and the head dispatcher were listed a witnesses against me in criminal chief case. (remember the magistrate was out of town at the time of my protest)
3) Parrish Police Chief Nick Smith’s signature does not look like any other signature of his that I could find in public records.
Because I was no longer required to appear in court on a monthly basis, I began calling my attorney, on a monthly basis and asking for an appointment to discuss putting an end to the “conspiracy to deny me a trial”.
In December of 2009, I made my routine call, to my attorney, begging for an appointment. This time, the receptionist informed me that my case was set for trial, that day at 4:30 pm and that my attorney would discuss my case, with me, at the Town Hall, just before trial. I then called the Magistrate and asked if my case was set for trial that day. She replied, in a tone of voice meant to convey both animosity and amusement, “ why yes, I called and informed your attorney, last week”.
I wholeheartedly believe that I would not be the only one in a grave, today, if I would have been in possession of a gun, on that day. And yes, I did, later, actively debate taking up arms to defend myself and others from the tyranny and overt extortion of this rogue juridical officer.
I opted to have my Dad accompany me to court. I told him 1) that the only reason I found out about the court date was because my attorney’s receptionist accidentally told me about it 2) and I was expecting them to add more charges or pull some other dirty trick to deny me a jury trial. 3) and that I should be in the District court awaiting an indictment, after all this was my fourth marihuana offense and Deputy Bell and Officer Ratcliff claimed to have found a small onion of coke and a bottle of pills in my possession.
Upon entering the Town Hall, my Father and I were separated by a local rule of court and or by a general order 1) for all people who are not a party (litigant) in a case and was there just to observe or to accompany a litigant, to set in the pew against wall and to the right of the main entrance. 2) And for litigants to set in one of the pews to the left of the main entrance and in front of the judge’s bench.
When I finally got to lay eyes upon my attorney, I exercised amazing (or at least, substantial) restraint, by simply telling the boy, to get me out of that court and into the Circuit Court, by any means possible and letting it go at that. He went into the Magistrate’s office, where the municipal prosecutor (Judge Charles Stevens Jr.), just happen to be.
When the boy returned and IT informed me that I would be allowed to “stipulate to facts” (plead guilty) and appeal to the Circuit Court (after conviction). The boy did not say anything about the fact that Alabama law does not allow the initial “under taking of bail” to be carried over to the appeal’s bond for “trial De Novo” in the Circuit Court, (the only court that can preside over an Alabama Jury Trial, for any “Indictable Offense”)
Additional, I showed substantial restraint by remaining silent, when the prosecutor said to my attorney, while in front of the bench, “tell your client to plead guilty and I won’t charge him with a felony”.
I was unable to exercise the desired restraint, when the judge sentenced me to six months and informed me that he was holding me on a $1,500 bond. I simply said “WHAT”, with animosity, of course. He repeated my sentence and bond amount. So, I then asked to speak to my attorney, in private.
After my conviction and while being escorted away from the bench, toward the booking area, I heard the magistrate tell my attorney that she would ALLOW us to complete the notice of appeal, the following Wednesday.
While incarcerated, I was promptly feed and watered. And as I was settling in, a heated debate began between the judge and prosecutor, which I could hear but could not understand anything said, except for a very loud “ you can’t do that”. The whole commotion stop, that I could hear, at that moment.
My Dad is the one who posted the $500 bond but the magistrate give me the receipt, which had my name on the“received from” portion. And she told me the if I was found guilty, the $500 would go toward my fines and cost and that I was to come back the following Wednesday and fill out the appeal’s papers.
Later, my Dad told me that he would not have posted bond if he had known the bond money would be kept for fines and fees.
The following Wednesday, I met my attorney at the Town Hall and we signed the notice of appeal, the bond on appeal and I was finally allowed to put a written demand for a jury trial on the official records. But the magistrate took upon herself to put some white out on the papers and say “I’m putting the $500 on the largest case!!!”
I apologize for not being smart enough to notice if Judge Rainer’s signature was on the bond, when the Magistrate altered the papers, in such a theatrical manner . But Judge Rainer’s signature is affixed on those papers as the approving Judicial Officer.
Having access to my court records, in the Circuit Clerk’s Office, was the single tool I use to finally defeat that burning desire that y’all don’t like me talking about. But no one cared enough to offer a guiding hand on how to stop the overt and braggadocious deprivation of basic and fundamental rights that were being perpetrated in that court, on a daily basis.
However, the magistrate did abruptly quit her job, (2013) upon learning that I had finally been appointed attorney, after two months of incarceration for my WILLFUL NONCOMPLIANCE to Col. Steve Smith’s (A.B.I.) unlawful order to stop talking about this past event.
It is unfortunate that the current Walker County Circuit Clerk has proven herself to be every eager to abuse her authority in a similar manner as the Parrish Court Clerk/Magistrate. But the only difference between the two is that the Parrish Magistrate/Clerk was motivated by extortion. And the Walker County Circuit Clerk/magistrate is motivated by the desire to punish those people, who are simply accused of crimes and or to appease those Walker County Citizens, who are “tired of here about criminals rights”
To be clear, when the guilty can not receive the basic and fundamental constitutional protections, the innocent have no hope of receiving those constitutional protections.
