A: Bail could not be posted for my release in Arizona because of the “Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution” federal hold obtained by Det. Chapin.
A: After several bail hearings in Seattle, and over the active and on-going objections by the King County Prosecutor’s Office, DiJulio, Det. Chapin (appearing for Don and Hepburn), and Ms. Sue B., the department head for the PR Division at King County Jail, bail on the $20,000 Custodial Interference warrant was reduced to the amount of $7,500, with the stipulation that this amount be all cash.
The King County Prosecutor’s Office, DiJulio, Det. Chapin, and Ms. Sue B., had all objected to my release on a Personal Recognizance (PR) Bond though I had been interviewed and approved for release on a PR. The employee in the PR Department at the jail who interviewed me stated that I not only qualified for a PR release but commented that she didn’t understand why I’d been arrested at all! This employee was angry at her boss, Ms. Sue B., for overriding her recommendation for my release on a PR.
A: Speaking for the group, Ms. Sue B. argued to the judge at the bail hearing that I was a danger to society and that my bail should be increased not decreased. At bail hearings for other defendants that I witnessed, Ms. Sue B. raised no objection to their being released on a PR—and these defendants were drunks, child molesters, thieves, drug addicts, and repeat felony offenders
A: I don’t know. I’d never had so much as a parking ticket prior to my unlawful arrest, and her employee who had approved me for a PR release found no evidence to support any such allegations.
A: FLC DuBuque refused to withdraw the $3,500 contempt of court warrant even though by Don gaining physical possession of Doni I was no longer in contempt of court.
FLC DuBuque’s steadfast refusal to withdraw the warrant on the contempt of court charge had nothing to do with the law. It had everything to do with assisting Don in paying the attorney’s fees he owed to Hepburn.
When I first hired my attorney I gave him a lien position on my Washington residence as security for payment of his fees. To assist Hepburn recoup some of the attorney’s fees that Don owed to her, FLC DuBuque demanded that my attorney subordinate (give up) the lien position I had given him on my house in favor of Hepburn. FLC DuBuque refused to consider any withdrawal of the contempt of court warrant until this was done. Any subordination of my attorney’s lien position would have given Hepburn access to the over $20,000 equity in my residence to collect the fees Don owed to her. I had no intention of paying Don’s attorney’s fees.
By this time I was totally fed up with everything about our judicial system. Like the great actress Mae West who, when asked if she was exhibiting contempt for the court, replied: “No, I’m doing my best to hide it,” I performed my own act of contumacy upon hearing FLC DuBuque direct my attorney to subordinate his lien position in favor of Hepburn: I stormed out of the courtroom, yelling to the jail guard that he better follow me as I was going back to my cell!
Having learned of FLC DuBuque’s refusal to withdraw her $3,500 contempt of warrant, my former Seattle employer, a lawyer, contacted my attorney and immediately posted the $3,500 cash bail for my release. He also asked for no collateral.
That was still not the end of FLC DuBuque’s attempt to help Don pay the attorney’s fees he owed to Hepburn.
FLC DuBuque next ordered that $550 of the $3,500 cash bail posted by my former employer be withheld as payment to help offset the attorney’s fees Don owed to Hepburn. This action inflamed my former employer as NO commissioner or judge has authority or jurisdiction to use bail monies posted by others to pay the fines of defendants without express permission to do so from the person who posted the bail money—and my former employer had given no such permission. In fact, FLC DuBuque had not even asked him if he would do so. She just ordered it be done!
Upon hearing that the money he’d posted for bail was to be used to help offset the attorney’s fees Don owed to Hepburn, my former employer immediately filed a motion challenging her authority and threatened to file a complaint against her with the Judicial Commission if the warrant was not withdrawn and if she did not cease in her demand that the bail money he posted be used to pay Don’s attorney’s fees.
FLC DuBuque capitulated.
