Making the same arguments as in the courtroom in Pea Ridge, Boyd McNiel challenged Judge Robin Greene about the time court proceedings began.
"Is this your signature, ma'am?" McNiel asked the judge after refusing to sit when the audience was told to sit after Greene entered the room. "I'd like to bring to your attention ... the highlighted portion there ... it says it starts at 8 a.m.," McNiel said, asking for a mistrial.
"Mr. McNiel, I need you to take your seat," the judge told McNiel.
At one point during his pre-trial hearing, after repeatedly interrupting the judge, McNiel was rebuffed by Judge Green.
"Mr. McNiel, I'm going to ask you not to interrupt ... I've been very patient with you. My patience is running very thin... if you interrupt again, you can go sit in the county jail."
On Jan. 28, McNiel was found guilty in Pea Ridge court for driving with expired tags and failure to appear. McNiel argued that because the police officer checked the wrong box on the ticket (the box for no driver's license) he should not be found guilty. Although he repeatedly admitted to being guilty of expired vehicle license tags, McNiel said the police officer's mistake of checking the incorrect box should nullify his offense.
Prior to court beginning, McNiel was given a listening device to aid his hearing the proceedings. At one point, he said it wasn't working and the judge said she would get him another. At 8:22 a.m., McNiel asked bailiff Joe Burrell to talk to the judge and was told: "You can't talk to the judge; you'll have to through ... attorney, sir."
At 8:30, the judge entered the courtroom, then a jury filed in, was excused to continue deliberations begun the day before for another trial and the judge agreed to consider other cases in the interim.
At that point, McNiel said: "Your honor, can I get another set of these. This isn't working." At 8:53, Rick Hardwick, prosecuting attorney for Pea Ridge, began to approach the bench but the judge told him to wait for McNiel to get another listening device.
After Green heard another case, McNiel stood and Green told him to take his seat. McNiel countered: "I can hear out of this ear. This side ain't working." So, McNiel and Hardwick approached the bench.
"I'd like to have this case dismissed," McNiel told Judge Green.
"I hope if this can go right, I'm hoping I can have a jury trial," McNiel said.
"I sternly encourage you to get an attorney ... I'm asking you not to talk so you can hear what I'm saying," Green said. "There are books, volumes and volumes of books of rules attorneys are required to adhere to .... If you want to present your evidence ... you'll have to adhere to the same standards. If you don't, your evidence won't come to trial.
"I'm in the middle of a jury trial. A man is facing spending the rest of his life in prison. There has to be a hierarchy."
"Yes, you were told to be here at 8 ... It's now 9:02 a.m. and we're just now calling your case. We delayed calling your case to try to get another listening device. These things were done for your benefit," the judge told McNiel.
Explaining that appellate court is more formal than city court, the judge told McNiel that she, too, had to follow the rules for judiciary proceedings.
McNiel asked her to dismiss the case.
Pea Ridge city prosecutor Rick Hardwick said the city would waive a jury trial.
When Green told McNiel he could have a bench trial with her making the decision, he said: "Ma'am, with all due respect, the last time I did that, I got the bad end o' the stick. I want a jury of my peers -- people who have been guilty before. In my younger days, I drove fast. If I get a jury of upright people, people who've never got a ticket, then, yeah, I'm going to be found guilty. And, I'd like to ask that it be within the next week."
"I'm not able to accomplish that," the judge said.
"I'm entitled to a speedy trial," McNiel said.
"You're not the only case in this county," she replied.
While Green thumbed through her calendar to set the date, McNiel said: "Ma'am, I don't understand why it is you can rule here one way or another, but you can't rule on dismiss case."
"This is not a trial," she said.
"Mr. McNiel, you need to get me your jury instructions on June 16," she said. When he said he didn't know how to do that, she said: "As I've explained to you in some great detail, you are held to the same standard as the lawyers."
Pre-trial was set for June 16 and the judge told McNiel there would be about 200 other cases that day with about 50 inmates from the county jail there. "Don't expect to be in front of the bench at 8 o'clock," she said.
"Then can I have a different date?" he queried.
"No sir ... your witness list needs to be exchanged 30 days prior to trial. You need to file in court clerk office no later than 30 days before trial. Failure to do so can result in you being held in contempt of court," she explained. "You need to bring a one paragraph statement of the case."
"Judge, may I ask you a question?" McNiel said about the one paragraph statement with jury instructions. "In the event that you read that statement and you see how blatant that this is, can you make a decision to not waste the court's time?"
"The only way this is going to be dismissed is if you file a properly-styled motion for it to be dismissed. That is a legal document to be filed with the court. I don't have that. We are setting for trial. Your filing papers with the court is not going to automatically cause me to dismiss," she said.
"I'm going to tell you one more time: At that trial, if you don't lay proper foundations to get evidence introduced, it will not be introduced. If you're not following rules of law and rules of procedure. I'm trying to encourage you one more time to get attorney."
McNiel is to appear June 16 for pre-trial and trial on June 25.
General News on 04/30/2014