Re: Travis County case

In terms of arguments for the judge, the circumstances under which I stopped reporting had to do with me being laid off from my copywriting gig at America Online not long after probation began. My dad was able to arrange for me to work for a company he was involved in as an office furniture mover, but that was in Dallas. My probation officer at the time wasn't interested in facilitating this. Obviously I would have preferred to not have a warrant out for my arrest, especially since I had already paid a couple thousand dollars to the courts and a lawyer with the intention of getting this behind me. But had I stayed, I would not have been able to afford both the apartment I was subletting and the ongoing fines and fees, even if I had managed to find some sort of non-writing job despite not having a car. Incidentally, the car I was arrested in for "DWI" was borrowed from a friend with the intention that I go get cigarettes several blocks away; I was pulled over on the way back because I'd forgotten to turn back on the headlights, having not driven a car for several years previously. I also haven't driven ever since and have no plans to do so.

On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 12:43 PM, Christie Williams <cwilliams@millsandwilliams.com> wrote:

Barrett,

I went to court on your case today. The original plea was for 180 days in jail probated for 18 months. From the file, it appears that you did report for some period of time, then stopped. The warrant for your arrest on the motion to revoke was issued in 2004.

I have reset the case until June 20^th. Before that date, several things need to be done.

1)      You need to attend the MADD Victim Impact Panel. Here is a link to the schedule of those panels http://www.madd.org/local-offices/tx/north-texas/victim-impact-panels.html There is only one scheduled prior to your next court date, so you need to attend the one scheduled June 6^th at 6:30 pm.

2)      You need to pay the arrearages in probation fees/fines/court costs. This totals $1100. If you want to drop a check for that amount by the office, I can pay the fees for you or I can give you instructions for paying them yourself. Please let me know as soon as possible how you want to handle that payment.

3)      You either need to take a DWI education course or we need to provide proof that you have taken one. I can look on the DPS website to see if they have a record of previous attendance, but to do that, I need your SS# and a copy of your texas drivers license. You can call and give the SS number to Trisha and you can fax or scan a copy of your DL.

Barrett, I know this happened a long time ago, but it is very serious and the Judge could put you in jail for 180 days. I need you to give me some good arguments so I can try to prevent that from happening, so these 3 things need to be #1 priority even though you have a lot of other important things going on.

Please let me know ASAP if you have any questions. You will need to attend Court on June 20^th.

Christie Williams

Mills & Williams, LLP

www.millsandwilliams.com

Criminal Law

(512)322-5322 Austin office

(214)265-9265 Dallas office

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Regards,

Barrett Brown
940-735-9748