re: #244 Nerdy Fish

Reading through Bluesky stuff, and today I learned that in addition to being granted an interview via videoconference, which most defendants don’t get, the former guy got to do his pre-sentencing interview with his defense attorney present… and that this is also a thing that most defendants don’t get. That is mind-bogglingly insane to me. It’s yet another way that the system oppresses the poor and favors the rich.

We should remember this. Yes, it’s fun to see the former guy going through some things. But the accommodations he is being afforded only serve to further highlight the inequity of the system. They are literally bending over backwards to avoid putting him through any of the things that, if one of us found ourselves afoul of the NYPD, they would not hesitate to put us through. When he says there are “two tiers of justice,” he is extremely correct in his conclusion, though his reasons for saying so are very far off the mark.

Raises a question in a pre sentencing hearing without a lawyer can you incriminate yourself or are you protected?