Take a few minutes to help out a fellow liberal

[belladonna]

From Bartcop...

Dian Hardison is an honorably discharged former Naval officer and NASA engineer, with 17 years at Kennedy Space Center. Among her commendations is NASA's highest honor, the Exceptional Achievement Medal. She is an outspoken activist for environmental and civil rights issues. Her services to the community include the volunteer Emergency Response Team, has supplied drives to elder care and shut-ins, foster parenting, tutoring, animal protection, service on community and county citizen advisory boards, and voter registration. She has a Master's degree and has presented technical papers to symposiums such the the Space Congress. She is a Senior Life Member of the Society of Women Engineers.

She is also currently incarcerated in the infamous Brevard County
Detention Center, sentenced to a year in jail under a peculiar Florida law making a felony to "use, or threaten to use a hoax weapon of mass destruction." Based on nothing more than the word of an "off and on" mail clerk at the Cocoa Water Department, who claimed to have found white powder in her water bill payment, Ms. Hardison was railroaded into a guilty plea by an incompetent lawyer and a politically ambitious judge. Damning statements that could most politely be described as oversimplified to the point of non-factuality were made by the Cocoa city police to the media.
Ms. Hardison's side of the story was never told, not to the court and not by the media. She maintains that she does not know of there being any powder in any envelopes, most certainly did not make any threats, and does not believe she would ever even be tempted to include any material which might be construed as suspicious in an envelope containing her signed, personalized check.

More at http://www.bartcop.com/diehard.htm

Take a few moments to write Senator Nelson and help out a fellow Dem.

Edited the title cause I just didn't like it :)

[belladonna]

1. Kick

What the hell, it's for a good cause. C'mon people, help her out

[TheWizardOfMudd]

2. What can the Senator do for her?

?

[belladonna]

4. Help her get a new trial?

Help draw attention to the fact that she was railroaded and perhaps, just perhaps, help her get out of jail? Maybe get her some decent legal representation so that she can appeal her case?

[TheWizardOfMudd]

6. Sorry

Senators don't have that power, unless they use their "influence" to attempt to manipulate the judicial system. Can you imagine a judge making a decision based upon what a more powerful person demands, I mean, unless it is Scalia?

Hopefully, she will get some good appellate lawyers.

[belladonna]

11. Senator Nelson is a former astronaut

And he could at least talk to some influental lawyers and get someone GOOD to take the case. He doesn't have to do anything illegal, ya know. :)

[DBoon]

3. Did a google on her

What an extraordinary woman! Amazingly qualified in her field.

It's frightening what has happened to her.

[MrSlayer]

5. How does someone railroad you into pleading guilty?

If you plead guilty you are admitting you did the crime. Never admit anything, particularly something involving terrorist attacks, even if you are guilty.

[Nevernose]

7. Happens all the time

Do a year, or do twenty: your choice. When things like that are coming from your own lawyer, you know you're screwed.

[TheWizardOfMudd]

8. Yes

She should not have pled guilty.

[belladonna]

9. Maybe you have a crappy lawyer

Telling you that you better plead and take what they'll give you rather than risk going to jail? Or they browbeat you and scare you enough to make you think you have no choice? It happens all the time, we just don't always hear about it. Smart move? No, but we don't know what her options were or whether she felt she had a choice.

[TheWizardOfMudd]

13. That is true

There are some bad lawyers out there who get a fee and then attempt to dispose of a case as quickly as possible. But it is the exception rather than the rule.

Let this serve as a lesson to everyone. Don't plead guilty unless you did it.

Edit: Unless the plea guarantees that you will do NO time. You can't trust juries one hundred per cent.

[belladonna]

14. I'm not sure it's the exception rather than the rule

But that wasn't really the point of this thread. The point is that a fellow Dem needs our help and it only takes a few minutes to accomplish that objective. We could sit and argue all night over what she should or should not have done and whether she got a fair trial or adequate legal representation. Just out of curiousity, did you even click on the link and read the rest?

[hang a left]

10. What they do is load you up with related charges and try to scare

you into not going to trial. Did she have a PD? They tell you if you insist on going to trial and they get a guilty verdict you'll do so many years. Then they offer you a plea. Plead guilty to this, we'll drop the rest and you won't get more than a year at sentencing. Doesn't sound like she received good advise, or there is more to the story. Or she had a corrupt PD who threw the DA a bone.

[Zinfandel]

12. I'll write all three addresses given, tonight. Thanks for the heads up...

and BartCop.

[belladonna]

15. One last kick before I head off to bed N/T