Get over it

By Steve Gordon

As many know, the legal/judicial system is not necessarily fair. But them life is not fair and nobody ever guaranteed that it would be.

Recently I received notice from the PA Supreme Court. I had filed for two days unlawful incarceration due to a paperwork error from Bucks County. I had all the evidence to show when I was arrested and taken into custody and then the faulty time credit from Bucks County to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. This is all on the county as the DOC was only following what it was ordered from the Common Pleas Court.

Here is what the order read: "AND NOW, this 5th day of October, 2010, the Application for Leave to File Original Process is GRANTED, and the Petition for Writ of Mandamus is DENIED." What is interesting is that Bucks County submitted no objections to my filing except to say that it was not their responsibility, it was the DOC's. I guess the court agreed, but there was no written opinion.

To further the issue, there were those who thought my serving the full 10 years was not right. The DOC wanted me out of the overcrowded prison system and deemed me no threat. The Parole Board, fueled by a (vindictive) ADA, who lost his job recently for allegedly being too hard lined, never paroled me. It is water over the dam or spilled milk or whatever other cliche you want to use.

The fighter and rebel inside of me wants to challenge all of this, but it isn't that easy going up against the system. I have the fight but I don not have a law degree nor the legal knowledge. Another consideration is to consider the likely hood of succeeding. I just can't do it. I have to move on and as the Eagles sang in one of their many hits, Get Over It.

I am still waiting on a ruling from the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania on the issue of Megan's Law as I outlined in a previous post. One one hand the longer it takes could mean a favorable ruling or a split decision and writing of an opinion and a dissenting opinion. On the other hand, it could be just that they shuffled it to the bottom of the pile. Stay tuned.