Metro Man Sues After Getting Bill for Wrongly-Served Jail Time

What was supposed to be a two-day jail sentence turned into a nearly month-long ordeal for a metro man, but when he was then handed a bill for the time he served well above and beyond the judges sentence, he decided to take his case to federal court.

[deja vu all over again]

this happened in Lafeyette County where Gabriel Robles and Bonnie Vaughn were held for 2 months on

[Gemini]

Excuse my french, but WTF!! Misplaced paperwork, please give up a better excuse than that. This man lost a job, possibly lost his kids, and lost his FREEDOM due to some dummy being careless. The judicial system need to stop playing with peoples life. Innocent until proven guilty, WHATEVER!

[shimmer]

I bet you that he will think twice about driving on a suspended license again. lol

[Barry]

I wonder how he liked the "free" government health care coverage provided by the jail.

[SBK1]

Barry wrote:

I wonder how he liked the "free" government health care coverage provided by the jail.

It wasn't free...they billed him $3,500....sad, sad case that never should have happened. You are not innocent until proven guilty...it really is guilty until you prove you are innocent!

[Bad Deal]

I hope he gets a huge settlement from the city. What they did with his life is inexcusable. They should not get away with it. The system and the employees should be held accountable for their mistakes.

[LoyallyLOST]

Good grief! This should have never happened! At least the guy was a 'stand-up guy' to admit his wrong doing. How come no one was there for him to get him out after they started keeping him longer? Did he not have an attorney? This is one guy I do feel sorry for. He should at least get a second chance with his job & his situation with his court case with his kids, etc. Well, they can't garnish his wages if he doesn't have a job. Poor guy! Yes, he did a bad thing what with driving on a suspended license. At least he owned up to it! They should apologize all over the place & pay HIM for lost wages, etc! I hope he wins his lawsuit & sends a message.
Also, how many out there are driving, not only with suspended licenses, but no insurance! Instead of having traps to see who has had a drink, how about having traps for unlicensed or uninsured drivers???? I'm just sayin'.

[wack my willie]

wrong color, wrong sex ,wrong ,religion and damn it on top of it all he did the right thing, instead of crying, bitching and blaming it on the way he was or was not raised. That is how you are treated when you are honest, take responsible and own up to your mistakes, hell of a lesson we are sending our future generations!!!!

[Nowhere Joe]

Unbelieviable! Maybe Obama should work on the justice system before forcing his healthcare system down our throats. Just think how much money we could save if government employees actually worked.

[gramme]

Go get 'em!!!!

[Jen]

OMG!! It's no wonder people have no trust in the judicial system. You hear things like this all the time. He even admitted he was guilty. Thank God he took it upon himself to contact the judge or he probably would have been there for 6 months!
The man lost his job and who knows what ended up happening with his child custody hearings! I

[Cry Me a River]

Should have had a liscense in the first place...What happened after that is definately wrong, but part of the problem with our judicial system is that it is overburdened with individuals that think they are above the law... If there weren't such an enormous ammount of people that break the law, our Jails wouldn't be over crowded and Tax payers (or in this case, the individual) wouldn't be footing the bill for inmates expenses. I agree that he didn't deserve the extra time he got, but he wouldn't have had any if he wasn't driving on a suspended liscense in the first place...And you can't tell me he didn't know it was suspended... I wish the best for him, this was wrong... I hope he gets extra time to try to keep his kids and gets restitution for this, but the problem goes way deeper than him...it's a problem in our society...and it's a shame that the tax payers will foot the bill for his restitution... I'm just saying...

[Publius]

Sorry but all I can say is what do you expect. Our governments are evil in America. They want your money, your body, and your mind. There is only one option left... Destroy the government

[Ron]

Shouldn't have been driving on a suspended license in the first place.

[msms]

My faith in our system is being eroded more every day and this is exactly the kind of thing that is doing it. He had a suspended license, big freakin deal! Give him a fine make few bucks and move the hell on. Prisons are overcrowded ,real criminals let out early and they wasted their time with this.

[Sunrose]

Well, it cost the system $3,500 for 27 days -$129.63/day - due to a clerical error. SO how much more in tax dollars is our judicial system wasting? And WHY does staying in a local jail cost more than $3,500 a month for one inmate? Time for an audit.

As for his job, he should also take whatever bureaucratic or legal steps necessary to get it back. If the employer is honest, it won't take much effort. If not, the guy should go for it.

On the custody, well, if he's drinking and driving or driving on a suspended, he's probably not a safe bet for having custody of children right now. Two days or 27, makes no difference on that one.

Hope he is successful in his lawsuit. That will send a message to the so-called 'do right boys' that they need to clean up THEIR acts.

[AnneM]

This man deserves much more than just an apology and I hope he gets it. Someone needs to step up and take responsibility for this error and then steps need to be made to make sure it can not happen again.

[Axel Beamer]

I'll bet no person has lost their job over this gross mistake. It's almost impossible to fire people today. I declare that town and the C.J. system there PITIFUL!!!! Just start the remedy by firing all concerned.

[Phil]

-@ Axel Beamer -
You said "It's almost impossible to fire people today".
Yeah, right! That's funny.
The only people I can think of off the top of my head that are difficult to fire are teachers. There are probably a few others...but in the state of Missouri, if they say "you're fired", then you're fired.

[storie]

no fair you should sue!!! I'm sorry to hear this happened to you. That is very sad.