He Said, She Said; He's Fined -- Courant.com

A New York man accused of stalking and harassing actress Yancy Butler at a treatment center in Kent has been ordered to pay a $50 fine.

[Douglas Field]

Please take at the letter sent around the world to President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.Google news now is carrying
this soon to be international story.Manuel Gonzales the kid
everyone forgot in the CA prison system ! This horrific tale of
injustice done to this man when he was only a minor by the LA courts will be heard around the world .President has been asked to finance this kids appeal with the US Federal Government in the CA Central District court. My name is Douglas Field with Lawyers For Poor Americans.

[Bill Myers]

I have read this interesting saga about this Los Angeles case concerning Manuel Gonzales.It appears that 60 minutes is also taking a good look at it.Everyone in the US knows these Public Defenders are only for the poor folks.The problem that exists with this situation of poor lawyering has always been overlooked.It only involves poor people !

[Sally Jones]

I do not believe how many various people are linking their businesses
and my space listings to this story of Manny Gonzales the kid that everyone forgot in the CA prison system. I think this will be a international human
interest story this week.Google has pages and pages of listings from all over the world on this one. This complete story is even listed in Google in Spanish.Google news needs 100,000 hits ( per day ) before a story makes it to their news site.

[Barbara Snell]

It is tragic that these mandatory prison laws are still being used hare in CA.For such a progressive state to allow this to continue says alot about our Governor ( Arnold S.)and the state legislature.Other states have seen the light of
hope and decentcy for others and their loved ones waiting endless years to ever see each other outside of Arnold's prison walls.

[Gary Trunge]

American's needing the services of a public defender in any criminal case in the US are at a
great disadvantage from the get go.Since 99 % of the cases these public defenders get are plea bargained out and never make it to a jury,it seems
like it might be a good idea to supply private attorneys to those felony defendants who decide to go to trial.Anyone facing a possible prison term of any great length in years needs to have adequate legal advice.Public defenders have great intentions defending our poor,but good intentions
do not always make good lawyering.

[Abby jacob]

It is not a very difficult choice for many Americans to want to finance better attorneys for our poorer citzens instead of the current public defender system.The problem with our society is
that it does not really matter what the American public wants,because we the public lost control
of our government a long time ago.We live in a democracy that does not respond to public sentiment on lots of issues that are state or of
national concern.The lobbies of special interests
are running things and thats why the American
poor do not have health care or private lawyers when needed.

[Secret Sam]

I know for a fact that this Manny Gonzales kid never got a fair trial like many other suspected gang members in La.This cabal of justice enforcers are taking the law into their own hands
because we have a few career political people who
know without the streets being quiet,they will never get reelected to their next posistion in public office.So bring on the rouge DA's that attempt to mislead La juries that every Mexican American kid is a gang member.Call around and ask any defense attorney private or otherwise and they will tell you the truth about this injustice that is happening in our La courts.Manny Gonzales is just one of many who never had a chance at a fair trial.Fear is very powerful with La juries and
everyone wants safe streets so the DA's play right into this with judges failing to order new trials with tainted juries.

[Tammy Lane]

Listen, our situation with gangs has gotten out of control here in Los Angeles and I for one want
anyone who is gang related to be locked away forever.It's about time our city got tough with these kids.If this Manny Gonzales never got a fair trial here in La then maybe this will send a strong message to anyone else wanting to get involved in this type of activity.Sometimes the innocent do pay a price for the benefit of the
rest of society.We all know our prisons are full
of real innocent defendants,but there should be a
special organization financed by our state to research it and get them out.The sooner more of these gangs are rounded yp the safer our streets will be.Let the courts deal with the innocent later on.Yea it sounds like a rough way of dealing with this situation,but it is working isn't it?

[Bill Gain]

Tammy are you sure you didn't sit on the Manny Gonzales jury? Yes we have a very serious gang problem here in LA,but to send a kid to prison for 27 years on a injust trial Tammy is not the way most of us want to live in this country.It is sad that Manny could not afford a private attorney to defend him,but hopefuly this case and many others just like it will force change in LA
and the rest of our country.I agree that any defendant facing heavy jail time if convicted in a court of law in the US needs to have a private attorney represent him.This phony business of thinking that Public Defenders are able and ready to defend our poor needs to be revisited.There are too many Manny Gonzales in our prisons already.You do not think the US is #1 in the world with the amount of people in prison for only crime do you.It is a known and accurate fact that 10% in prison in America are innocent.Add it up.We have over 2,4oo,ooo million behind bars in this country.

[Douglas Field]

For all of those interested in the Manny Gonzales case,please be aware that currently this case is
currently in the CA Central District Federal Court.Previous courts arethe Second Appellate
Division One B185550
Van Nuys LA046958

[Marty Gomez]

I think President Hugo Chavez would be very appreciated by our poor in our prisons who nobody
to help them finance their cases.Our government
is only buying poor lawyers for poor people.

[Barbara Dent]

I think it might work out just fine if America's
poor are assisted by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.we are really not providing the working poor Health care and by the sound of these recent
accounts about our public defenders it appears our working poor also have no real leagal protection in our courts either.Maybe President Chavez will be more popular here in America with our poor then our own president or congress.Poor American's will find others to assist them unless
this Government of ours responds to reality.President Hugo Chavez already gave $20,000,000 to our poor last winter for heating oil bills,does this ring a bell with anyone in Washington??? President Chavez you really are needed by America's poor,and I hope you pursue
assisting them because empty promises are all their getting from those here in the US who are suppose to have their best interests at heart.

[Anonymous]

anyone involved in the gangs should go away for a long time, even life is fine with me. the problem has to be solved. it's the only way to solve it.

[Barbara Tangol]

The odd thing about this Manny Gonzales case is the presiding judge in the case had ordered that there would be no evidence about gang involvement allowed with this case to begin with.So if a rouge DA does not follow this judges orders then how does this case ever get into deliberations to begin with? Everyone knows if a jury is mislead by a DA against the judges rules in their courtroom that a nistial would and should be given.For anyone to be tried in a civilized court of law in America we should at least give our kids
some benifit of the doubt instead of allowing DA's to take justice into their own hands.We all remember the ( NC) DA who decide to take matters into his own hands not too long ago.

[Bill Gains]

This type of justice in LA legal is typical for
our courts.Manny Gonzales is just one of many Mexican Americans in La that have met the same fate with long prison terms.60 minutes or 20/20
will never report this type of obvious abuse to these kids.

[Naomi Peet]

I beg to differ with you Bill.I believe this LA Legal mess will all be exposed.

[Frances Torro]

I sure hope your right on this one Naomi.We all expect fair trials in this country for everyone,not just for the rich and famous.It would tickle me to see one poor guy get some real justice once in awhile.Better yet,make that a poor Mexican American getting a little real justice! Mexican American kids are here to stay so lets start treating them with equal justice in our LA courts and stop believing DA's with their own agenda of justice.

[Sam Young]

I wonder if this unjust trial that happened to Manny Gonzales here in La could happen in Canada
also ? My guess is that the courts in Canada offer private attorneys for their defendants.If I were in Manny's shoes,I would attempt to get a private lawyer to represent me also.How could any of us write our own appeal like this kid has been forced to attempt?It's tragic that our country will not pay private attorneys for the poor in prison.This does not appear to be the type of democracy that cares for all its people equally ?

[Lilly Fraom]

Why does everyone expect fair trials every time
there is a trial in this country? We should all know better by now that justice is only as good as your pocketbook.Manny Gonzales is a poor Mexican American who could not afford a private attorney and now will spend 27 years in our CA prisons at a cost to taxpayers of over $1,000,000.
I think anyone of us could have found a much cheaper private attorney to defend Manny at his unfair trial than that one million, don't you?

[Lisa Hunt]

We asked for it and now we have it, egg I mean,and it appears to be running down our countries face.It also looks like there will be plenty more to come.I believe it states somewhere in the Bible something about taking care of the poor? Well thank you Manny Gonzales for taking your mirror into your prison with you! Now we all just have to pray that our state and federal government
leaders will know the difference between your mirrors reflection of reason, change,hope and love and their mirrors reflection of fear, hate,cruel and unreasonable punishment. Beauty I guess is only really in the eyes of the
???