2011.04.06 Clint Dunn Arrested.

[LisaB]

I realize this man is suffering, but what does his showing up late for court have to do with LE closing the case??

This sounds like a case of misdirected anger to me. For whatever reason Clint is reluctant to point the finger where it belongs, so instead he's lashing out at LE. They may not have handled everything perfectly, but I do believe they're working hard to find justice for Hailey.

I am completely shocked that they arrested him for being LATE. I could see issuing a bench warrant if he had not showed at all, but the court was still in session when he arrived.

As for the previous poster's remark, I once had an "unsafe backing" charge for pulling out of a parking space (backing) and being hit by a car traveling 45mph in a shopping center parking lot. It's automatically the fault of the person backing up, in much the same way that the "blame" for a rear-end collision always falls on the car in the back.

 

[Adrienne37]

I am completely shocked that they arrested him for being LATE. I could see issuing a bench warrant if he had not showed at all, but the court was still in session when he arrived.

As for the previous poster's remark, I once had an "unsafe backing" charge for pulling out of a parking space (backing) and being hit by a car traveling 45mph in a shopping center parking lot. It's automatically the fault of the person backing up, in much the same way that the "blame" for a rear-end collision always falls on the car in the back.

So I guess LE isn't supposed to arrest anyone who shows up late for court which could include possibly someone who is accused of being a rapist, someone accused of child neglect or abuse, someone who was accused of possessing a massive amount of drugs? What about someone who is out on bail for manslaughter and they show up late for their hearing? A bench warrant shouldn't be issued for that person either?

I guess I have a hard time excusing this type of behavior. I would certainly want to know that someone who had complete disregard for the law would be dealt with appropriately by the judicial system and LE.

~jmo~

 

[CN2Souls]

Do we know how big the court session was??

What I mean is,

The county where I work with the court system we have 100-200 case heard between the hours of 8:00 am and 10:00 am

The people with Lawyers who are being paid go first

Then the people who are represented by a public defender go in order of the public defenders last name.

However if you are to appear at 8:00am you need to be there even if you have a public defender and will not go before the judge till 9:55 am.

So, Was this a 5 person seeing the judge session and he was to be there at 9:00 am and he was 40 minutes late

Or was this a 200 person session he was to be there at 9:00 am
and he was 40 minutes late?

 

[scorekeeper]

Has Clint given a reason for why he was late?:waitasec:

 

[CaseyLPC]

A crime is a crime is a crime. They have a penalty associated with them and should be executed consistently in order to make our legal system just. Otherwise you end up with all kinds of corruption and people getting out for major things because someone gave them a "pass". JMO of course.

 

[hollyblue]

Maybe if they got an occasional "pass" instead of being arrested at every opportunity, they would trust LE more. If the truth involves drugs, deviance, etc., they may fear being forthcoming about those things even if they had nothing whatsoever to do with Hailey's disappearance and no knowledge of her whereabouts. I understand that they are doing their job, but I think a good bit of the lack of trust has been due to LEs heavy-handedness. If they felt they REALLY COULD tell the truth and there would be no repercussions for admitting unrelated illegal behavior, they might.

I respectfully disagree, passes are given to people who generally earn it. He's was incarcerated previously for 2 years and has been arrested more than a few times for the same things. Seems he has a problem with obeying the law and respect for the judicial system. I may not agree with that law....but it's there.

As far as fear of coming forward......:waitasec: His daughter is missing. And if drugs or deviance had nothing to do with HD's disappearing...then it wouldn't be relevant..would it? If he's too scared to come forward because there may be repercussions to him then he should seek counsel to help him talk to LE. Sorry, but to me, these scenarios seem pale to compare to a missing child...and someone has their priorities in the wrong place....again. JMO

 

[Oriah]

I respectfully disagree, passes are given to people who generally earn it. He's was incarcerated previously for 2 years and has been arrested more than a few times for the same things. Seems he has a problem with obeying the law and respect for the judicial system. I may not agree with that law....but it's there.

As far as fear of coming forward......:waitasec: His daughter is missing. And if drugs or deviance had nothing to do with HD's disappearing...then it wouldn't be relevant..would it? If he's too scared to come forward because there may be repercussions to him then he should seek counsel to help him talk to LE. Sorry, but to me, these scenarios seem pale to compare to a missing child...and someone has their priorities in the wrong place....again. JMO

BBM: I agree, hollyblue. Also, if one is running late for a court date for a valid reason, it usually only takes a call to the clert of court to notify. The judge may then request showing cause, but it likely won't get you arrested. Likewise, if you are already involved in a situation such as we are seeing here- and you are going to be late to a court date- I'd be on the phone to my attorney asking him to respectfully call the clerk.
Then when you show up and court is already in session (because you are late) you either find another clerk, or you hand a baliff a note to pass to the clerk who is sitting in.
I don't know how the situation with CD went down, but it seems to me that this situation could have been minimized.
And, I too would like to know why he was late. It might help explain why the judge was so displeased.

 

[Ellebelle]

A pass? Yes, if there was a very good excuse. (car accident, very ill, verifiable car trouble, etc) In life there are very few free passes. It really shouldn't be about getting an occasional pass, it should be about doing the right thing and taking care of business as a responsible adult.
As for someone's lack of trust in LE it is most likely having been busted before doing something, anything, illegal.
The best way to not be late for court is don't do anything that puts you there in the first place.
All of the people involved in this acting out the way they each are, is very disrespectful to Hailey and their other children. When do they get to be put first??!

All my opinion only!

 

[TxLady2]

Above is BBM..and below is TxLady2's response:



Truth..I too very much question this??!!??.. Yes I agree with you TxLady that officers have no choice but to execute the warrant once issued by the judge...and yes I am familiar with bench warrants that are sworn out on a daily basis for those who fail to appear in court for which they have received a summon to be at..

I suppose I would need to ask someone from either CCity itself or a resisdent of a town similar in size to CCity because here in Memphis it just DOES NOT WORK THIS WAY..Yes a bench warrant is issued for failure to appear but NEVER EVER HAVE I IN MY LIFE EVER WITNESSED NOR EVEN HEARD OF SUCH THAT A PERSON THAT IS LATE FOR COURT BEING ARRESTED FOR FAILURE TO APPEAR WHEN INFACT THE COURT PROCEEDINGS ARE STILL IN SESSION WHEN THE PERSON SUMMONED ARRIVES...

Now I do suppose this is 100% legit/legal and am remembereing that Paris Hilton's judge I believe did similar when she continually was late for her court appearances..knowing the media attn was crawling with reporters therefor attn on your honor's courtroom with Paris obviously getting off on making a mockery of the system with her disrespect for the courts and her attempting to prove she was above the law..

So yes I realize that it can indeed be done..But my point is it is not SOP for a judge to do such without a prevokation of sorts{i.e. the above example of Paris Hilton}..So do we know If Clint was habitually late for his cort appearances therefor giving the judge reason to be so forceful with something such as this arrest and bond set{not even a ROR which is what ususally happens with such small time cases/charges}..

Am am literally baffled at why such the "example be made of Clint" so to speak with this arrest and setting of bond..Has he somehow really pizzed of this judge for some reason? If so how and what that would cause such?

Like I said I do understand how failure to appear bench warrants are issued each every day across this nation..but I also explained that I have never seen nor witnessed a judge to "make an example of someone" for being within minutes..not hours..late for morning session court????

TIA to anyone who may know or be able to better explain it to those of us like myself that find it quite strange and not so run of the mill type court order..

I know that it's done here quite often, though. I understood that the warrant was already issued before Clint showed up. Even if there were several other cases, and the judge could move on to another one, he still did not know whether he would eventually show up or not, so I believe the warrant for failure to appear was justified. I don't believe this judge was only making him an example. I think it was more that he had no choice, he couldn't just let it go and take the risk of showing favoritism or bias.

 

[Gardenlady]

And so the possessor of pot deserves the swift hammer of justice just as much as a rapist does? Judges do have discretion of a sort - but you think none should be shown between these two crimes, simply because both are against the law? A pot smoker, who endangers no one but perhaps his own lungs (and who, in this case, is having to live through the disappearance of his daughter) deserves no mercy or discretion, and should be treated the same as a rapist, who is a danger to his victim as well as other potential victims?

Interracial marriage and drinking alcohol used to be against the law as well, fwiw. :twocents:

 

[peeples]

They must do it different in every county.
Here they don't hold group court at all or have large groups all appear at the same time. For things that are quick like traffic court, they are set either 5 or 10 minutes apart. Family court hearings, are set for 45 minutes apart unless there is witness testimony etc.. than they can be set to take up to all day.
They usually run on time too. I think the longest i've waited is 20 minutes.

I've been late before as a teenager and i was soooo scared I was going to jail and was apologizing to the point of blubbering to the ADA and he said not to worry. They only issue a warrant if you cannot be found, if we think you skipped town or have no intention of showing.
I live in a county of approx. 90,000 people.
I don't know how big CD's county is but i'm sure it's smaller and they would be MORE understanding in smaller towns I'd think.

 

[Ellebelle]

Respectfully......my "ex" and I separated almost 3 years ago and are yet to be divorced. I was saddled with alot of our debt after being a stay at home mom for years. Divorce costs money! Even if you have already done all the agreements once in court. Or at least in my state. The HUGE difference is that my separation agreement specifies that there is NO overnight house guests of the opposite sex at all ! (or risk losing custody or visitation) Understandable to protect children from condoning that behavior. :seeya: Just giving you an idea of why this could happen. I'd rather spend that $1000 on my kids and my bills until I feel I am ready to consider dating again, ya know?

My cousin and his ex split were split for about 15 years. Sure did leave a lot of problems when he passed away and we could have made her responsible for his funeral expenses. (we didn't though) I understand the money issue but I'm pretty anal about a lot of things and I just like to know it's officially over if it's mine.

 

[scorekeeper]

A pass? Yes, if there was a very good excuse. (car accident, very ill, verifiable car trouble, etc) In life there are very few free passes. It really shouldn't be about getting an occasional pass, it should be about doing the right thing and taking care of business as a responsible adult.
As for someone's lack of trust in LE it is most likely having been busted before doing something, anything, illegal.
The best way to not be late for court is don't do anything that puts you there in the first place.
All of the people involved in this acting out the way they each are, is very disrespectful to Hailey and their other children. When do they get to be put first??!

All my opinion only!

Since Clint has been involved with the law before, I'm sure he probably got his "pass" on one of his earlier court appearances.

Hopefully, one of the fine reporters will tell us why he was late. At this point, I'm not even sure it matters.

Since he is back home, I pray that he will STAND TALL and be the voice of Hailey (as he previously told us he would be).

I still stand with him and so much want him to grow up and be fully responsible to his family. He needs to find someone that will guide him and to be a "voice of reason" to him during this very trying time in his life. He needs to publicly announce that he has broken all ties with BJD and "move over to the side of LE" and help find out what REALLY happened to Hailey.

I'm done with this rant. No offense to anyone and everything is JMO.

 

[TxLady2]

Divorces are expensive, and it's possible that Clint or Billie did not have the money to pay a lawyer. Clint may be aware too that if they divorced, he would have to pay child support regardless of who keeps the house.

Since a lot of people nowadays live together and even have kids before they get around to getting married anyway, I guess they thought getting a divorce was not too high on their list of priorities. I wouldn't be too surprised to find out that there are probably still some strong feelings between them. There's always a bond when you share a child, and sometimes even when there isn't a child.

 

[CN2Souls]

And so the possessor of pot deserves the swift hammer of justice just as much as a rapist does? Judges do have discretion of a sort - but you think none should be shown between these two crimes, simply because both are against the law? A pot smoker, who endangers no one but perhaps his own lungs (and who, in this case, is having to live through the disappearance of his daughter) deserves no mercy or discretion, and should be treated the same as a rapist, who is a danger to his victim as well as other potential victims?

Interracial marriage and drinking alcohol used to be against the law as well, fwiw. :twocents:

I agree with you fully, However our justice system, In My Opinion is Broken.

It uses sludge hammer justice instead of look at every case with a microscope to see what true Justice could come of it....

And we all know, that judges can and have bent the law and often do, our system is broken but it is the only one we have... :cry:

 

[Adrienne37]

Clint was arrested because he had a blatant disregard for the judicial system by not arriving to court at the time he was ordered. Obviously, the judge has a low tolerance for this type of behavior. It's completely irrelevant to me why he was ordered to court. Mr. Dunn should accept responsibility for his actions and hopefully he will have learned a small lesson from this experience.



~jmo~

 

[TxLady2]

They must do it different in every county.
Here they don't hold group court at all or have large groups all appear at the same time. For things that are quick like traffic court, they are set either 5 or 10 minutes apart. Family court hearings, are set for 45 minutes apart unless there is witness testimony etc.. than they can be set to take up to all day.
They usually run on time too. I think the longest i've waited is 20 minutes.

I've been late before as a teenager and i was soooo scared I was going to jail and was apologizing to the point of blubbering to the ADA and he said not to worry. They only issue a warrant if you cannot be found, if we think you skipped town or have no intention of showing.
I live in a county of approx. 90,000 people.
I don't know how big CD's county is but i'm sure it's smaller and they would be MORE understanding in smaller towns I'd think.

Right... and this judge had no knowledge that Clint would show up at all. Once he signed the warrant, it was a done deal. Maybe he didn't even make it into the courtroom... he might have been arrested right on the steps or just inside the courthouse.

I would think that each case is set at a certain time, so if you are told to be in the courtroom at that time, no judge is going to sit twiddling his thumbs waiting for you for half an hour, when he's got a full schedule. Even if he moves on to the next case, doesn't mean he has to try to fit you into the schedule later on. If your excuse for being late is valid, like a traffic accident or a serious illness, he will reschedule it for another day. But "I forgot" or "I overslept" or something equally as silly just won't cut it with the court.

 

[Quester]

And so the possessor of pot deserves the swift hammer of justice just as much as a rapist does? Judges do have discretion of a sort - but you think none should be shown between these two crimes, simply because both are against the law? A pot smoker, who endangers no one but perhaps his own lungs (and who, in this case, is having to live through the disappearance of his daughter) deserves no mercy or discretion, and should be treated the same as a rapist, who is a danger to his victim as well as other potential victims?

Interracial marriage and drinking alcohol used to be against the law as well, fwiw. :twocents:

BBM
Pardon me, but have you followed any of the news reports about murders at the US-Mexico border due to illegal smuggling of drugs? CD's illegal habit endangers far more people than just CD's lungs.

In my honest opinion, the judge did right by dropping the hammer on CD. I hope no one in this frustrating case gets a "pass" for their illegal, disrespectful, dishonest behavior.

MOO

 

[Melanie]

Divorces are expensive, and it's possible that Clint or Billie did not have the money to pay a lawyer. Clint may be aware too that if they divorced, he would have to pay child support regardless of who keeps the house.

Since a lot of people nowadays live together and even have kids before they get around to getting married anyway, I guess they thought getting a divorce was not too high on their list of priorities. I wouldn't be too surprised to find out that there are probably still some strong feelings between them. There's always a bond when you share a child, and sometimes even when there isn't a child.

But divorces do not have to be expensive. You can get on-line forms now to do it yourself. Me and my ex divorced over 10 years ago w/o an attorney. We split the filing fee (I wanna say $150.00 each) and then waited 6 months for the final paperwork.

Yes, I understand they currently are under extreme circumstances (1 child missing, 1 child w/CPS), but you can still get a divorce with support to be determined at a later date. You can use a mediator.

I guess what I'm saying is if BJD can withdraw money from an ATM, find money for bond, and for clint to find money for bond -- then a divorce should be quite simple! There's money coming from somewhere!

If I were in Clint's shoes, I would be getting a dee-vorce asap. I would even help him with the paperwork!

Just my opinion -thanks!

Mel

 

[Gardenlady]

Pardon me, but isn't that due just as much to the substance being made illegal, rather than due to the substance itself? During prohibition, we got organized crime gangs and families. Now we have organized crime over illegal drugs. The recreational use of pot by one user can hardly be said to contribute to deaths due to drug violence, just as a flapper drinking bathtub gin in a speakeasy some 90 years ago could hardly have been directly responsible for organized crime killings. This is ridiculous. Make the violent offenders pay for their violence, sure, but what message on earth does it send to crack down on CD for being late on a pot charge? When we treat a recreational user with the same sense of vengeance that we'd treat a murderer, there is no meaning left to the law. It's no wonder people have no respect for cannabis laws, when we treat recreational users the same way we'd treat a rapist or murderer. :waitasec:

I think judges and prosecutors like to "crack down" in cases like this because it lets them make a show of being "tough on crime". Meanwhile, the guy with kiddie *advertiser censored* sits at home in Momma's house, and Hailey still isn't with her family. What a sideshow.

With that, I'm done with this. Until there is more news on the case, it's not worth following. In the silence, people are looking for something to latch onto, and now it's time for CD to be the target because of pot use, and made to be responsible for the drug violence at the border? No thanks, I'll wait for real news about the real criminals.