Teen held in jail for 8 hours over overdue library DVD, judge fired.

[Liberal_in_LA]

Colo. judge fired over teen arrest for overdue DVD

Wednesday, April 7, 2010
(04-07) 08:32 PDT Littleton, Colo. (AP) --

A longtime Colorado judge has been fired after issuing an arrest warrant for a teenager over an overdue library DVD.

Municipal Judge James Kimmel issued the warrant after 19-year-old Aaron Henson failed to show up in court Jan. 14 over the overdue DVD, "House of Flying Daggers." On Jan. 25, police stoped the teen for speeding and held him for nearly eight hours after discovering the warrant.

Henson had moved and didn't received the summons to court. The teen said he had packed the DVD in a box, and returned it about a week before Henson issued the warrant. The library notified the judge the DVD was back.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/04/07/national/a083253D18.DTL

[leftofcool]

1. There ya go, all you library book stealers and hoarders!

You have been warned.........by His Honor James (Dumb Dickhead) Kimmel

[bobburgster]

2. Hahaha, got what he deserved....

the judge I mean :)

On a side note the past 2 used books I've purchased on Amazon have been stolen library books...real tacky.

[Occulus]

3. Stolen, or sold?

Lots of libraries sell their old books for a quarter or so. I still have a few that have "property of XXX Library" stamped across the pages, and I know they're not stolen.

[bobburgster]

18. Any I have seen are stamped "Disgard"

[monmouth]

4. Remember that Seinfeld episode with the "Library Cop??" OMG,

can't get it out of my head now. Hilarious...

[frylock]

8. mr. bookman

[monmouth]

13. Ah yes, Mr. Bookman. Good actor, kept a straight face the whole time..LOL...n/t

[frylock]

15. would love to see the outtakes from that taping!

[monmouth]

16. Had to be hilarious. Kramer and the librarian...Good comedic writing also...n/t

[Gidney N Cloyd]

10. "Got a flash for ya, joy-boy, party time is over."

[monmouth]

14. What hilarity. One of the best episodes IMO...n/t

[Duer 157099]

5. Jeez, how does one find out if they have warrants out on them?

I mean, if you can move and not receive a court notice, how would you know?

Don't papers have to be personally served or something???

[SoCalNative]

6. Usually you do not find out

until you are pulled over for a traffic stop.

No, papers do not have to be served. What normally happens in cases like this is, as the result of a FTA (failure to appear) in court when ordered to do so, the judge will issue a bench warrant that allows you to be arrested and detained until you can go before this or another judge.

[Duer 157099]

7. It's been over a decade since I've been pulled over!

How the hell would I know if I have an overdue book or something! This is scary! I thought they had to make double damn sure you were served personally for anything like that.

[NeedleCast]

9. My Warrant Story

I found out in 2008 that I had a warrant out for my arrest in Texas that had been issued in 2007. Here's the story.

In 1997 I joined the Army. Clinton was Prez and all was good. Expecting that I'd be away from home, I closed my local po-dunk bank account and opened an account with a national chain. For some reason, a check I had written to a local grocery store took more than seven days to clear. THe check was for 17 dollars and change. Because it took so long to clear, my old account was closed and the check bounced. Bad on my for assuming it had cleared but still, you don't figure a check will take a week+ to clear.

So I joined the Army, got a high level security clearance. Left the Army in 2002. Got recalled in 2004. Got out again in 2005 and worked briefly in the civilian defense sector. I've been through more background and security checks in those years than most people will see in five lifetimes. The issue of the check never once came up.

So in 2008 I was in the application for another job that required a background screening. The recruiter called me about two weeks into the process and says "Hey, do you know there's a warrant out for your arrest in Texas?"

I pretty much pooped myself at that point and got on the phone to the Texas AGs office. Basically it played out like this. The check bounced in November 1997, the month I left for basic. In 1998, apparently I was sent a letter (to an address that I no longer lived at) saying that I had bounced the check and that it could become a warrant. In 2007, ten years after actually writing the check, a warrant for my arrest was issued. I visit my folks in Texas at least twice a year and could have been pulled over for a minor traffic infraction and arrested on theft by check charges.

At no point did the Texas AGs office or any police agency attempt to contact me by anything other than a letter that was mailed to an old address more than a year after I'd left it (and long after the mail forwarding had expired).

[Duer 157099]

12. That is scary as hell!

Maybe I should try to get stopped just so I can stop worrying!

"Uh, hello officer, I don't suppose you can run a warrant check on me, could you please?"

[Echo In Light]

11. Holy shit!...a US authority figure actually held accountable!?

Rare, indeed

[hatesthegop]

17. We live in a fucking nazi state

and it's because we have let law enforcement to run amok..instead of marginalized the god damn cops and prosecutors and judges we have glorified them...