So, I don't plan to spend a lot of time on this blog complaining about my personal life, BUT since this is "law" related, I wanted to share.
Back in January, my ex-boyfriend "Ken" was arrested for violating the OFP I have against him. "Ken" is schizophrenic, and was off his medication. He had called and talked about women being chopped up and other nonsensicle things. I called OCSD because I was worried this man had completely lost his marbles. Sounds like I was right.
I was impressed with OCSD and RPD's efforts to find and arrest Ken that night. Since, Ken has been in custody - first in jail and then in a mental health facility.
Now, I need to remind you that I am a victim of a felony violation of OFP.
Yesterday, I looked at the Court's docket and to my surprise, the County Attorney dismissed the charge under Rule 30.01 - in other words, it was dismissed in the "interests of justice". I remembered back to a few weeks ago when I had a call from a victim/witness coordinator with the County Attorney's office, which I returned with a voice message, and was never called back.
Today, I started by calling the victim/witness coordinator again. Voice mail. I left another, with a reminder that she didn't return my call two and a half weeks ago, and I wanted to know why this case was dismissed. I gave her the entire morning, and she never called back.
After lunch, I called my victim advocate at the Women's Shelter. She was in the process of writing me a letter to let me know the charge had been dismissed, but again, didn't know why. She suggested I call the Assistant County Attorney assigned to the case....
I call the main number for the County Attorney's office, because direct lines are not listed on the web. The receptionist refuses to put me to the voice mail of the ACA, and instead sends me back to the voice mail of the victim/witness coordinator!!!
I then called and left a message with my contact at Victim Services, I'm hoping she can give me some answers, at least I know she will call me back. I also sent a strongly worded e-mail to the victim/witness coordinators' general e-mail box, suggesting I may just retain my own attorney (me? retain a lawyer? hahahaha!).
So, that is that. It is frustrating being a victim in Olmsted County's system. I had better luck with services in Ramsey county, which is known to be the most-behind-the-times county there is. I'll keep you all posted if I actually get any information. I assume that the charge was dropped due to incapacity. However, when they sent him for mental health evaluation, I was told they would seek Civil Commitment, in the alternative, if they were unable to proceed with the criminal charge.
UPDATE:: I got a call back the next morning from the CA's office. Apparently, my threat of hiring my own attorney got their attention. Anyway, they have "Ken" civilly committed and medicated. Hopefully it lasts. The Women's Shelter also sent me a cute letter saying the case was "dismissed" with a copy of the court docket. Perfecto, that really explains things.
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