going to the melbourne magistrates court on monday the 28th of november for the hearing of 6 separate charge sheets from six separate informants (cops who lay the charge).
i’m going to be arriving around 11am, so if anyone would like to attend, you are encouraged, and your support will be much appreciated :)
all charges are for the summary offences of posting bills and wilful damage (two of them were originally for the indictable offence of criminal damage, but those charges were dropped by the department of public prosecutions when i said i wanted them heard in front of a jury).
i’d go through and figure out all the dates of the postering that is being heard, but i don’t think it’s at all important, and i hate going through police papers, so cbf.
i’ve lost all interest in preparing what i’m going to say to the magistrate — i feel there is no point as it’s usually not listened to, and if i miraculously do get a listener, i’ll just talk to them like a person, as unconventional as that would be.
of course i’m going to plead not guilty, but as there are no ‘legal arguments’ i could use that have any chance of ‘success’, all i can do is explain myself from the witness box and appeal to the magistrate as a human to dismiss the charges.
the previous magistrate has booked the hearing in for a length of only 1 hour, i could easily do my bit in 15 – 30 mins, but i can’t imagine the prosecution will even be able to read out the charges and state their case in under an hour.
the prosecution has gone on for over an hour previously trying to explain the events of just one single day of postering, it was so slow and dull it was excruciating — i feel like i should offer to do their job for them more effectively, to save them the effort and everyone else the tedium.
i guess there is a chance i could be sentenced to jail, but if that happens i will appeal to the county court and apply for appeal bail, which i should get — if the magistrate isn’t a sadistic old reprobate who is deeply personally offended by my failure to cower before the power of the state (which i can’t entirely rule out).
