Saturday, March 24, 2007

To fight or surrender...

My niece must make a horrible choice right now. She faces criminal charges for what happened to the baby. She can either go to trial and risk a prison sentence or she can accept the plea bargain offered to her that would give her 10 years probation. While the guarantee that she would not go to jail is appealing, her chances of getting a job in her line of work with this conviction drop to zero. They've probably already dropped to near zero without a conviction, though... The trial would be hard on her, and she's already pretty fragile after enduring this mess.

I honestly don't know which I would choose for myself. When I was younger (and didn't have children to consider), I know I would have fought for justice all the way to the bitter end. Now that I have children, I'm not sure I would. Moving on with my life so that I could focus my attention back on my kids would most likely supersede my desire to clear my name.

I feel so helpless. I can't imagine what my niece is feeling...

Another part of this whole mess that has me so very angry is the taunting. Why do people feel the need to mock my niece and call her names? I'm not even talking about Joe Public. When she turned herself in, the processing people gave her a really hard time. I've already gone into what her son's case workers have done. I don't understand how people can be so intentionally cruel. It is certainly not our public servants' right to taunt the guilty, even if there has been a conviction.

M.W.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

that all sounds so hard. I agree with you - in the past I would have fought. Now, I am not sure. I feel so bad for your niece.

Gretchen said...

MW, I am so sorry to hear this. What a difficult choice...

Tree said...

I am thinking of your niece and your family. This is just incredibly difficult.