Originally published at: Felony charges for woman who rented Sabrina The Teenage Witch 21 years ago and failed to return it | Boing Boing
…
7 Likes
Which scum-sucking VHS rental store did this? Ah - it was ‘Movie Place’ which is no longer in existence.
I’d be asking them to prove both (a) that it was rented and (b) that it was not returned.
Can’t prove either of those things? Of course not. They no longer exist.
Does the local prosecutor have hard evidence of both of these things? Let’s see it. Otherwise a judge is going to be dismissing this pronto. No? (Well, no, in all probability. This is America, after all.)
21 Likes
Good on the district court for deciding to dismiss charges and [edit: allowing her to] expunge her record. But it serves to highlight how poor people are disproportionately charged for minor crimes and, if they fail to respond in the appropriate manner, have their charges elevated to the point it will negatively impact their lives forever. This sort of bullshit over petty, nuisance crimes needs to be addressed in the long body of criminal justice reforms this country needs to undertake.
37 Likes
It’s worse than that. She was tried and convicted in absentia without even knowing it… and years ago.
24 Likes
16 Likes
Check the VCR! It’s probably still in the machine!
13 Likes
Not in the BB write up but the charges were reviewed recently and dropped
18 Likes
Well, that’s good at least…
10 Likes
At first I thought this has to be some kind of collectors item and the collections agency wants to recoup whatever they can, but nope.
3 Likes
Did they also slap on an additional misdemeanor charge for not rewinding it?
21 Likes
How is that even possible? I thought you had the right to look your accuser in the eye in court or to defend yourself or whatever. If it were that easy, you wouldn’t need bail bondsmen or county lockups. You’d just try people in absentia, find them guilty and lock them up the next time they stepped foot in your jurisdiction. It’d save a lot of time and effort.
6 Likes
In this case, it sounds as if that’s what happened. From the news story:
McBride said over the last 20 years, she’s been let go from several jobs without being given a reason why. She told FOX 25, now, it all makes sense.
Embezzlement? That’s stealing money that is in your trust, isn’t it? How the hell can failing to return a rental tape be anything more than petty theft at worst?
14 Likes
If we don’t hold people accountable for the little things, it all falls apart! /s
14 Likes
The real crime here, the movie.
12 Likes
Since she subsequently crossed state lines, it could have been Conspiracy to Fail to Rewind, a federal crime. However, the tape is probably now encased in concrete at the bottom of a river somewhere in Texas, so in the absence of evidence all they could do was impose a lifetime ban on her being in possession of a VCR.
11 Likes
Even a Betamax?
Gosh. That’s cruel and unusual punishment, surely.
(And so is using a Betamax. Ba-doom-tish)
7 Likes
IANAL, but my first thought was severity of the crime coming from the value of the item involved. Isn’t that why car theft is worse? What’s the value of an old VHS tape? So many things about this case seem weird.
5 Likes
Seriously- they aren’t busy enough with out this bullshit? It should be dismissed and dropped from the record.
2 Likes
Well, why do you think they went out of business?
4 Likes
