Injustice in the city traffic court system

I am livid.  I have no idea where to start but here it goes.  The following happened in New Iberia City Court as told to me by my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. My brother-in-law broke the law and drove without a license. He was told by the judge to pay a past ticket in New Orleans, obtain a valid driver’s license and return to court. He dug his own hole and he had to climb out of it.

As he is waiting to be called, he notices the judge is asking the defendants if they are employed. When they respond they are not employed they are given unsupervised probation. He watches as 2 unemployed people being charged with and pleading guilty to ROBBERY of 2 separate local businesses being given sentences of 1 year UNSUPERVISED probation each. They paid no restitution or court cost. He watches as the judge hands out sentences of unsupervised probation to unemployed people with the same offense as his plus no insurance, no registration, etc.  They did not bother to obtain a license or register the vehicle they were driving before returning to court. When he is called, he is asked if he is unemployed. He responds yes. The judge throws out the charge of no driver’s license, because he has obtained one, and sentences him to $200 court cost! He has to have this $200 or go to jail for 5 days thereby losing his job!  He had the money, he works.

I understand he was wrong for not paying his ticket and allowing his license to lapse. The part I don’t understand is, why is he given a monetary fine just because he WORKS? This man has taken in juvenile family members plus raised 6 of his own children.  He and his wife have struggled to stay employed to raise all of these children. Every one of those children work for a living.

After hearing about this huge miscarriage of justice just because the man WORKS for a living, I have no pity for people who choose to live poor and uneducated. Go to school, get a JOB and climb out of the hole YOU HAVE DUG YOURSELF IN just like everybody else has to.

The judges should absolutely be ashamed of themselves. No restitution, no community service or nothing to pay for the wrong they did. How do these judges sleep at night punishing a hard working man and allowing others to walk out with nothing but a pat on the wrist? What about the 2 businesses that were ROBBED? Do the owner’s have any say so in the punishment of the people who stole from them? Where is the victim advocate system?