Fighting for Justice ~ Charges Filed
"Listen bitch, before you start messing with me you should know that I don't play games...I win them."
It took a couple of months but felony charges were officially filed in March of 2020. The official charge is found in the Texas Penal Code, Title 5 Offenses Against the Person, Chapter 22 Assaultive Offenses, Section 22.04 Injury to a Child, Elderly Individual, or Disabled Individual and in this instance she is being charged with a a state jail felony and can be sentenced up to two (2) years in jail and pay fines up to $10,000. The lowest sentence that someone found guilty of a state jail felony can serve is 180 days in jail.
Shortly after the charges were filed and her consulate was notified and she made bond, a pre-indictment hearing was set. The date for the hearing was March 25, 2020. Unfortunately that hearing was cancelled because of COVID. COVID would initially cause a delay of about three (3) months in this process which just increased my stress and anxiety level while making sure everything was fine with my dad during a time that the only way I could see him was through a camera feed. I was so very thankful that I had put multiple cameras in his room as well as an Echo Show.
The Victims Services division of the District Attorney's office sent me forms to fill out about the incident, here are portions of the form and my statement. This was completed May 6, 2020.
Yes, I definitely want to be notified about court proceedings. I want to be involved as much as possible every step of the way. I want the defendant to know that I'm not going to let this go away. Yes, I want to know her status if she is on probation or in prison and I do not want her to be contacting me or my family!
We have gone through several months of counsel conferences which have really amounted to not much of anything other than discussion of a plea bargain and that hasn't been finalized because of her citizenship status. She has to discuss the implications of the plea bargain with an immigration attorney and that, or her lack of doing that, has caused several months of delays. I was hoping that I would be able to be in the courtroom sooner rather than later with this case but I'm not very hopeful. The COVID cases are going back up and counties are starting to implement mask mandates again so I see this dragging out even longer. I'm not sure how well I'm going to be able to deal with this as far as my anxiety goes. I'm having a harder time with it as it goes already.
As of the time I'm writing this entry it's just 5 days until the next counsel conference is scheduled and I haven't heard a word from the Assistant District Attorney that is assigned to this case so I'm sure that there is nothing that is really going to come out of this one either. I have a statement started that I'm sure is just a rambling mess right now but I'm bound and determined to be prepared when we get to the point in the process that I can face this person and make a statement to her about what this has done to my family and me personally. I'm stressing just thinking about this and my keyboard is taking the brunt of my frustration right now. I'm so very ready for this to be over and done with!
To be continued...