Letter For Judge Hotchkiss Regarding Hearing Tomorrow

Letter For Judge Hotchkiss/Jo Jackson--To Be Filed‏
From:
Sent: Tue 8/26/08 10:24 AM
To: jkoch@co.douglas.wa.us; paul_glassen@hotmail.com; pcassel@cbm-law.us; scnl300@dshs.wa.gov; tomasc@atg.wa.gov; Michelle K. (DSHS/CA) Erickson (ermi300@dshs.wa.gov)
Cc: hollybeanpole@aol.com

Dear Ms. Koch,

Will you please forward this to Judge Hotchkiss. I tried to email Jo Jackson from the Douglas County website and it said my email was sent and received and I checked the box for a copy to myself but never got confirmation in my inbox. I sent my email about 2 days ago and I hope Jo can check to see if she received something because the site did say it had been sent successfully.

I sent an email asking Judge Hotchkiss for reinstatement of visitation if I arrived for the hearing, and for an order requiring the department to pay for my transportation to and from the hearing.

They argued they weren't responsible, but they had already told me they are only not responsible for transportation and accomodations for visitation, not hearings.

I have earlier emails where they said they ARE responsible for transportation to and from the hearings. I asked for this and they refused so I sent an email to the Judge asking for an order so I could be at the hearing in person.

I am still indigent, and it is not my fault that I had to go to Washington D.C. to get a job which pays more and where there are better opportunities. This has been CPS's game, and if they hadn't removed my son, sending me into the position of being afraid of public services in any form and requiring me to support myself, I would have never moved.

My plans were to live in Canada with my son and CPS disrupted this. Any and all actions and responses I've taken since my son was taken from me, is because of the new demands which were put upon me, by force, because of their actions.

I would have been trying to get medical care still, and not having to run around looking for work outside of Washington, and legal help outside of Washington, if this hadn't happened.

It is in my and my son's best interests for me to be in a position to have him returned to me, and I have always been a good parent. What became an issue after CPS took him from me, was the ability to support myself and find a job after being thrust into this situation, while still partially disabled.

I am unable to take certain kinds of work because of this disability, which includes anything that requires sitting. I came to D.C. on an 18-wheeler with a bed I could lie down on, and I've been walking to work in D.C., and all my work is on my feet, NOT SITTING.

I make far better money here than I would in Washington, and I have opportunities to go to college and law school here which I didn't have in Washington where I was.

I have a place for my son to live here, but I have been getting on my feet and I don't have enough money to support myself AND pay for a flight and transportation I was told, long ago, Wenatchee CPS is responsible for.

As a parent, I have to make the best possible choices for what will be in the best interests for my family, financially, medically, and legally, and my options are best in D.C. However, the fact that I had to MOVE here, is only because of what CPS has done. This process is THEIR process, and THEY initiated and continue it.

I have been denied public defense, or I would have asked my defender to write a motion. I don't have time, working 90 hours a week, to write my own motions and collect evidence, and defend myself. I do not wish to be pro se and stated this in every hearing. I have the right to REASONABLE public defense and instead, what happened is that I had my case prejudiced by my public defenders. I asked for a new lawyer and was refused.

I asked Douglas County for copies of the audio for the hearing I was hung up on, and I was refused, and told I had to pay for it. When I said I couldn't afford it, they said I couldn't have a record.

To defend myself, even pro se, I have to have access to the record. This has been denied me. I still don't have the discovery I requested from the state either, and if I'd had a public defender, this could have been squared away already. I do not have money to collect evidence and discovery on my own behalf, which is necessary for my defense, and I do not have time to write motions when I'm not a lawyer and this is not my job and I have to work. I am already at a disadvantage as someone unschooled in the law, and then I have been refused even basic materials to know what is even being said about me.

How can I create a defense for myself when I don't even know what has been said?

I did try to come to Wenatchee. I looked up tickets online, and I went to the bank, and I tried to figure it out. I also appealed to Wenatchee CPS to follow through with their own self-stated obligations and they refused. I then tried to email the Judge a couple days ago and my email never went through, curiously enough.

I plan to attend the hearing tomorrow by telephone, or, if Judge Hotchkiss will permit this hearing to be pushed back just a week or so until he can get an order out to the state to pay for my transportation, I could be present. If I even had another week or more to make more money, and then schedule my ticket in advance, I might be able to pay for it myself.

I currently do NOT have discovery from the state, and I wish to be present in Wenatchee for fact finding, but it is not possible. I tried hard to make it possible. The friend who drives a truck took 2 weeks to get me to D.C. because he had to make stops for work. He wasn't able to take me back to Wenatchee because he was scheduled on the other side of the nation, and he only knows where he's going from one day to the next (his workplace doesn't give a schedule of where they're going in advance).

Again, I would like to be present in person, and I'm willing to be present. I did my best to find a way to be there tomorrow. I believe the state should be responsible for my transportation, regardless of where I have to find work in the U.S., because they are responsible for this entire hearing and matter.

The state was certaintly eager to get me out of Washington after the first complaint was filed by ER doctors against me, because Wenatchee CPS offered me and my son a one-way bus ticket OUT of WASHINGTON state. Now they seem to be in such a hurry to have me back, now that they want to control me and justify their position.

I will appear by telephone tomorrow. I added time to my cell phone expressly for this purpose. It is not cheap at 10 cents a minute, but I'm doing what I can. And I would like to be present for the hearing, in person, but I am stuck until Judge Hotchkiss gives an order to the state, or at least extends this hearing a week or so until I have a little more money to buy my own ticket with. I still, by the way, don't have discovery from the state, or anything from the court about the hearings.

If I had a public defender, they would automatically be receiving this information and any lawyer knows this information is necessary for any defense. But I am indigent, which is why I supposedly have the right to reasonable public defense.

Please be sure Hotchkiss has this and I will copy all parties. I would like to have this filed in the record.

To sum: Please give an order to the department reminding them of their responsibilities (a point my defense attorney could make citing statutes and case law, which I am disadvantaged not to have), as I would like to be present for fact finding, in person, and I would like to have visitation reinstated so when I come into town my son may see me.

For the record, I object to being pro se and wish to have a public defender appointed, who is capable of reasonable representation, so I am not further prejudiced and the proper materials for my defense are obtained.

Thank you,

Cameo Garrett