Railroading definition:  to convict with undue haste and by means of false charges or insufficient evidence.

 

The first thing I said to my attorney was, ‘We have to get out of Davidson County.’ I explained that my ex-wife had worked in the District Attorney’s office just before these events. More importantly, her brother, an attorney in that county for over thirty-five years, was very influential among the law enforcement and judicial personnel in the small town of Lexington, NC, with a population of 18,000. In a small town like that, with a judge and DA who served for twenty-four years, you can expect a different kind of justice—often referred to as ‘wheeling and dealing.’ The county had that reputation for decades, and it still exists today. They do what they want, often based on the exchange of IOUs and/or cash.

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After my attorney said he had not heard of my ex-brother-in-law, I almost demanded the trial be moved, again explaining the magnitude of his influence. Being his brother-in-law for ten years I learned his greatest asset was his checkbook. Once again my attorney assured me it would not be a problem.

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I accepted my attorney’s response because he was considered one of the top three criminal defense attorneys in North Carolina. His high-profile cases sometimes made national news. Because of his reputation, I accepted his answer. As a computer analyst, I was very naive about our justice system, so I had only one choice: to trust this ‘god’ of an attorney. The word ‘god’ accurately reflected his reputation. After that, I stayed out of his way, and we rarely spoke. We knew it would be a while before my case would be called, so I didn’t think much of his not disclosing any evidence. I was not given a copy of the warrant when the SBI came to my home. Even so, I trusted him

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On August 3, 2004, seven months after the SBI began their investigation, I went to Superior Court as required.  As had occurred in the previous months, the Friday before my attorney's assistant called and told me my case would NOT be called.  While sitting in the back of the courtroom, my attorney suddenly approached me and said the DA wanted to call the case that day, but he had avoided it and told me to be at his office at 2 PM that same day.

 

In his office, the first words from Mr. Freedman's mouth were, "The DA will accept nothing less than a guilty plea and you have no other options but to accept the plea.  I FROZE UP TO A BREAKING POINT AND REMAINED THAT WAY FOR WEEKS. My return to the courtroom was set for the next morning. I was in a stupor and had no idea what was going on. The only thing I could think, HAVING NOT BEEN SHOWN ANY EVIDENCE, was, "Well, my ex-wife and her brother pulled this off and my attorney COULD NOT OVERCOME their influence. Hopefully, he will now appeal and move the case." Was I ever wrong? My attorney quoted me $50,000 to appeal and I assumed that was the end.

 

Within five hours I went from "your case will not be called" to "they will accept nothing less than guilty and you have no other options."  SEE DEFINITION OF "RAILROADING ABOVE" 

 

And I also had no clue of what options might be available. This is a technique used for centuries in a courtroom. It is called railroading a person.

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In five hours I went from calm and confident because I had not committed any crime to being in a stupor, unable to think, and to the point that all you want to do is cuddle up in your bed.

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It was not a surprise afterward that I learned that in 18% of all overturned convictions the defendant entered an unwarranted guilty plea. People have breaking points where they feel they are completely out of control of a situation, especially when authority is involved. When such an unexpected bomb is dropped on them they essentially do not realize what is happening. That is exactly what happened here and why the guilty plea was made.

 

It was a classic case of railroading executed on a defendant they knew was very naive in matters of the law.

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