Cupcake Man's Revocation Hearing

When last we "saw" Cupcake Man he had been arrested Officer Greg and had new felony charges pending against him. This necessitated immediate action on my part.
In the unlikely event that CCM was able to make bail, which was pretty darn high b/c the D.A.'s office stacked the charges against him. IIRC, he was charged with Assault with Serious Bodily Injury {the patron at Mrs. Baird's was transported to the E.R. with facial fractures and was in danger of losing his left eye !!!}; Resisting Arrest; and multiple counts of Assault on a Police Officer.
But, just in case, when a parolee broke his parole by committing new offenses, the officer was required to submit a "Report of Violation" as soon as possible. Given the severity, I called the Regional office and tried to find a Hearing Officer still in the office at 5:45 pm on a Friday afternoon. Yeah, right. That's like trying to find a virgin on Saturday morning after Prom Night!

I wound up talking to one of the Assistant Regional Supervisors. I explained the situation to him and he agreed we needed a "Blue Warrant" post haste. I faxed him a Report of Violation; he faxed me back an Emergency Blue Warrant.
A Blue Warrant is actually a No Bail, Warrant to Revoke Parole. It is a notice to the Parolee that the Board and its representatives, in the persons of their Parole Officer and a Hearing Officer or in this case, an Assistant Regional Supv. have become aware of a parole violation severe enough to cause them to be arrested and held without bail pending a revocation of parole hearing. They were called "Blue Warrants" because they were printed on blue paper. The cops LOVED blue warrants. The P.O.s LOVED blue warrants. The parolees did not love blue warrants.
From the time they were arrested until the time of the hearing and then the time the hearing officer made a decision and then the Board considered the evidence presented at the hearing and the recommendation of both the P.O. and the Hearing Officer could take up to three months. And the burden of proof was a Preponderance of the Credible Evidence. Yeppers, doncha just love that?

So I go on over to the jail Friday night and give the Sheriff's Office a copy of the Blue Warrant so Cupcake Man won't get out on bail, no way, no how. Officer Greg is still there! He's standing at the book-in desk filling out paperwork for the S.O. and muttering.
I sidle up to him and ask, "You in the market for a 'Blue Warrant', Big Guy?"
He hadn't seen me walk up, so he gives me a double take, and then he drops his pen, and picks me up, and spins me around. As he sets me down he grins as asks me, "How in the heck did you get one of these at," and he checks the clock on the wall, " 7 o'clock, on a Friday night?" "Oh, Officer Greg, what's a few begging phone calls to Foat Wuth, and a couple of burning faxes for a good-looking, hard-working cop like you? It was the least I could do." I answered, waving the warrant like a Southern Belle with a fan at the cottilion.
On Monday, I call Ft.Worth, and get a Revocation Hearing scheduled and go up to the jail and notify Cupcake Man of the date of the hearing and why he is facing the revocation of his parole. As if he didn't know this was going to happen. I thought he smelled a little ripe, but I just wrote it off to him not having had a shower over the weekend. His hearing was scheduled for three weeks after the day I notified him.

About two weeks later, I was up at the jail on other business and one of the jailers asked me if I was Cupcake Man's P.O. I admitted that I was. He informed me that they'd had to move CCM to an isolation cell the week before. I asked if he had been "acting up". He said, "Sorta." I asked, "Sorta? What does 'sorta' mean?" The jailer explained," Well, I don't know if ol'Cupcake Man is REALLY crazy, or just getting ready to look that way for his trial. He's stopped showering, and he won't use the john for his, uh, his, uh #2 business."
I put my purse on the counter, put one hand on my hip and peered at him with my best skeptical look, "What do you mean? What is he doing with his...feces?"
"Well, Ma'am, it looks, from the shape and smell, of his cell, that he's...um...decorating with them," he answered. After a long pause, I queried, "You mean he's smearing it on the walls of his cell?" Nodding his head, the jailer replied, "Yes, Ma'am."

Shaking my head in disgust, I say, "I gotta talk to Sgt. So&So about THIS!" And I head off towards the office of the Head of Medical Services for the Jail. I get to his office and the door is open, so I knock and go on in.
"You're here about Cupcake Man, right?" He's a good guesser, huh?
"That is not only disgusting, it's got to be unhealthy, not only for him, but for everybody around him and, and, and," I just start sputtering.
The Sgt. laughs, partly at my sputtering and partly at the whole craziness of the situation. He explains, "We can't put him on any psychotropics against his will, and he won't agree to a psych eval. His Lawyer for the new charges haasn't been to see him yet. His lawyer for the revocation hearing hasn't been to see him, yet either. Even if he is, you should pardon the expression, 'crazy as a shithouse rat', there ain't nothing we can do about it w/o either his cooperation or a court order. The D.A.'s office don't want to hear it, b/c it would give him a free pass to Rusk {the State Hospital for the Criminally Insane} rather than a conviction and another trip to prison. MHMR is out of the question b/c he's a prisoner. Wichita Falls {a State Hospital for Mental Health care}is not an Option b/c he's a criminal. So, the Sheriff and I talked it over. Since he's violent, and it puts our people at risk whenever we have to do an extraction from his cell, we'll only hose it, and him down twice a week. That's the best I can do."
I mull this over, "Actually, when you put it that way, sounds more than reasonable to me. " And I get up and leave.

I go back to the office and report this situation to my Unit Supervisor. She has a little trouble wrapping her mind around this information. She's been with Parole a long time, but she's never heard anything like this. "He's got to be settin' up an insanity defense."
I nod my head, "Got to be. So, should I let the Hearing Officer know, or what?"
"Yeah, draft a memo, address it to the H.O., but copy Region, and Austin," she advises.
"Will do," I assure her.
And off I go to my office. This was back in the days before we had computers. BUT, I could smoke in my office. SO I kick off my shoes, pull out the bottom drawer, prop up my feet, get a legal pad and a pile of sharp pencils and go to work. I'm scribbling and puffing and scratching out and all told it must have taken me two hours and 1/2 a pack of cigarettes to draft this kick-a$$ memo advising the food chain of the bizarre situation in the jail.
There is nothing like working for a State agency, except maybe working for Uncle Sugar, to teach you how to CYA.

On the day of the hearing, the Detention Lt. in charge of assigning rooms in the jail gave us a BIG conference room for the revocation hearing. He also put three big fans in the room, all pointed at one end of the table. The end where Cupcake Man would be sitting.
I got there first and the Lt. explained about the fans. I thanked him profusely. In fact, the next day, I went to the best bakery {not Mrs.Baird's} in town and got him a Pecan Pie and took it up to him.
When the Hearing Officer got there I explained to her that tomorrow was Cupcake Man's hosing off day and he was likely to be a bit "ripe" smelling. I told her that several members of the Detention staff had recommended the use of the fans. She seemed to think it was rude, but I urged her to wait and see how CCM smelled when he came in.
Oh, I almost forgot. The staff had set up three long tables. They had placed three chairs at one end. Those chairs were for the Hearing Officer, me, and any witnesses who would testify. At the other end of the table there were two chairs. One for Cupcake Man and one for his lawyer. Even the one for his lawyer was on the other side of the fans. If the jailers were willing to be that nice to a lawyer, I figured CCM must smell pretty bad.

And was I ever right. His lawyer tried to sit with us, just to get away from him. The Hearing Officer made him go sit closer to his client. The Detention Officers who brought Cupcake Man to the hearing wore masks. He was handcuffed, and the cuffs were attached to one of those waistband things. He was also wearing leg-irons. They seated him in a chair and then put another belt around his waist to make sure he stayed in the chair. They never got more than five feet away from him.

Officer Greg and Officer Dave testified at the hearing. I had to present an affidavit from the fellow who had his cheek broken and his eye damaged{he did get to keep it, but the medical bills were astronomical}. I also presented medical reports I had subpoenaed from the hospital. Mr. Victim had gotten a Fellowship at a Major Eastern University, and couldn't come back to testify. In a case like that, a sworn affidavit is acceptable next best evidence.

Cupcake Man's Parole was revoked by unanimous recommendation of his Parole Officer, the Hearing Officer and the Board Members who voted.
He also got new time on all the charges. His sentence was the maximum allowable at the time, but they were to run concurrent, not consecutively, so unless he got shanked in prison, he out there somewhere even as I type.
Now there's a comforting thought.