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[music] The previous testimony is from a head on a plate. There is no guarantee that you will live. Death and dismemberment, a great possibility. No purchase necessary. Void were prohibited. >> Welcome back to facts or frauds. Before we get into court, make sure you like, subscribe, share, and [music] comment. It helps the channel for free and keeps the algorithm emotionally regulated. And now, let's go to Michigan's 28th Circuit [music] Court for sentencing day on a case that started out as a simple traffic stop, then took the scenic route with this sovereign style delay tactics before we arrived in circuit court. Our next file is people of the state of Michigan versus Richard Franklin. This is going to be case number 25-14089- FH. Please man, >> Robert Herself and Mr. Franklin who joins me to my left. Thank you. You may be seated. Also here this morning is Mr. Kevin Stepple. He's the agent for the Michigan Department of Corrections. Uh appearing today on behalf of Mr. Potter is the officer who prepared the CFJ sorry PSI file. See if I had any corrections. All right. I don't see any on this car. >> All right. And Mr. >> uh yes, just a few relatively small ones. Your honor, on CJ 284B, pages 4 and five on two of 25. He mentioned being on bond. I talked to my client. I believe that was occurring at the same time as one of 25. The dates are very similar. He advised me he does not recall being on bond when that occurred. So according to >> Yeah, that that that makes sense. We'll go ahead and change that on bond status there, Mr. Thank you. Your next one, sir. >> Yes, your honor. CFJ 284B, page 13, offense 22 of 25 when visual offender 45th. I'm sure it meant visual offender 4. >> Oh, yeah. >> Just so we got that accurate. >> Yeah, I don't think there's that. >> All right, got that, Mr. Steppleton. CFJ 284B page 13 under entry 22 to 25 the fifth line down. Thank you. >> Anything else Mr. Martell is regard regarding corrections? No your honor allocation. >> Yes your honor. I have reviewed and the recommendations with my client uh he was willing to work with our office social work Mr. Hener who I believe submitted a mitigation report to the court as well. And I do always >> I have that friend. >> Yes, I do always thank Mr. Hener for that. He always does quality work. My client also has moral support in the courtroom. His longtime partner and his daughter are here. They've been very supportive of him throughout the proceedings and I do thank them for doing so. With this type of underlying situation, I would like to add some context for the court. I'm not trying to make any excuses, just some explanations. My client was heading to work. he misunderstood some of the laws. I'll put it that way. My client has clarified with me that he definitely does not consider himself a sovereign citizen or any of the extremes that the court sometimes sees. But there's so much information out there, misinformation just off the street stuff that quote unquote everybody knows that you have the right to get someone's supervisor, then you can travel certain ways that you can't, things of that nature. And unfortunately that pollution, I'll call it a bit of a brain rot society. It's kind of hard to weed out sometimes. Unfortunately, we end up in situations like this. But my client has advised me that he definitely understands the rules now. It was a harsh lesson, but it was one that he definitely will not forget. He's cognizant of the fact that he has had issues on supervision. However, he pointed out to me, and I do believe it accurately reflects on the PSI, that the last time he was actually supervised, he completed that successfully. He wanted me to communicate that to the court. He does take pride in that. He's advised me that his youthful indiscretions probably lasted longer into adulthood than they should have, but he did learn that he needs to obey the rules. And again, he has every intent to obey the rules. He had to learn these rules the hard way, but it's a lesson that I don't doubt he will never need to be taught again. I don't doubt if the court did adopt the recommendation and give him supervision, he would complete successfully. He did have a relatively minor issue on bond in district, but that was resolved. He hasn't had any issues while up in circuit. I really believe he's highly motivated to do well. And just for some compare and contrast, I know this isn't as extreme as some of the other ones the court has recently seen. I'll phrase it that way. Yeah. >> And I ask the court to factor that in. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Carrie. [clears throat] >> Keep mine short and just ask the court to follow the recommendation. Thank you. >> All right. Mr. Franklin, you have the right to make a statement if you choose to do so. There's anything you wish to say today, sir? No, you're not. >> Okay. All right. Well, this is not like our last RO except for the refusal to comply with orders. I don't I understand the defense now know the defendant now knows that what he was doing was wrong and if he chose to believe what other people out there on the internet said well that's on him and I suspect he chose to believe it because he was violating the law it says right here why' you do it only way for me to get to work at the time. No, no, that's that's not a good answer. And also here while the blood alcohol level was low and showed a 02 lab test also showed the present presence of marijuana which means you shouldn't have been driving a car because you didn't have a license and you knew it and you shouldn't have been driving a car cuz you had marijuana in your system. Done. So, you started being a jerk to the officers because you knowingly were violating the law. And when the officers tell you to get out of the vehicle, get out of the vehicle, real simple. You don't own the highway. You don't own any of the roadways unless it's on your own private property. So, you're agreeing to you're going to drive on a roadway, you're going to follow the laws. The officer tells you to get out of the car, you get out of the car. And if you were silly enough to buy into or even believe any of the garbage on the internet, you did that at your own fail choice. But never mind that you should not have been driving a vehicle because you do not have the lawful right. Get somebody else to drive it. What you're telling your family is kids, it's okay to break the law when you choose to do it. I'm sorry, but but I appreciate Mr. Artel. I made a good argument for you. And bringing your family here is great, but here's what I tell you. Do not use this person as an example. He's trying to tell you that it's okay. As long as you've got a good reason, you go out and break that law. I know I know you can't drive a car and you don't legally have the right to do so, go ahead and do it. No. So part of this part of the sentence is is not only punishment deterrence, but it's also a general deterrence to the outside. And I don't know if you know everything about your father's history. It began 30 years ago with lots of crimes as a juvenile with lots of violations of probation and juvenile. um multiple cases all going on at the same time back in 1994, 93, 95, 97. And this still smoking marijuana that hasn't helped you. Alcohol hasn't helped you. You are going to work with marijuana and alcohol in your system. You know, marijuana's been getting in getting you in trouble for a long time. Driving license suspended. Heck, you got your first one back in 2000. 25 years ago, probation was revoked in that file. You had multiple cases on bond, multiple cases where you had probation violations, multiple cases where you've been convicted while picked up while on probation. In fact, most of your criminal offenses have occurred while on probation, while on parole, or while on bond, at least up until 2017. By the way, Mr. Stephan, I think I Yeah, third entry 22 of 25. That would have occurred to me on bond. Anyways, you've got short gaps in time. Even back in 2024, it was just some kind of impeding traffic, but you made it a month there. Just a couple months before you got this case here. So, I don't know what it takes. And then and I appreciate what the social worker does for the public defenders office here. And then it says here that he has turned his life around. Well, there seems to be a time when you you did it when you stopped violating probation and parole, but you still have a longer criminal history than most people. and even most of the defendants who come into court. So, stop breaking the law. Maybe stop drinking. Maybe stop using marijuana because so far it hasn't helped you out. And when the law tells you to do something, it is clear to me you may have misunderstood what somebody on the internet spoke about. Maybe it was somebody who believed in the sovereign citizen stuff which is just not true. But you have violated the law, violated you don't care. At least that's what I see. I don't know what to do here other than to send a message hopefully gets in because so far over the last 30 some 40 years and hasn't gotten in 30 30 years. >> Your honor, I should have mentioned it earlier. I apologize. If the court did do any jail, he uh works Monday through Thursday. He's available if the court was willing to do it on weekends, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I apologize for my mist. >> That's right. Where does he work? >> He works at the Lake City for >> And how is he gonna get there? >> I don't doubt he'll find a legal ride. [snorts] >> He's mentioned family members can help in the yard. >> What days does he work? >> Uh Monday through Thursdays is days of the week he works on. Court places the defendant on a period of probation for 18 months. The court adopts terms and conditions that are listed in CFJ 145 pages 2 and three. I [snorts] find that those terms and conditions are well suited for rehabilitative purposes based upon the person's prior history. In this case, court sentences defended to $250 state minimum fees, a $75 fine victim's right fund fee, a $200 court cost, a $500 fine, a $200 attorney fee, supervision, fees are $30 a month or $60 a month if there's any electronic monitoring. The court for both offenses sentences the defendant to 180 days with 50 days of credit. The court will allow the defendant to do community corrections work release program. He is to report to the jail beginning this Thursday. At what time does he get off of work? He's to report to the Watchford County Jail by 5:00 p.m. on Friday. He'll serve throughout the weekend. Then they'll probably let him out on Mondays. >> Yeah. >> Did you mean Thursday or Friday? I bet. Did I say Friday? >> Yes. >> Thursday. Thank you. I'm sorry I said Friday. It's >> okay. This >> Yeah, I got you. No, thanks for catching it. And you will be released on Community Corrections Tether and you will follow their instructions. What I don't what I've started doing is I no longer say what those instructions are other than they will be set through community corrections which will require that you must provide proof of employment. [clears throat] So over the next couple days you better get a letter from your employer. Right? And so the day you're going to leave here you're going to go down to community corrections. They're going to put you on a tether so you can work until Thursday. and they'll ask for you to provide proof. Hopefully, they'll let you go to work today and have you give the proof tomorrow or some or somehow over the day, but you got to prove it. Lots of people go down there and this is [clears throat] this is an issue that's going to bite the public defenders. I'm no longer going to accept the public defender telling me they've got a job. Right? That's not to pick on you, Mr. Hartell, or any of the council. It just invariably proves that most the time the defendants lying and never has a job. I'm gonna believe you got the job here today. I'm just gonna ask you to provide proof of it. All right. Anything else today, Mr. Steppleton? >> Anything else today, Miss Karen? >> No, thank you. >> And yes, ma'am. >> Do you want to set a release time for Monday morning so he makes it? >> What time do you go to work on Monday? >> I'll be there at 5 a.m. >> Oh, 4. >> Um, all right. All right. I don't need to go over any terms and conditions of uh appeal since this is a misdemeanor file. All right. Thank you very much. Don't violate your conditions of community corrections. Yes, sir. >> All right. Thank you. >> Now, do you think this show was educational? >> Yes. It'll drive people to read books. >> And a quick recap. The judge orders 180 days in jail, 50 days credit for time served, and work release tether approved. So that means Mr. [music] Franklin has to report to jail every Thursday at 5:00 p.m. and be released every Monday [music] at 4:00 a.m. so he can go to work. That's providing proof [music] that he actually does go to work. No proof, no work release. And remember, [music] he arrived at circuit court with an attorney, which is almost certainly why this didn't become 180 days straight. And don't forget your YouTube emotional support system. Facts travel slower than fraud, and only you can help them catch up. So like, subscribe, share, and [music] comment. And a major thank you to our channel members. Your support helps keep this channel focused on the court reality and not the internet fantasy. Thank you. So, Mr. Franklin wasn't sentenced for what he believed. He was sentenced for what he did and for how long he delayed fixing it. Right now, his only freedom exists while he's at work. He's out Monday morning. He doesn't return to jail until Thursday night. That's as long as his job is verified. That's not being sovereign. That's a weekly reminder of consequences. [music] Until next time, I'll see you soon.