Eight Years

Today was a court date and it was the first time it hadn't been on a Tuesday. Guess what happened? You got it; NOTHING, well sort of NOTHING but I can see some decisions that need to be made on the not so distant horizon. I wrote earlier about how I can possibly save our house to keep some consistency for the family. My attorney proposed the matter to the Judge and the Assistant District Attorney and they all seemed to be in agreement (somewhat). The Assistant District Attorney requested an appraisal (I thought this was supposed to be done prior today's court appointment but I guess this is how the judicial system operates) to be done. I guess he wants to ensure we are not giving the house away which makes sense (I guess). Also, my attorney finally found out from the Assistant District Attorney what type of jail time he is requesting from me which was EIGHT YEARS. My attorney was a little hesitant to tell me but he has an obligation to share this with me and he told me the 8 years but I would only (????) serve 4. My attorney said that there is no way he would accept this offer (which is good) but I guess the Assistant District Attorney has to start somewhere.

I think I wrote about the other embezzlement case my attorney has but I will refresh your memory. A city inspector embezzled $260,000 from the city where he worked due to a gambling problem. The city inspector only had $100,000 in restitution and the (a different one from mine) Assistant District Attorney's first offer was 12 years. I am not sure why his first offer was 12 years and my first offer was 8 years considering my alleged amount is greater but who am I to argue. This case goes to sentencing tomorrow and I am very interested to see what the Judge's (ultimately the Judge decides the sentence not the Assistant District Attorney) final sentence is. This has a direct bearing on my case (I hope?). I will let everyone know tomorrow what this person's final sentence comes out to be.

Obviously it is days like today that are very difficult because the past is thrown back into my face. I have to face up to these consequences because I created them. Yes, it is difficult but I have a tremendous support system behind me and not matter what happens I will get through this very dark time. Also, when my attorney told me about the 8 years it hit very hard even if I have to serve only (ONLY???) 4 years. This is a formative part of my children's lives and I really don't want to miss any of it but I will have to do what is required of me because again I caused this misery. It took me 20 plus years to get this horrible point in my life but I have so many things in my life to be thankful for and I will become a much better person because of this dilemma.

By the way we felt another earthquake today, two in five days and the fifth one since we have been living on the West Coast. This one felt different than the one on Sunday. It was more of a rolling feeling as opposed to the one Sunday which had a violent shaking feeling. The earthquake today was smaller (4.9 on the Richter Scale) than the one on Sunday and the earthquake today was centered around 75 miles northeast from where we live. This was the third earthquake California has had in the past five days. There was a very large (7.0 on the Richter Scale) earthquake in the Pacific Ocean off of Northern California on Tuesday. Maybe those folks in Nevada will have beach front property before the year is out!!!