August 2, 1993 - Plea - Docket

On a nice summer day, July 15, 1993, Tommy Thompson decided to get drunk, get in his car and drive off.

Being drunk, he was pulled over. I can just imagine, sirens were going off and there was Tommy, completely unaware of what was going on. The California Highway Patrol recognized that he had too much to drink and considered him to be a dangerous driver, so they quickly pulled him over.

As a result, he was charged with "Driving Under the Influence."

The case was filed in the Municipal Court of Citrus, in the County of Los Angeles, Case No. 93M10221.

• Here is a copy of the "DUI Advisement of Rights, Waiver, and Plea Form" Tommy filled out.
• Here is a copy of the docket sheet which lists the charges and what happened in the case.

On August 5, 1993, Tommy Thompson came into court, thinking that he would get away with it, he decided to plead "not guilty". In Tommy's next court appearance though, September 1, 1993, things suddenly changed. Perhaps Tommy began to realize after various potential penalties were read to him, that he had made a mistake by telling the court he wasn't guilty.

So on Wednesday, September 1, 1993, Tommy Thompson changed his "not guilty" plea. In fact, on this day, he filled in his plea form, where it is written -- right there in his own handwriting -- GUILTY.

The Judge decided to place Tommy Thompson on probation for three years, under various terms and conditions. This included a bunch of fines, totaling $1,225.00, including monthly payments. The conditions also included that he would have to successfully complete a 3-month licensed first-offender alcohol and other drug education and counseling program. His driving privilege was also restricted for 90 days.

On September 29, 1993, Tommy Thompson was expected by the court to appear at his hearing where he was supposed to pay certain fines, but he did not appear. [You will discover as you continue reading that Tommy Thompson has a habit of violating court rules and safety laws.] Instead, he paid a partial fine and left before his hearing.

Needless to say, the Judge was not impressed. He set a further hearing date for Tommy to appear which was scheduled for October 15, 1993. However, Tommy thought he was above the law, that it didn't apply to him, that it didn't really matter, that is wasn't a big deal! You see, because when October 15th came around, Tommy wasn't there either.

Therefore the Judge simply decided that he didn't have time to play around with yet another criminal. The Judge did what any judge would have done, apply the next gradient for violating court orders. The Judge issued a bench warrant. Now, Tommy could have been smart here and he could have decided to show up to that hearing, he could have done this and he could have even made it, but, like I mentioned earlier, it seems that Tommy doesn't think court orders apply to him. So Tommy did not show up. The Judge therefore issued the bench warrant in the amount of $5,000.00.

The bench warrant hearing was set for November 5, 1993, which of course Tommy also didn't appear for.

It appears that Tommy did eventually go to court to make a partial payment at which point the bench warrant was recalled. Tommy also paid his monthly December $100 fee as well. From December through February, Tommy was appearing at his scheduled court hearings to make his payments. But this didn't last long, because on March 18, 1994, when Tommy was scheduled to go to court and make his next payment, he was not there. And he most likely didn't appear to the next scheduled hearing in April, because the next action recorded on the case docket is a hearing set for July 28, 1994 where the Judge was set to issue a bench warrant against him for his failure to appear.

So, now, let's just take a moment here and look back...drinking and driving, getting caught, failing to appear for court ordered hearings, failing to make timely payments, already one previously issued bench warrant... What should Tommy do next? You would think he would be a little more ethical wouldn't you? But, this is Tommy, remember!

On July 28, 1994, Tommy decided that he didn't have to appear for his scheduled bench warrant hearing. The Judge therefore issued the warrant in the amount of $2,000.00.

Some time went by and a new bench warrant hearing was held on June 7, 1995. This time Tommy made it to the court. The court withdrew the bench warrant but ordered him to pay $100 immediately and $100 for each month.

Tommy paid his monthly fine for a couple of months. Then he couldn't take it anymore. He decided, yet again, that he didn't have to pay the fine and he didn't have to show up to court on his scheduled hearing date of September 7, 1995. So, the Judge called for a yet another bench warrant hearing on October 3, 1995. Now, you would think that Tommy would start getting used to this. But I guess that's Tommy...always ready and willing to break the law. The Judge issued the bench warrant, this time for $25,000 and revoked the probation.

But this didn't change anything much for Tommy, because he didn't appear in the court again until January 24, 1996. However, a mere appearance is important for the Judge and so he withdrew the bench warrant and reinstated the probation and also withdrew the contempt charge, with only slight modifications to the terms and conditions, that is to say, the Judge gave him a suspended 20-day jail sentence and ordered him to pay the remainder of the fine by February 5, 1996. This is definitely more serious!

Sometimes that's what it takes to get a criminally minded person to abide by the law. Fortunately for Tommy, he must have done some deep thinking because a week later he did come up with the money. That ended that situation.

However, it turns out that while the bench warrant was still extant against him in January, Tommy Thompson broke the law again! Tommy Thompson was caught Driving Under the Influence, in another area of Los Angeles! Who could even imagine such stupidity?!

But that's the next case. He managed to withhold his new arrest from the first court as it doesn't appear to have become an issue here. Perhaps that explains why Tommy finally decided that he better pay up and pay up fast!