(Edit 1:39 PM: Larry Bloom the security director for the CCC e-mailed me and provided a valid explanation of why the charge was handled this way. I’ll post more about it later but it’s lengthy and I have work I have to do right now. Suffice to say, there is a good explanation for what happened with St. Jude Guy, and the prosecutor in that court division is on our side.)
Update on St. Jude Bum’s trip to jail: He went to court yesterday on both his original charge of “throw missile/begging/gaming prohib” and the contempt of court charge he faced for not showing up to court to answer the first charge.
The outcome? Both charges were labeled “nolle prosequi.” That’s legal-talk for “the prosecutor decided not to pursue charges.” So after all the work Handling-Panhandling, the Downtown Safety Patrol, and the Memphis Police Department did to get this guy off the streets, he was let off scot-free because a prosecutor was too lazy to do his damn job.
It was General Sessions Court, Division 14 where St. Jude Bum had to appear. That’s Judge Larry Potter’s court, but I tend to believe the fault lies with the prosecutor, not the judge, as Judge Potter has worked with the CCC on initiatives to curb panhandling in the past.
Keep in mind that St. Jude Bum is not a poor, innocent homeless man, but rather a criminal who has felonies on his record including thefts, assaults, and drug charges, in addition to numerous panhandling and disorderly conduct charges. And now he’s back on the streets of Downtown Memphis to cause more trouble. Just great.
For those who haven’t been following along, he’s nicknamed “St. Jude Bum” because he tells people he’s collecting donations for St. Jude when he panhandles them. Believe me, the money he gets does NOT go to St. Jude, unless St. Jude operates a liquor store I don’t know about.
If anyone knows the phone number of the appropriate person in the District Attorney’s office to call and complain, please send it to me (paul@paulryburn.com) and I’ll post it. E-mail contact would be nice too. I would love for the DA to get about 100 complaints about this.