Latest / Ask the Lawyer / 08/10/2023 Ask the Lawyer with Harvey Peyton

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08/10/2023 Ask the Lawyer with Harvey Peyton · Ask the Lawyer

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one O five eight CHS. The Voice of Charleston. Good Thursday morning to
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you. Jeff Jenkins with Tom Peyton and the Peyton Law Firm in Nitro.
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It's a Thursday and the Peyton Law Firm is here on five eighty w c
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HS and give us a call. Lines are open three or four, three
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four five fifty eight fifty eighty questions about the law, Tom can answer them
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three or four, three four or five fifty eight fifty eight. Rainy Thursday
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morning, but you're in here, nice, glad to be here. No
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traffic. Actually yeah, I started to rain about institute them my way in
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from hurricane, and I thought, well, here comes the rain, here
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comes the crash, but slid through. So it's a good start to the
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day. Yeah, good start to be Glad to be here again. Maybe
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we'll get some calls today. I got kind of got skunked last week after
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you were about how Dad got five calls the week before. He probably paid
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them to call in his friends. This is Bob, Hey, Bob,
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how you Yeah, it's in the numbers. Answering the question, yes,
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exactly exactly three four three four five fifty eight fifty eight three or four three
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four five fifty eight fifty A couple of developments I wanted to ask Tom about.
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First, we talked last week about the prosecutor and Puttnham County. So
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the Putnam County Commission step forward and appointed Chris Reign's, a long time assistant
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prosecutor there. Yeah. I think I think she well she had actually I
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didn't know it, but she filed pre candidacy papers to run for it.
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And I think, you know, having practiced done her a good bit.
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We kind of knew she would be probably the one assistant that would desire the
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job, so I kind of thought it was a foregone conclusion. The same
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political party. So and then they appointed Tom Kirk temporarily. But prosecutors,
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you have to have a prosecutor, not just assistants running it. So you
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have to have a prosecutor all the time like the prosecutors. So, you
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know, I think they just I think there's one other candidate they didn't interview
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with and then ended up selecting her at the county commission meeting this week too.
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Yeah, so it will probably be more of the same. In Putnam
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County. I would say she's been practicing there as an assistant prosecuting attorney for
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oh gosh, I don't know how long. As long as I can remember
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now, I'll probably fifteen years, more than a dozen years. Yeah,
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yeah, yeah, I think so. I mean when I first started practicing,
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she wasn't there, but in which is oz one and then uh,
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it was within a few years that she was there, and uh, Putnham
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County native grew up in Buffalo, so it seems like a good fit and
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she made an interesting comment. I wanted to get your reaction as a defense
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attorney. Yes, you're gonna say that. Yeah, No, I didn't,
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you did not. Yeah, I saw that, So I found that
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interesting too. I don't, I don't explain, get get some background.
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Yeah, so what you know, she had a little interview with the meat
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or something. One of the things that we hear from defendants, we mean
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the pros Year's office or hear them you call Putnham County the oh county because
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the implication is a defendant. Criminal defendants view it as harsher than other counties
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if you get caught committing a crime, and it may be I say,
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I would say it all depends on what you know the circumstance, But certainly
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I would say, having practiced criminal defense law for twenty some years now,
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that cases tend to get a little more tension in Putnham County because they're not
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as busy. I mean, it's you know, like Knall County. I
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don't know how many criminal charges they have fouled a master court, but I
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will assure you it's it's probably it might be ten times as many in Putnam.
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So it's it's not a to me, it's not really a dug on
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Canall County for example, where or Cable County. But it's just different.
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And so, you know, I think the prosecutor's office is pretty well funded
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Putnam County. Every assistant prosecuting attorney as far as I know, has been
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there for probably ten years or more. So they haven't had any turnover,
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I mean, the same maybe somebody. Yeah, I think that's pretty pretty
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accurate. And so that, you know, you get consistency and you get
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which I like as a defense attorney because you kind of know what you're getting.
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You don't get regime turnovers or even you just deal with the same folks
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all the time, so which makes the job at easier. But yeah,
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I would say, I don't know. You know, if you go and
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look at you know, the same type crimes charged in Kanal or Cabal or
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any other county, is is Puttingham getting more convictions having longer sentences? Probably
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so probably, So I don't think it's anything more than than you know,
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Puttnham probably has more resources in relation to the amount of crimes that are charged
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in in the county. So that's what I guess her theory is, it's
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an OK county so the more criminal defends you can get that think that,
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oh, let's not commit this crime and puttnam, then that helps deter crime.
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I'm not sure that's a little too simple, simplistic, and in my
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opinion, because I think ninety five percent of the crimes committed, there is
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no thought process like that with I mean break ins. The ones I've had,
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you know, burglaries, robberies, ninety eight percent of them that I've
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had her all related to drug issues. I mean, they're not there's not
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a whole lot of I think I've had one person that might have been a
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professional, you know, trying to actually make money off stealing with a complicated
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scheme, but most of them are just people that have drug problems that they're
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pulling on doors at night to cars see it. They break a window,
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check doors, garage, doors go in. They're not criminal masterminds. They're
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almost always addicted to something and trying to secure some minimal amount of funds to
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feed their drug habit. And so, as a as a criminal defense attorney,
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I read that and you kind of hear that around anyway, so it
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didn't really change any But she wants to keep the oh County label I guess,
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so hopefully that means she's just gonna be consistent with what's happened in the
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past, because it's your duty is a everything as a prosecuting attorney. Sometimes
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you get younger prosecutors and their assistance that are I think a little too aggressive
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sometimes, but you have it. You know, it's not it's an adversarial
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system between the prosecutor and the criminal defendant. But you have a heightened duty
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as a prosecutor to seek justice and not seek convictions at all costs, and
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so you have a lot of discretion, and so I think that has to
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be other than just being saying we're going to be scorched earth with every criminal
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charge that comes in. You should be looking at the case in an individual
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basis and figure out what what's justice here? What do we need to do
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to protect society to maybe not ruin this person's life who might have made a
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mistake. And so you've got a lot of factors when you're a prosecutor.
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And we'll see how that bears out with I mean, Marks Orsell was the
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prosecutor there for so long, and frankly hadn't seen Mark in a courtroom defending
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a criminal case that I was involved in for probably eight to ten years.
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But he's set in policy and from the highest level trickles down and so we'll
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see if any of that policy changes. I don't think it will, but
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time will tell so and I'm not sure when. So she'll have to run
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for election. Yeah, the round for next year, so twenty four,
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I guess this, So this appointment goes through the next year. Yeah,
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so we'll see if anybody runs against Miss Rains and go from there. It's
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it's a little it'll be a little different for her, I think, being
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the prosecutor versus an assistant prosecutor because people will come to her. I mean,
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she's the ultimate decided on policy and handle it how you handle certain issues.
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And so we'll see how that plays out. But she should know how
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to do it because she's been doing that and that only for she's also the
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Uh, she probably have to give this up now, she's the she's been
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the municipal prosecutor for city of Nitro for as long as I can remember now,
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probably ten years. Yeah, So even though their full time assistant prosecuting
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attorneys for Putnam County. You know, musicipalities if they have a criminal court
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and foul charges. They have to have their own their own prosecuting attorney for
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the city, or can be the city attorney. And so she's been in
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that role now for probably a decade or more. So I guess we'll probably
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get I don't think you can be the the prosecutor for a county and then
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also be the prosecutor for a municipality. Might be able to, I don't
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think so. So we may see Miss Rains, or it may not see
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Miss Rains as the municipal prosecutor any longer. Give us a call. Three
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or four three four five fifty eight fifty eight lines are open questions to Tom
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about the law. Three oh four three four five fifty fifty eight wanted.
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And it's another little local thing in the news. Is this gentleman who's charged
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in connection with the disappearance of the dog? Yeah, and then he was
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he was indicted and then didn't show up for his So I I saw the
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headlines on that, and I and I saw there's a maybe an advocacy group
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on behalf of the dog. It was a police canine dog for the law
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enforcement right for Chapmanville Police. Yeah, And I don't they haven't found the
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dog. And right, I saw reading this morning in the in the news
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feed. It's charged with three crimes, but I didn't see the details of
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how they got to those particular crimes. And because he wasn't charged, so
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he was a direct indictment, right, So they didn't come and arrest him
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with a arrest weren't from a magistrate, which you do a lot of times
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when you see a crime committed or you just want to get somebody in custody
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and have them on bonds, they don't run off. Instead, they presented
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the events directly to a grand jury, which found probable cause. And as
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we talked about four grand juries or one sided, it's only the prosecutor in
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there with the prosecutors selected witnesses, and it's only a very The green jury
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just has to find probable calls that a crime has been committed. So they
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indicted him. When I think three different charges, I don't recall what they
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are right now, false false report, false share, you know, just
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like false. Yeah, I don't know what. So I guess they're saying
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he made something to cover what really happened with the dog. I mean,
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I guess that's the theory. But see, we don't when they followed charge
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and master court, the law enforcement has to fill out an alphidavit in essence
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detailing the criminal complaint, detailing some of the facts, at least as the
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officer is portraying them. So you can read that and see what's going Because
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it went through the grand jury, all we have is an indictment to look
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at, which, as you know, is pretty bare bones. It basically
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says a few especially on the animal cruelty charge. It just says there an
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animal cruelty charge here, but it just gives the range of when it allegedly
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took place, but no specifics on what happens. Yeah, and we'll see,
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you know, the indictment just has to give enough information to include all
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the elements of the crime and give the defendant notice of what charge. But
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but there's some cases out there that you do have to have certain details in
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particular type of charges. Now, if they don't and it's legally invalid,
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they can reindict. It's not something where he just goes away. But so
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because they didn't arrest him, you know, get a warrant and master court
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go arrest him back maybe when they had obviously they had have it. It's
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before the grand jury, because they presented it to the grand injury, so
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they could have gone maybe I don't know how long ago was this happen,
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but maybe a few weeks ago and just arrested him if they knew where he
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was with a warrant from the matorship. But they decided not to do that,
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so they direct indicted him. So he's not on bond. So you
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know, he had a defense attorney appointed to him, because I saw that
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in the news feed. But otherwise, when you get indicted, you you
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get you might get mail to copy the indictment or something, or it's it's
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certainly published, but you know, folks won't read a lot of folks that
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are indicted don't read the news that well and don't look at the list of
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indictments. And now that everybody's you know, getting the newspaper or news electronically,
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sometimes it's hard to even find the list of indictments if you go to
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the Western Gazette. So he technically wasn't on bond, so he he didn't
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show up for his arraignment, but that wasn't a violation of any bond conditions.
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But he was supposed to been there anyway, so there's no bond before
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foot. So then what Judge Bloom said was but he knew about it because
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his lawyer said he was in Kentucky and couldn't get transport back. I think
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just Bloom made a comment, well, that's not a very good shallow excuse.
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Yeah, it's not a good excuse if you knew about it, because
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Kentucky. It's not like Kentucky's at California or something. So anyway, he
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gave him. I heard the report said the Judge Bloom issued a apeist,
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but probably was a capist issued but held in abeyance for him to So this
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gave this fellow maybe till eleven o'clock. Yeah, and if he doesn't appear,
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then it's just then the then the apeists, which is an essence a
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warrant is then officially issued, and then he'll be entered in the system and
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then they can pick him up if they want to in Kentucky. And then
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I got got through an extradition process and get him back here. So he'll
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probably it's inevitable that he's going to be apprehended, I think, And and
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so he'll he'll probably come in down and post bond. Yeah, and so
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they'll probably let him out on bond because I think they're all they're all misdemeanor
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charges. There might be a felony animal cruelty. So I'll see how it
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goes. But almost all criminal defendants, when they run off, eventually get
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I had one that was never I had a I had a case. This
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was back going back to the Jack Whittaker Powerball winter days. I had a
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case one time where allegedly my client had been at Marty gros Cassino and then
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was sitting next to a couple ladies that were playing and followed them back.
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Jack Whittaker had a home down in Pliny, West Virginia. If you know
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where that that's down towards uh It's like past Windfield on this side of the
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river. And when these ladies were in that house, Jack Whittaker wasn't there
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at the time, but they had guess permission to go in there. My
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client allegedly went in with a had a pistol and held him up and allegedly
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knew that they were making they had some money. Yeah. The allegation was
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he'd kind of stalked him. He was gambling at the dog track, and
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anyway, they when he left the place, they called nine on one and
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police found him in the woods and he didn't have the pistol, but they
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found it later and it connected to him. And my guy's wife was here
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too, and he was from Florida. He'd had a history of burglaries.
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That was one of the ones things that he may have been one of those
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that actually wasn't addicted to drugs and just decided to assault some you know,
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rob somebody for his next fix. But we worked that case for a year
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and actually had multiple criminal defendants that were tied in with with the Jack Whittaker
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was, yeah, that it was probably write a book on that. Yeah,
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there was a lot going on in a very short period of time.
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Yeah. So then anyway, we're waiting. Actually it was Larry Frye was
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assistant prosecuting Attorney and Putnam County at the time. He's now working as the
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lawyer for the County Commission. But we worked out a plea deal. I
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thought was I'd got it down to one count and but my guide posted bond.
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He had posted three hundred thousand dollars in cash bond and went back to
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Florida. So we're waiting there for him to show up for our plea hearing.
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He supposed it was driving overnight to get here. Never showed up.
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That was probably two thousand five, two thousand six. Yea, never found,
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never found, still out there. Yeah, as far as I know,
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I mean, I was never called saying they apprehended him. You know,
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so who pockets the money there? On the well, that one was
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complicated because what happened was and you've heard some of it. So in that
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case, a bail bondsman posted the bond for him. That's where you Most
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counties allowed up. There was a controversy in Canal. I don't know if
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they allowed bail bondsman or not. So if you are arrested or a feeling
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number is and you can't afford to post your bond, at least in Putnam
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County, you can pay bail bondsman to post in essence, post the bond
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for you. You paid them ten percent, but you don't get that ten
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percent back. It's not like it's not reulated like insurance. Like insurance,
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if you pay a premium, but ultimately you cancel before the policy piers.
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Ever, you get some of your premium back here, you pay that ten
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percent, it's gone. It's it's a payment to the So you paid him
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thirty thousand dollars, right paid the bail bondsman thirty thousand dollars. The bail
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bondsman was hesitant to post the bond for him because he had a little bit
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of history, and he was from Florida, and it was a large amount.
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Obviously, if the bail bondsman has to pay twenty grand, big deal.
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If they got to pay three hundred grand, different story. It may
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have even been higher than three hundred grand. What had happened was the bail
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bondsman had wanted security, so if they would get paid, if they had
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to pay it, and so property or something, yes, and some folks
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in Florida apparently posted their property, pledged their property. And so when when
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my client didn't show up, and of course the prosecutors moving to four foot
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bond, I'm getting calls from folks in Florida, like, Hey, what's
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going on here? I posted my property for this charge, and like,
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I don't know. I didn't have anything to do. I mean, I
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didn't arrange that and have anything to do with it. So because the bail
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bonds was down there, and Florida Dog and those people like you got to
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pay collecting the money or we're gonna you know. I guess they put some
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kind of lean, voluntary lean on their property to secure the debt. And
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I don't know what happened with that. If somebody came up and paying the
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bail bondsman, it's not eat. You know, just because you missed a
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hearing or something doesn't mean you forfeit your bond. It's a whole other process.
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But he never I don't know if the state ended up getting the money
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and what happened with those folks down there. So it was it was just
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a wild series of events. But yeah, he was from Florida and his
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wife was still around. I guess down there they never apprehended him. There's
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been some eighteen years. He got on the most wanted list, and I
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think they might have had some hits on him. Maybe he was doing some
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activity here. I mean, you could he still he was still married and
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you know, and so they got survey his wife, I guess at the
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house, and I'm sure the I think some of the ooks that posted property
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were not even like family members. They were acquaintances or friends that have been
20:03
talked into doing it, So I would say they were out there. It's
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like dog the bounty hunter. Yeah, we got to get this guy,
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or else we had to you know, lose our property or something like that.
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That's simplifying it, but yeah, just another fallout from them. The
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unfortunate case of Jack Whittaker, the powerball winner. I mean the other ones
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I had with that involved him, were you know petty you know, thefts
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and other robberies. Trying to think, yeah, breaking into his car where
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he just has you know, one hundred of thousands of dollars in cash sitting
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there. You know, I'd be like in a neighborhood and Taste Valley having
20:40
a briefcase with four hundred thousand dollars in cash sitting in it. Well,
20:44
yeah, that's gonna happen. And then there's ultimately I was involved in the
20:48
case where I had to follow all sit against him because you know, the
20:51
kids were doing drugs and when of them died in his home. Remember that
20:56
I represented that family and we actually much to trial, but settle it during
21:00
the jury trial. So wow, okay, number to call. Tom's here.
21:03
Tom Payton at the Payton Law Firm in Nitro, and the lines are
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opening. Questions about the law. Tom can give you the answers. It's
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eight forty one and our numbers three or four three four five fifty eight fifty
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eight. Three oh four three four five fifty fifty eight lines are open and
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give us a call three oh four, three four five fifty eight fifty eight
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Put the power Up Payton on your side, The power up Paton eight forty
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four on five eighths, the voice of Charleston. Good Thursday morning to you.
23:26
Jeff Jenkins with Tom Peyton at the Peyton Law Firm in Nitro. Three
23:30
oh four three four five fifty eight fifty eight three oh four three four five
23:34
fifty fifty wrapped up special session three days and a couple of things Tom that
23:42
that impact the law. One thing we need to so I'll posted on our
23:45
Facebook group just kind of let people know. So, you know, kind
23:49
of the fallout of the constitutional amendment where there was an attempt to allow the
23:53
legislature to do away with some personal property tax and maybe you bus this personal
24:00
property tax, you know, that referendum failed and so then they went back
24:04
and despite the fact seemed like the governor and the legslature really budding heads,
24:08
they actually came together last session. And so you in essence, in the
24:15
future, if you pay your personal property tax timely, you'll get, as
24:21
I understand, one hundred percent rebate dollar for dollars via the tax return and
24:26
state income tax return. Right. So then it was set up in a
24:30
way, in an unusual way. So the language of the initial law said
24:36
something to the effect of it it's for income tax years beginning January one,
24:41
twenty twenty four. So if you won't get your rebate probably until you file
24:47
your tax return in what's if you do it timely spring up twenty twenty five,
24:53
but they need to be paid timely. So the way personal property tax
24:57
works like just like real property, you it's it's in it's split in half
25:03
by the assessor. So the first half is do September one for twenty twenty
25:11
three, and it's not delinquent or late unless you pay it after. You
25:18
get a month basically to pay if you pay it after October one, and
25:22
then the first half is no longer quote timely, but you get a discount
25:29
if you pay before September one, and you can pay the whole thing early
25:33
and get a discount. And so what everyone was being told, Well,
25:38
the second half aren't technically do to be paid until March first, twenty twenty
25:45
four. That's just how it works, even though it's twenty twenty three personal
25:48
property tax based on assessments from prior years. So everyone was being told,
25:53
because the way this works, don't pay your second half of your personal property
25:57
tax until after Nary one, twenty twenty four, because it's got to be
26:03
paid after January one two twenty four for you to get that full tax credit
26:10
rebate, and you've got to make sure you pay it by April one,
26:15
second half. So that's all well and good, but of course that hurts
26:21
the counties because a lot of people pay well. First of all, it
26:23
hurts the citizens in a way because they're not going to get that discount,
26:26
although it's not a major discount really, it's a pretty small percentage. But
26:33
but the counties then weren't going to you know, everybody's being encouraged to hold
26:36
off pay in their second half of the first year, so the counties are
26:37
going to lose that fund, those funds for what six months or so.
26:44
So then they went back in special session to quote fix it, and they
26:47
did pass a bill. Of course, I hadn't been signed by the governor.
26:51
I think it probably will that that changed that. So now it's real
26:56
convoluted language in the in the bill they past. I don't know they could
27:00
have done it in a sentence and made it a lot simpler in my mind,
27:03
but what it. We know what they were trying to do, and
27:06
I think they probably did it effectively because nobody's gonna challenge it anyway, even
27:10
though it's convoluted. So now you can pay what is do March one,
27:17
twenty twenty four, but you can if you pay that one in twenty twenty
27:21
three, you can still get a credit for that now, so you don't
27:23
need to worry about all this. I mean, it was a lot a
27:26
lot of media and information about there about don't pay your second half until January
27:32
one, twenty twenty four. Now that's assuming the governor signs this or it
27:34
goes into law. Otherwise then you can go ahead. And a lot of
27:38
folks like to get in there and just pay them when they get their taxes
27:41
and yeah, yeah, and so now you can do that because you need
27:44
that to get your vehicle registration. You need it paid. Yeah. Well,
27:51
I think people have got to be careful about is it it. I
27:53
know I saw some county assessors saying, well, you also have to fill
27:57
out the form or you don't get the rebate. Because usually you're supposed to
28:02
get made a little form where you're supposed to list all your personal property on
28:04
there and you their approximate values in the back in Sometimes they don't send a
28:07
form. Sometimes you don't get it. A lot of times people don't return
28:11
it, but that's not in the statute as I understand it, so that's
28:15
not technically a requirement for the rebate. But timely paid is. So that's
28:21
important because a lot of people overlook there their personal property tax and they wait
28:26
and pay it when they have to, which is when you need the receipt
28:30
to go get your registration, and so by that time it's usually not timely.
28:37
You see a lot of people doing both of those at the same time
28:38
at the serf tax offing, right, Yeah, you can do them both
28:41
there, but every you know, everybody needs to. You need to take
28:45
affirmative action and go to the court house, to the assessor's office and make
28:48
sure they've got your vehicles listed, and then make sure you're paying timely,
28:55
which is you know in the future, will be after January one, it'll
29:00
be you know, you got to pay the first half by the October one,
29:03
and you got to pay the second half by April one, and then
29:06
you get one hundred percent. But if you pay, but the effect of
29:08
the law when he signs it will become law is if you pay the full
29:14
thing before October first, you'll be able to get the dollar for dollar credit.
29:15
When you file your taxes in early twenty twenty five. If you pay
29:18
your second half of the tax ticket you probably just got before the first year,
29:30
you'll still get credit for it. So if you're one of those folks
29:33
that goes down just pays the whole thing early and gets a discount on all
29:34
of it, then keep doing that, no problem. You don't need to
29:38
modify that. And then a lot of people do it just to get it
29:41
over with, and then you do get it. Discounts pretty small, and
29:45
what the percentage is, it's usually not real significant. But it's just some
29:51
people like to pay, you know, when they get their bill and just
29:52
pay it. That's right. So now they can do that, not worry
29:56
about all this other complicated stuff about holding off on the second half and remember
29:59
into yet. But I think the biggest thing people have to it says timely
30:03
over and ever again in the statute. And I would wager that fifty percent
30:08
of the population that has personal property tax doesn't pay it timely. I mean,
30:15
I've had issues where I didn't get the personal property tax for whatever reason,
30:19
sent to me the tax ticket and we don't pay it, you know,
30:22
and just pay it whenever. Oh well, okay, or some people
30:25
might pay it. I'll just bring up in December if if they're itemizing on
30:29
their taxes to get credit, because that's when that's on the federal tax return.
30:33
That's an ite of mice. I think it still is. Yeah,
30:36
if you're itemizing still, then if you're still doing that's right, try and
30:40
get it. I'm gonna get it on this year's yeah, yeah, yeah,
30:44
the tax turn for this year. So yeah, it's uh so that's
30:47
interesting. It's been correct I guess it would be quite corrected. You think
30:51
they would foresee something like that. But you know, when you you know,
30:55
wave all constitutional requirements of reading bills and send them to committee, then
30:59
you get stuff like this. Let's go to the line. Jerry is on
31:03
the time, Peyton, Jerry, thanks for calling. Go ahead. Hey,
31:04
good morning you country. You guys are talking about something near and dear
31:10
to my heart, because, like many people, I've heard different variations of
31:15
this tax story, and nobody seems to know how it's going to work.
31:21
And you've explained it fairly well. Now, in my case, I pay
31:26
my full property taxes and personal property taxes usually within a week of being allowed
31:33
to do so, and so I've already paid for this year. Now,
31:40
how is that going to affect someone like me? When do I get a
31:45
rebate? And do I have to fill out any forms to get a rebate?
31:51
Well, you're going to have to. I don't know, because I
31:52
haven't gone to practice. Now what we were talking about earlier, it doesn't
31:56
apply until two twenty four tax year, and so that would be same as
32:04
the calendar year twenty twenty four. I think maybe some corporate income. But
32:08
yet, so when you file your tax your state tax return in two thousand,
32:15
if you file it timely, you know, let's say April fifteenth or
32:19
nineteenth, whatever it is, twenty twenty five, which is four of the
32:22
twenty twenty four calendar slash tax year, that's when there should be something on
32:30
the tax return that you complete where you can verify that you paid those tax
32:40
personal property taxes timely, and then you're supposed to get a it's a full
32:44
credit rebates, what I call it's not probably not proper from a CPA accounting
32:47
standpoint, but you get like, whether you owe tax or not, I
32:51
think you get this money back one way or another. So I don't know
32:54
how they're some people don't need to file income tax returns. Well, I
32:59
don't need to file a state tax form. I haven't for many years because
33:02
of the kind of work that I did. So how how will I affect?
33:07
There is a way, it's gonna have some kind of form to do
33:10
that. I don't think go to w V was it wvtax dot com or
33:15
whatever. The State Tax Department website is jerry and it has I think it
33:21
has that information on it, but they're probably not up there yet because there's
33:24
I think some of the information is up there are the form. Yeah,
33:27
well I don't know about the form because I would assume you can't fill it
33:30
out right. I mean, I don't think they're going to allow somebody that
33:32
doesn't have to file a state tax return get a rebate earlier than those that
33:37
he sat have to filet So you're still gonna have you got You've got plenty
33:39
of time, and then all those that want to if there's some whether much
33:45
you have to prove that you paid it, you don't have. You know,
33:49
all the tax information is basically available at your fingertips on the internet.
33:53
You can all county property tax google it. You can then go in and
33:58
look up and you can actually see but in are in essence receipts or tax
34:02
dicatus. They showed the date it was paid, and if it's in your
34:07
name, I assume that's all you need. You won't need any receipt beyond
34:09
that. You know you can so you can go print these off instantaneously.
34:15
You know, if you need proof you paid it, it'll actually show first
34:19
half, second half amount. It looks like your tax ticket, but then
34:22
it's gotten read at the bottom, paid in full and it even has the
34:25
date when it was paid in full on the internet and I can see any
34:29
of those. So though, if you do need to prove it, folks
34:34
that are even minimally computer savvy, you don't need to run down the courthouse
34:37
and wait in line to get that documentation. You can you can get it
34:40
off the internet and put it off in your hands. Well, yeah,
34:45
if you keep a receipt and all that, yeah, that's right. But
34:49
a lot of people I think, I don't know if you can pay online
34:52
your personal property tax or not yet, but you know a lot of people
34:54
don't keep receipts for a year and a half or aren't organized. But I
34:59
think if you go to that website, the State Tax depart where I think
35:01
they have an f a Q section frequently ask questions on this whole topic.
35:06
Jerry, and I think that they address that if you don't have to file
35:08
usually state taxes, how do you get it back? Okay, that's good
35:12
because both of us that don't file state taxes, we want to know what
35:15
you know our options are, right right? Yeah? Yes, So if
35:19
they wouldn't have modified the lawge area and you still run down and paid it
35:22
in full, you would have lost the lost the first half, yeah,
35:25
lost the second half, Yeah, lost three easy them by September one.
35:30
I mean, I know people ran out and pay them as soon as they
35:31
get it, folks, some folks do. But you know, as long
35:35
as you pay by September one, I believe you get the same discount as
35:38
if you paid you know, where do you pay August twenty nine versus August
35:43
tenth? I don't think. I don't think that makes any difference. It's
35:45
just as long as you get it paid by that September one deadline, and
35:51
then you get the discount. So right, yeah, you don't. I
35:53
mean it's great if everybody you know has a little fowarder keeps their property tax
35:58
receipts in there. But you don't need to do that, I don't believe,
36:01
because you can go right on the internet. I mean, I assume
36:04
that would be acceptable. If the tax tickets in your name and it shows
36:08
paid, then I assume you'll get credit for it on this rebate program.
36:13
But that was the that was the work around that way, in essence,
36:16
the states bearing the burden versus the county, which is what would have happened.
36:21
County still getting their money, and the state will actually rebate out of
36:23
its general fund right and so the constitutional amendment would have passed in the legislature
36:29
would have taken action on it after that. On its face anyway, it
36:31
was going to eliminate a lot of funding for the counties. Now they were
36:36
getting these verbal promises all will from the legislature will step in and take care
36:40
of it. But of course that would have been with or could have been
36:44
with strings attached or not at all. So I guess this is a good
36:46
way way to do it. I was worried they weren't going because the governor
36:51
referenced this when he was doing his statewide tour against the Constitutional amendment and and
36:55
if you recalled, he really butted heads with some members. Was a legislature
37:00
on this issue because he was They wanted it to pass, he did not,
37:04
and it failed. And then I thought, well, this fall up
37:07
may result in nothing happening. But then they got together and did the rebate
37:12
deals. So it's good. You'll start to pay your personal property taxes on
37:15
your car, but as long as you timely pay them, you will get
37:19
one hundred percent back Income tax filing time twenty twenty five. All right,
37:24
we've got less than a minute here, Peyton Law Firm in Nitro. Yeah,
37:28
you can get a hold of us there at three oh four seven five
37:30
five five five five six, or you can get our website Peyton Law Firm
37:34
dot com and you can submit inquiries there. It goes right to my computer
37:37
and Dad's computer and we try and get back with you the same day.
37:40
And if you're driving too Nitro, just stop by. Most of uh most
37:45
basic questions or information you need can be answered by the staff if it's just
37:49
logistical things or general And if I'm available or Dad's Availa will be glad to
37:52
come out and chat with you for a few minutes it's great. And as
37:55
your dad says, who's traveling today, we operate at sea. That's right.
38:00
We always kind of proud ourselves on doing that. But you know,
38:06
so if you have general questions like the proper tax issue today or things like
38:09
that, we kind of keep our breast to what's going on so they can
38:12
help you, but but also keep us in mind. If you get something
38:16
a major crisis in your life, which we hope you don't, but you
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get somebody hurt or injured in a car accident or something like that, then
38:22
uh, you know, we do a good job. And I think we
38:24
do a good job too because we're pretty well rounded on our knowledge base.
38:28
So and we talked to a lot of normal people, which helps us,
38:30
I think. And you get in front of jury's all right. ABC News
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