Court: Man Selects Prison Time Over $400 Fine
Duane Lindo appeared in Magistrates Court this morning [Aug 13] where he selected to serve 40 days in prison over paying a $400 fine after being found guilty of using a hand-held device.
Mr Lindo, 50, was charged with using a hand-held device on 18th May 2013, with the Court hearing he was wearing headphones while riding a motorcycle. The headphones were connected to an iPod, and Mr Lindo told the Court the iPod was not turned on.
Senior Magistrate Archie Warner convicted him, and fined him $400 or ordered that he serve 40 days in prison in default of payment. Asked if he intended to pay the fine, Mr Lindo replied “No.” Asked if he intended to do the time instead, he replied “Yes”.
As he went into custody, a lawyer hurried across and had a short conversation with him; but Lindo then remained in custody and went through the prisoners door and exited Magistrate’s Court.
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How is 40 days imprisonment a reasonable alternative to a $400 fine? That’s puts his rate of re-payment at $10 a day but it costs us approx $250 a day to incarcerate him.
How does this make sense?
Thats what you call getting your moneys worth… He will receive new shoes, PJ’s, socks, underwear, 3 square meals a day, dental and doctor care, library and gym access. All for $10.00 per day…
I think the overall daily cost is higher the the $250.00 you recommend,the reality is our system is all screwed up in the sense at a time that government is struggling to work with a budget that is not working, I would think something more harsh like hard labor out on the streets with the staff at parks dept or W&E would be more money for buck.
This man going to prison makes the tax payers to foot a bill that far out weighs the fine,economically it don’t add up and frankly the Bermuda govt. can’t afford to waist money this way.
$250 was simply a guesstimate. $90,000 a year divided by 365 days.
It could very well be more based on the actual cost of incarcerating a prisoner these days.
I too support your recommendation Duane and only wished the Govt. and the P.L.P saw it this way also…There are far too many costing the Taxpayers far too much!They should be working off the debt owed not laying up at Westgate / CoEd
Its been like that since I was a teenager in the 80s. I remember the magistrate saying $600 fine or 60 days in jail. You were expected to come prepared and with cash or expect to be taken away. I’m not saying that it is correct and not in need of being updated, but at the same time one could argue that apparently it is still not a deterrent to some.
Have a nice vacation
Hey this guy is a Lindo so I wonder if he gets the presidential suite or is he just trying to get back at his parents.
HIS choice. period.
STUPID…the Magistrate!
I don’t know if he really put this much thought into it, but he is ‘sticking it’ to the MAN!
Really the court should rethink the sentences…40 days or $400? Doesn’t seem right.
But it is his decision…so see you in 40 days
He felt he was right and Government isn’t getting his money! BUT…did he think of his record? Have you ever been incarcerated? Yes! Why? The judge said …! No one wins here.
$10,000 more down the tubes,what happened to community service? Send another youth needlessly to criminal college.And these jokers (judges) wonder why people have no respect for them.
His record wouldn’t matter because he chose to go to jail over the fine. A job application doesn’t ask have you been to jail, it asks have you been convicted of a crime. In this case, a traffic offense wouldn’t count or wouldn’t matter.
Ridiculous! 40 days in prison for riding with an ipod?? Archibald Warner is a JOKE!
10 days for every $100.
$1000 fine = 100 days in prison.
Ridiculous.
That’s actually quite smart of him. He won’t be out of pocket the 400 and will spend the next 40 days at our expense (and his). Which translates to:
250 (based on figure above, not sure if it’s acurrate)/day x40= 10000 approx.
10,000/64700 (approx population of bermuda)=0.15.
0.15×40 (days)= $6 for 40 days.
So it’ll cost him roughly 6 bucks to spend time in prison and allow him to defray cost to the rest of us. For a silly charge, yup makes sense as to why he would choose to go to jail.
Assuming he does not have a job? Lost income to prove a point… Maybe 40 days at MAWI would be more appropriate
You already accounted for the 40 days in your calculation, so actually only costs him/us 15 cents…
no
his cal is correct.
15 cents per day . . . you have to times 15 cent by the number of day he will be locked up
lol wow what school did you go too smh?
you must have been one of those cogs in the wheel in ewarts time
There is something very wrong with this.
No one should spend 40 days in jail for this offence. Let this man out now…….. this is absurd.
He is not jailed for the offense itself, but rather for his refusal to pay the court ordered fine…
But either way 40 days does seem to be a bit of an overstep…
He chose the sentence himself. He could have just paid the fine but he is abviously too stubborn. He said the iPod wasn’t on…. Hahaha such bullsh!t. Who wears headphones for nothing?
Hasn’t Archie let criminals off with suspended sentences and such for actual crimes? This guy was listening to an iPod???
Assinine all around.
Maybe like others have said he wanted to ‘stick it to em’.
People do less time for theft, assaults (minor) et al.
It appears to be a case of ……fill in the blanks.
Maybe he did not have the funds.
He should have been awared ‘time to pay’ like others have had.
Oh well.
Then again we don’t know his status as a worker, employee, commitments.
I need a rum.
This is just stupid.. takes you days to work to pay that off and you choose jail.. Nice choice buddy, your kids and family must be proud. this whole earphone while driving law is just STUPID… people can drive their cars with their tune so loud it vibrates the ground but you can’t ride with it.. Bermuda is getting worse by the day. no wonder people getting off. don’t blame them SMH
The fact that people DO drive theirs cars with ground shaking , window rattling volume levels does not mean it’s legal. It’s uncivilized , anti-social behavior and there IS a noise law that states the level of a car audio system should not be heard more than 30 feet from the car. And even then , that’s too loud.
Ask a Fireman, Policeman or Ambulance driver what it is like when they are trying to get to an emergency and they cant get the attention of someone on a bike or car because their music is too loud. You might be surprised how may people do not hear the siren and see the lights flashing (during the day). You might want to also ask EMTs how many times they have been to an accident caused by someone that did not hear a horn honking because they were blasting music.
Thanks Bow Wow Brown Cow for making the most sense in reference to why one shouldn’t be wearing ear plugs or playing their radio/music so damn loud while riding / driving on the PUBLIC roadways.
Not sure I would have taken a stance like that, but it is a crappy rule. They force you to pay a sizeable amount of money under the expectation that no one will refuse to pay and go to jail instead.
It is really costing taxpayers more money than the $400 we would have received anyways. $400 should be 1-2 days in prison @ most.
The real question is. Can he take his Ipod with him?
LOL
ROFLMAO!!!!
lmao!
What a JOKE! Bermuda looses again….
Three hots and a cot and then you walk with free with $400 still in your pocket-sounds like a good deal to me…maybe this guy is a lot smarter than we all give him credit for.
I remember once sitting in court enjoying the circus that Magistrate’s Court is. There was a guy who was told he’d be getting something like a $2.000 fine or 30 days in jail. While the guy was pondering which option to take, the people in the courtroom were calling out “Take the time!” and then the guy was like “I’ll take the 30 days.” This happened a few times where people would call out what they thought was the best alternative. It was so funny; it was like we were all on a gameshow instead of in a courtroom…and the judge never even reprimanded anyone to keep quiet!
It has been going on for a long long time. Can’t remember the game show name but the crowd would chant “Big bucks, big bucks, big bucks.” Traffic court used to be the same when a long list of prior offences was read out by the prosecution. Funny as h$ll. Even the judge would smirk every so often.
You’re thinking of “Press Your Luck”… Big Bucks, Big Bucks, No Whammies!!!
Can we(Bermudaian tax payers)afford to house this man for 40 days?!
Yes KTB
He gets three beans less and a slice of bread less.
It’s all in the budget.
Welcome to the Westgate Hotel!
I wonder on what grounds was he found guilty? Law clearly states that you should not be listening to said device, it doesn’t say you can’t have it in your ears. So on what grounds did they find him guilty? He said the device was off, did the officer who stopped him check to see if the device was on or off??? Curious……
WE have the brainiacs at Road Safety Council to thank for this and other stupid legislation.
Good question ABM.
Do you think they care? It’s your word against theirs and they are officers of the law and in court under oath so they cannot lie. There is absolutely no way they can abuse that position of authority. Like my boy who got charged for talking on his cell that was in his pocket. The officer stood up in court and said he was on his blackberry phone that he didn’t own. It was an ipod he placed in the storage in the dash so it wouldn’t slide off the seat. BPS, wait until people get tired of getting f@cked.
i think its about time to start a campaign to remove these inept judges and replace them with competent people!!!!
u all for get he going do a third of his time so works out cheaper dam i guess he not working. tell you the true to me u have to be locked up or in drug rehab to get a job so it might even work out good for him in the long run
This is a stupid decision by the magistrate, where on earth is the common or financial sense of this, the “offense” it self was idiotic to say the least, with the amount of (UNSOLVED) real crimes taking pace in Bermuda we see it more and more in Bermuda where the police and courts are unable to deal with real crime to they go over the top trying to keep their numbers up by procecution petty petty “offences” especially focused on Bermudas young people its another case of a Magistrate sticking it to the tax payer
STOP LOCKING PEOPLE UP FOR PETTY THINGS. What is wrong with you, can’t you think of other ways for people to pay for a minor crime!!!!
Ok,lets look at this… he got caught DRIVING, while on a CELL PHONE!!! Magistrate….. option 1) Sell the cell phone, Option 2) sell the car/bike!! There is no reason my tax dollars should flit the bill for this!!!