A Jailed Dad Still Learning the Hard Way

The call came from jail. It was Hank again, explaining how he’d been screwed by the system. How often, he asks, does a guy get a year for forgetting to buckle his child’s seat belt?

“Child endangerment” wasn’t the only charge, but it was the heaviest. “Hit-and-run driving” sounds serious, but this was a technical matter. You see, on that June day when Hank rammed his ’77 Chevy Caprice into the other guy’s rear bumper, the parties dutifully exchanged the usual information, with one exception: Hank showed the other guy a bogus driver’s license. Hank, 43, is quick to point out the only inaccuracy on this I.D. is the first name. It says Mark, which is the name of Hank’s 6-year-old son, the boy who was hurt in the accident.

The impact propelled Mark face first into either the windshield (the D.A.’s version) or the dashboard (Hank’s). Fortunately, his injuries were limited to the premature loss of two baby teeth and minor cuts to his mouth. All told, it could have been much worse.

Still, Hank is serving time more commonly reserved for thugs and thieves, and it raises obvious questions. Can the criminal justice system make people better parents? By punishing their dad, are courts also punishing Mark and his 12-year-old sister, Anna? Hank may be far from a perfect dad, but he has had legal custody the past year. Now the kids are with their imperfect mom, Julie. She’s done jail time too--for drunk driving with Anna and Mark in the car.

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Full disclosure: Hank is an acquaintance--a softball teammate. Built like a beer keg, he swings a mean bat but isn’t too swift on the base paths. I should also point out that pseudonyms are being used here, in deference to Julie’s wishes.

Hank and Julie have been together, on and off, for 15 rocky years. Both kids were born before the parents married, and Julie’s drinking was a factor in their divorce last year. Julie is blunt about her problem, but the last time we talked, she assured me she’s sober now: “I’m being the good mom for a change.”

Hank is one of those guys who tries to cover up his mistakes by making two or three more. Oh, what a tangled web he weaves. In Hank’s world, a phony driver’s license is the kind of little white lie that demonstrates fatherly devotion.

How he conned the DMV is easy to explain: Hank simply took Mark’s birth certificate and folded it repeatedly to make it look old. Then he removed the corner that showed the date of birth. The clerk let it slide.

Why Hank got the license is a more convoluted tale.

First of all, Hank is a handyman who hasn’t had steady work in years. To save money, he didn’t pay for auto insurance. An earlier accident resulted in his license being suspended. Hank says he obtained the fake license not so much to drive, but to establish a new line of credit. He needed credit to rent a new place for him and the kids. And why did he need a new home? Because in March, a fire destroyed their apartment and all their belongings. It’s been a rough year--and, in case you’re wondering, nobody’s been arrested for arson.

Dwight Corum was the deputy public defender who was assigned the case concerning the accident that injured Mark. Hank, he says, proved to be his own worst enemy. “If I live to be 150,” Corum says, “I will never forget this case. I wanted to grab him by the lapels and shake him. He just wouldn’t listen.”

Amazingly, Hank could have settled matters by paying a $100 fine plus penalty assessments. Overloaded with serious offenders, authorities regarded Hank’s sins as a minor matter. Hank ignored Corum’s advice, figuring that at worst he might do a few days in jail. He told me he couldn’t afford the money.

In trial court, a new prosecutor reviewed the police report and added the child endangerment and hit-and-run charges. To Corum’s dismay, Hank turned down a plea bargain of 60 days--or about 30 with time off for good behavior.

Maybe Hank thought he could con the court, because he told Judge Gregg Marcus the driver’s license wasn’t a fraud; he borrowed his brother’s legitimate license. Only when the judge suggested he’d like to meet Hank’s brother did Hank admit the truth.

The judge also noted that, in addition to everything else, Hank was on probation for vandalism when he obtained the bogus license. (Hank, in a dispute over a parking space with his landlord, broke a gate at the apartment complex.) In the end, it was the judge, not the prosecutor, who decided that a guilty plea would earn Hank a year’s sentence, versus a potential three-year sentence if convicted on all counts. Finally, Hank accepted.

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A couple of days ago, Corum asked Judge Marcus to grant Hank a hardship release because Julie is drinking again. The judge refused.

My sincere hope is that this was just another of Hank’s deceptions. On Wednesday, I called Julie to ask her directly if she was still sober. I called four times, but nobody answered.