Jury Deliberates Michael's Immediate Future

It looks like Mike is going to spend the long weekend sweating, as the jury in his car theft and check fraud case enters its second week of deliberations.

Apparently, the panel is carefully weighing the evidence presented to them by Deputy District Attorney Renee Jones, who has been quoted as saying she expects Mike to be convicted on all counts and be sentenced to up to ten years in prison. Mike did get a bit of a break when the judge reduced four of the infractions to misdemeanors from felonies, but things are not looking good for him.

Amongst the evidence heard, was that the credit application signed by Mike listed his old Fullerton address on Catlin Avenue as his current address. As submitted into evidence, Mike had actually long been evicted from that home, under an Unlawful Detainer action brought by the landlady for non-payment of rent. The deputy DA used this fact to try and show that Mike had every intention to defraud Car Max out of the two cars in question.

Even more damning was the evidence of Mike's history of bad check writing, testified to by other recipients of bad checks. Mike had used bad checks as deposits for the two vehicles acquired from Car Max, further calling into question the honorableness of his intention.

Unbelievably, Mike is still able to collect investments for his newest schemes, courtesy of a network of brokers providing him with eager clients who are mesmerized by his pie-in-the-sky, too-good-to-be-true stories of lavish returns. I still get regular phone calls about his 10X Oscillator Fund.