I’ve been exchanging emails with a couple of folks about this, and I really want to know what YOU think, because I don’t know if I’m missing something here.
First, just the facts, ma’am: Rara has been taken into custody because the DA has decided to go forward with a case against her. Bail is set at $250,000. Her first court date is May 23rd.
A couple more: the fact that she’s been taken into custody does not mean she’s been convicted. It means she’s in custody until she goes to trial unless she can meet bail.
Her first court date is not the same as a trial. She will probably enter a plea. If she pleads innocent, a trial date will be set at that time.
Am I correct so far? I think I am, but maybe not. I certainly do not claim to be an expert. For the sake of argument, though, let’s continue as if I am right:
Rara went to see a lawyer and requested that he help her turn herself in. The lawyer refused, suggesting instead that she try to raise bail (which, IIRC, was $18, 000 at that point). He then offered to represent her for what basically amounted to pro bono for a lawyer of his caliber.
So. There is a high caliber lawyer with whom Rara has already made contact and who believes that her case is strong enough to take on for “what amounts to pro bono”.
Am I crazy to think that someone ought to get in touch with this guy to see what it would take to retain him for Rara’s defense? Am I the only one who thinks that Rara will end up regretting it if she throws the towel in now? Am I the only one who thinks we ought only to have begun to fight?
There are less than 13 days before Rara has her first court date.
THIS AIN’T OVER YET, FOLKS.
If the lawyer agrees to a reasonable fee (and why wouldn’t he?) can Rara’s 8,000+ followers find a way to raise it? It would only take a retainer to begin. If Rara’s followers raise the money for the lawyer, are they going to stop there and forget about Grayson and the kitties? Somehow I don’t think so.
Tell me. What have I missed? Why is this NOT doable? At least talk to the damn lawyer. I know Rara has indicated that she no longer wants to fight, but maybe things are not so dire as she thinks. Maybe, just maybe, what she REALLY needs right now is good, solid legal counsel.
I’m just sayin’.
Fluff and Bunkum 
The next court date is the arraignment still time for her to change her mind about fighting or not.
That said, as much as it hurts, I think we have to respect her wishes for now. 😦 She and Grayson know who they are up against better than we do. It sucks, but we have to wait to see what happens next.
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I’m guessing you know but in case you don’t, she fought for 4 years before she got here. Also the bail I think is $275 000. If she wants to fight then maybe many could help but she may be just done. 😦
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I understand she fought. But you are right: I don’t know what that all entailed.
At this point, I don’t think anyone should be trying to raise bail. I think what people should be concentrating on getting her the best legal counsel we can because she’s out of resources.
The thing my head keeps coming back to, over and over, is the fact that a week or so ago a high-caliber lawyer told her to fight. He believes she can win. And if she had the option to fight–without the financial worry– maybe she would.
But, yes. Maybe I’m wrong.
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Maybe you could email Grayson and ask him what he thinks about the idea?
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I might. I think I’ll wait to hear from DJ, though. Because you’re right; there’s a lot I don’t know. That’s why I was asking. I wanted to understand.
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Hugs. You have such a good heart. 🙂
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I just hate to see her give up completely. I have a feeling she’s got more going for her than she realizes right now. It can be hard to see positives when your worst nightmares seem to be coming true.
Hugs back atcha, babe. You’ve got a good heart yourself. 🙂 ❤
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I totally understand. It’s such a helpless feeling
Aww shucks 😉
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I am as unschooled in law as you, AZ. It does seem positive that a prestigious attorney may have been willing to take on Rara’s case. I think it should also not be forgotten that a bail bonds business would put up the full amount for a 10 percent fee, if what I see on TV and the movies is factual. Add $25,000 to the goal in the campaign. There is the possibility that her cause would spread virally beyond her 8,000 followers, rolling like a snowball down a hill.
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Thanks for the input, Mark. Honestly, I don’t think the goal should be to raise the bail.
I know we all hate the idea of Rara being in County, but we need to be realistic. She could lose her case. At that point, not only do we lose the $27.5k, then there’s the original $275,000 to raise (I had the wrong bail amount listed in the post).
I think (and again, this is just me thinking aloud and speculating) that if an effort was going to be made, it should focus on A) paying for her legal counsel and B) helping keep her family from going completely under financially. And, yeah. With the right kind of social media marketing it could easily spread beyond her 8,000 followers. She just won a BlogHER award, right? Would it be possible to piggyback off of that to reach a wider audience?
Man, it’s hard for me to believe that this is a hopeless cause.
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Just one more word on the bail thing. It’s just to make sure she would show up in court for the case. It’s not tied to the verdict in any way.
Most importantly, though, her attitude that she will lose is what must change, I agree so much with you there. There has to be an attorney that can give her hope again.
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So, as long as she shows up in court, all we would be out is the 10%? Correct?
Hrm.
I still think the priority needs to be paying her legal fees, but we won’t really know how much we need to raise until someone talks to that lawyer.
I’m considering contacting Grayson and getting his input…
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You should do that. From my spot far in the wings, I thing that is a good idea. Also, in my humble opinion, it seems that somebody there needs to be a hands-on advocate who can talk to lawyers. bails people, etc., to get the true information and wheels really turning.
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It looks like DJ is going to see what he can do. I’ll wait and see what he has to say. In the meantime, I’ll pick your brain: how hard would it be to drum up some media interest? It seems to me that, given Rara’s popularity and online presence, there should at least be a “human interest” angle here. Am I wrong?
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I definitely think you are right. With all the blogs that have been written about it in the last week, I am surprised that a story has not been done in her hometown paper. Or TV station Or on Oprah or Ellen. Seriously. These folks have researchers that are supposed to pick up stories like this.
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Well. Perhaps we begin a “get thee to Reddit” campaign?
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Or hell, start emailing Ellen and Oprah. Find an enterprising citizen journalist to do a jailhouse interview. I read Grayson’s “Origin Story”, and I understand better what they’ve gone through, but the actual nitty-gritty “he said she said” eludes me. I’m going to see if I can get more info from Rara’s POV. Because that’s really what we want to do, right? We want her to get HER side of the story out there. We want to drum up popular support.
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Think more tomorrow. Talk to you then.
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G’night, Mark.
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I love that you want to help Rara. I would do anything for her.
But in her last emails to me before she turned herself in, she said she had enough of exhausting the resources of friends and family. I begged her to let me help raise money.
She just seemed done with it. After 4 years and a lot of money down the drain, she feels it would be easier to serve a sentence than keep dragging this on.
But I don’t have all the details, either. What I do know is that $275,000 is a huge bail, one that speaks to a severe charge. It might just have snowballed into something she thinks she can’t win.
Rara is not a quitter. I wish I understood her motives better. I felt compelled to do as she asked and just go along with her decision. Now this post has me questioning that.
In the meantime, I posted a link in the comment section of the last update Grayson posted, if anyone would like to put money in her commissary account. Thank you so much for this.
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Yeah, that’s just it. I didn’t really quite understand. I thought some of you would know better than me. And who knows? Maybe Rara will change her mind. I hope so.
Putting money in her commissary account is a great idea!
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She needs it for food, because what they serve is inedible Dave says.
I also found out that we can’t mail her stamps, they have to be purchased from the commissary or shipped from the USPS.
I’m so happy you care. Much love to you. I’m happy we met, even though it’s this way.
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I’m happy we met, too. ❤
Thanks for helping me wrap my brain around it all, Samara. I'm still hoping Rara will change her mind. We're all in this together, after all, and helping each other out is the only sane thing to do.
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This is not a decision that you can make for someone.
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I can’t make decisions for anyone other than me and my kids.
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I know what you mean.
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Going to reach out to Grayson today (he told me he was going to try and get some rest over the weekend and I didn’t want to disturb that), and see if he wants to provide any more insight or thoughts on raising money for the lawyer… As Samara said, though, they exhausted all their resources and borrowed money from friends and family four years ago, and didn’t want to do that again now… Perhaps four years ago they asked for help, and now they decided they weren’t going to do that again, but that doesn’t mean they won’t accept any financial help we send them anyway (hence the donate links and information on non-monetary helpful things)…
I’ll let you know what I find out.
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