This is upsetting in so many ways. It feels like a domino effect where if just one person had stood up and did the right thing, it could have stopped this madness. The explosive ex who set off the entire incident, the racist neighbors who felt they were "protecting" the ex (who had already gone into the house), the cops who closed the investigation before they even interviewed your now-husband, and perhaps in lesser roles, the asshole cop at the hospital and even the dismissive public defender--they all let the system railroad your now-husband.

Thank goodness you had the $200 to bail him out before he got sent to prison. Too many people languish in prison because they can't afford bail and then sit there waiting for their day in court (or the public defender to try and plea them out). It sounds like his trial took almost a year--that much time in state prison changes a person.

Our system is so broken.