I reread my OP and I don't see a single line that says I was looking for sympathy or said anything that would suggest that I don't feel what I did was wrong. I knew it was wrong and a mistake and it will never happen again. That's not the point I was making at all.
This might be a wake up call to some people but the truth is that people make mistakes. Good people can also end up in jail for a mistake or in some cases a misunderstanding. Imagine being in the wrong place at the wrong time and got sent to jail even if just for questioning or because you match a description. These kinds of things happen. If it happened in my home town and that person was deaf they are in for a very hard time because they aren't up to par for a deaf person. You won't be able to make a phone call and let your family know or ask for help. If you have a car it'll be towed because you won't be able to call anyone to pick it up. If it happens at night you will have to stay awake or get skipped. You'll have a hard time knowing what the heck is going on. They'll try to take you to court without an interpreter and have less chance to defend yourself. In my case they even tried to do this in front of a video camera instead of live and face to face. The answers you need to know won't come to you until you receive a letter in the mail days or weeks later.
That's what the OP was all about. Not the mistake I made for I already fessed up to that and it's never been repeated since. What's important on that matter is I learned from the mistake.
