A judge paid a man’s fine who walked five miles to reach the court with less than a dollar in his bank account.
Francesco “Frank” Caprio is a famous American jurist who presided over the municipal court of Providence as the Chief Judge in Rhode Island and worked as the chairman of the Board of Governors for higher education.
Judge Caprio is also known for his famous ABC-affiliated TV series, Caught in Province, which shows real people attending their case hearings in his court. He hears cases involving parking, traffic, and arraignments for criminal offenses. In his court, people are almost always met with compassion and kindness.
A few years ago, one of the parking violation cases involved a man, Daniel Murray, who had seven violations in his name, five of which were parking tickets.
After the hearing, Daniel, who had walked all the way from East Providence to reach the municipal court in Rhode Island, was ordered to pay a fine of $250 for all the violations he had made. However, Daniel could not pay the fine due to a major financial crisis he was going through at the time.
“Thank you, Your Honor, but I would like to ask if there is any flexibility possible with me paying the money back,” he asked Judge Caprio.
“One quick question, Your Honor,” he said, “is there any way – can that be deferred a little bit? I’m just in a bit of a financial situation.”
When 86-year-old Judge Frank Caprio asked Murrey how much he could pay as a penalty. The motorist told him he didn’t even have one dollar in his bank account.
“I have 92 cents in my account,” Murrey answered. “I just walked from East Providence this morning to get over here.”
Listening to this, Judge Caprio asked Murrey if he could take an Uber to head back to his place in East Providence, to which he said, “I have no money. Not right now.”
He also explained that he didn’t have a stable job and had been running youth lacrosse programs for a while now.
Judge Caprio, who is famous for his acts of kindness and granting mercy to people, said he would take care of his fine and pay from his fund, ‘The Philomena Fund,’ named after his late mother.
The Judge then gave Murray $25 from his fund and said he would like him to use an Uber to return to his home.
“I want you to take an Uber so you don’t have to walk back,” he told the young man.
“Thank you very much. You saved me a great deal of time today – and money,” Murray said with gratitude.
The next moment, Judge Frank announced that he would also like to pay Murray’s fine from his fund money.
“We’re gonna help you out with these fines,” Judge Frank announced. “We’re going to use this fund to pay for your fine, so you’re gonna be all set.”
It took Daniel a moment to process what he was hearing. Then he said, “Wow, thank you so much. That’s more than generous.”
“You got 25 bucks to take an Uber. And you got this now. Let’s hope things turn out for you,” the Chief Judge said before adding that there was one condition on which he would let Daniel go without paying the fine.
“Wait a minute. That’s only half the battle. Right. That’s our part, you have to do your part,” he told him. “You have to help somebody else. There are an awful lot of people out there who have similar problems, and you are going to be in a situation to help them.”
He continued, “Don’t forget them. Remember how you felt? So you have to give back.”
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Source: YouTube
