My question involves criminal law for the state of: Tennessee
I few years ago, I had a roommate, that after an argument, he destroyed various electronic devices and musical instruments, equal to about $1300. This happened in January of 2009. He has missed several of his court dates, and has been dragging this out for years. I, on the other hand, a few years ago, while working at the Automotive Center at Walmart, took the lenses out of a pair of safety goggles. Walmart claimed that they were special prescription lenses for a coworker, and I had to pay the $800 plus court costs in 6 months, or I'd go to prison (goes without saying that I paid all my restitution without a job, and still did my community service).
I get a phone call today from the DA's office saying that they have my roommate in custody and that he wants to only pay about a 1/3 of what he owes me. And that if I don't accept his lowball offer, that I'd probably be getting $15 payments.
So my question is this:
How is it possible that I had to pay ALL my restitution AND court costs in 6 months or go to prison (it was brought up that I had no income, but that didn't seem to matter to the judge) , and he 1) does not show up to court half the time and keeps getting warrants for his arrest and 2) can get off with paying next to nothing for his restitution. Why wasn't I offered a plea bargain (this was a first offense). It just makes me feel that our judicial system might be a joke.
Is there anyway at all to get this man to pay me what he owes me, and have him go what I had to go through?

