general problems of the 1998 Ford Escort

I was sold a 1998 Ford Escort zx2 for 800 dollars, from but behind a local dealership. The dealership did the notary, and they were the ones who signed off on the car and gave me a hand written receipt with someone else's name on it. They also did the inspection later on after we replaced one of the ball joints. We had the car looked at by another official inspection station and they said the car was a death trap. We contacted a state trooper. He did an inspection, failed the car, and took the sticker. There was a long list of problems. I tried to get a refund before I got the cops involved and he refused. This was also before the 10 days were up for the inspection. I paid for the car on the 13th of Feb. 2008.