Oh, the ongoing saga of justice. My son's lawyer called yesterday, all excited. Well, of course he would be...it isn't his son. Seems the prosecution wants to strike a plea bargain. The terms:
No further jail time or up to two years jail time. (It will be up to the judge)
TEN years probation, and he will have to register as a sex offender, plus attend a monthly probation meeting, and sexual therapy classes. What the hell? Oh, yes, people will jump at the change to give him a job knowing right off the bat he'll be missing a couple days of work every month. Sign me up!
The lawyer can't understand why my husband and I aren't excited about this. I told the lawyer it seems like the prosecution has realized they don't have the case they thought they did. One of the charges has been dropped to Attempted Sexual Assault and the other to Sexual Misconduct with a minor. Well, what do they think my 17-year-old is, a lecherous old man? Aren't minors under the age of eighteen? He was barely sixteen when these charges supposedly took place.
Plus, the so-called witness they had has been discounted. My husband asked whether the whole thing could be dropped if the girls came forward. Guess what? Not in the state of Arizona! Once a person is incarcerated, the state will play it out, even if the alleged victims change their mind. If the girls didn't want to go to trial, they'd be subpoened. Oh, yeah, justica at its finest.
My husband blew and told the lawyer he's throwing our son under the bus because a high-Profile case (on the news, but I'm not at liberty to say) is taking all his time. The lawyer says the plea is our son's best bet, because if it goes to trial, and we lose, he would get seventeen years. Well, what if we won? Seems everytime we turn around the charges are lessened. Why not pursue it and take our chances?
The lawyer asked what I thought? I said there was no way I would take the plea. I'd be lying by saying I did it, and why should I suffer for someone else's lie? I told him I've asked numerous adults and young people and not one person believes our son capable of this. If one person said he was, I wouldn't be so adamant about fighting it. Especially knowing the charges were lessened for a second time.
Now, if you were a 17-year-old presented with two years or seventeen, what would you do? We have no opportunity to speak with our son to tell him how we feel. The entire decision rests on a kid that just wants to come home. I no longer have any faith in the lawyer. If our son decides to take it to trial, will the lawyer put his all into it, or do things half-ass to prove a point?
Maybe I have the wrong attitude about the whole thing, but this is how I feel. What does the future hold for my son? Where can he get a job if he's a registered sex offender? Why should he be punished for having sex because a little girl thought she might get in trouble? If she was so afraid of him, why'd she come back a second and a third time? Yep, makes sense to me.
There's the slightest chance that if he's a good boy and follows his probationary terms, he MIGHT be expunged by the age of twenty-two. Whatever. The way things have been going so far, yep, that'll happen. So, we get to be the joyful, proud parents of a bouncing baby adult for who knows how long because all his rights were tossed away. There goes his desire to join the military.
Sex with that young girl was sure expensive! And the one he tried to kiss, well, obviously she thought it worth holding onto for a year before saying anything. Oh, the bond between friendship.
First girl: "Hey, what do you want to do tonight?"
Second: "Oh, I don't know. Hey, let's screw up somebody's life! That'll be fine."
First: "What do you want to say?"
Second: "Well, I'll spread it around town that we had sex at the park, have our other friend say she witnessed him hurting me, and you say how he tried to get with you three times."
First: "Okay, but you have to say three times too, or it won't work."
Second: "Deal!"
Hugs and kisses all around.
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