Son charged for crime he did not commit, is this possible?

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concern

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I have a 17 year old son who stole a cell phone from an 11 year old. The police report states: minor (my son) stated (to victim 1), "hey looks like you have a cool phone." He also threatened, "you better give it to me before I start swinging." The victim (1) was afraid and for his safety so he gave minor (my son) the phone as requested.

When victim's (1) friend returned from the water fountain, minor (my son) grabbed his skateboard. Minor (my sons) friend jumped on the victim's (2 ) bike and rode off. Victim (2) chased him, but he stopped the bike and pulled a knife on victim (2) stating, "back the F%^& up before I cut you." Victim (2) backed away and called 9-1-1. The minor was located (my son) and identified by the victims. He was arrested and transported to the station for booking. – end of report

My question/Concern: is that during our last hearing the cell phone charge was dismissed but he was charged for stealing the bike with a knife! I am appalled by this, why would my son need to take blame on a higher charge? The attorney's argument is that this was the only way to keep him out of jail. This is unacceptable to us. This charge is a felony on my son's record.

A bit of feedback to hopefully provide a better understanding as I imagine the history may or may not play a role in this::

On 2/2/09 – My son was arrested on an assault charge
He was detained in juvenile hall for 18 days
It was suggested he be placed in placement; instead he was under house arrest
A few weeks prior to his arrest my son displayed am extreme change in character; we learned that he was smoking pot. We enrolled him in an intensive, 6 day a week, out patient program. After approximately 40 days he is terminated from the out patient program and referred over inpatient (he had been released from house arrest a few days prior to this and is placed under probation).
During the search for his in-patient facility, he is arrested for the cell phone robbery (211PC) & juvenile offense (602WIC).
My son entered a voluntary in-patient program where he completed the program at 74 days. During this time he is on probation.
On the time he completed the inpatient program; he began an out patient program for support and started to see a psychologist. 2 weeks prior to the hearing for the robbery of the cell phone, my son confessed using ecstasy and meth. He further admits that he felt ashamed to tell anyone and this had been his actual reason for entering the inpatient program as he felt completely out of control. His psychologist was recommending antidepressants and a referral to a psychiatrist. My son had stated feeling depressed, sad and without hope. These may all be attributed to the drugs and or other unidentified underlying issues.
We (parents) noticed his extreme depressions shortly after he was placed under house arrest along with anxiety. He made numerous attempts to reach the 2 probation officers on his case to explain to them his state of mind. We wanted to work with the probation officers as the more we found out about his drug of choice, meth, his feedback and what we were experiencing at home – We knew he needed help and we wanted to come up with an alternate plan, besides house arrest for him. Unfortunately, during the 10 days of trying we never received a call back from his original probation officer and the house arrest probation officer did not return our calls but one where she stated that she was busy and there was nothing she could do unless she caught him in the act of committing a crime??? The next conversation I had with her was after my son had cut the ankle bracelet off. When she called she said to me, "I have only have 1 question for you, do you know where he is?" I replied, "No". I attempted to explain the situation and questioned her as to why she had not retuned my calls; she interrupted me and informed me that it was her day off and that she did not get paid enough to be working on her off days. I simply – quickly – let her know that he had confessed to using ecstasy and meth; he'd been suicidal in the past and had been diagnosed with depression -- this were (and continue to be) our concerns. She stated that she was was to do the paperwork and she would file a warrant for his arrest on Monday (10-19-09). Unfortunately, his case has not been heard in court as of jet therefore, no warrant is in place for him.
On the last hearing where he was charged for stealing the bike at knife point, he was placed on house arrest. Unfortunately, he was not able to control his addiction and classmates were coming to our home and facilitating the drugs. He broke off his ankle bracelet on 10-16-09 and has been missing ever since.

My current main concern is his well being. We understand that the cops have stopped him but have been unable to detain him as the warrant for his arrest has not jet been heard in court.

I've contacted the attorney on the case and questioned the reason as to why 1) we had not been informed on what was transpiring during his hearing and 2) why my son had to take fault on a crime he did not do.

His reply; 1) it is client confidentiality – my son had clearly replied, to his (in our presence) question, "May I speak in front of your parents?", "YES"
2) This was the deal he made with the DA in order to keep him out of jail. We hired him to work on the cell phone charge from becoming a felony on my son's record NOT to keep him out of jail. Our son, as well us we, have been under the understanding that jail may be a way of paying his dues for the robbery. The main concern was to prevent the charge from becoming a felony.

As you can understand not only are we confused but also frustrated. We don't blame anyone but our son's poor choice for what has taken place but would like for someone to shed light on this. Was it fair that my son take blame for a bigger crime that he did not commit? What are my son's rights, our rights (as parents) and whom or what can we do at this point with the legal issue?

Your feedback is appreciated.

Concern parents
 
You have little chance of avoiding a felony here without accepting a lesser charge for a guilty plea.
As I see it, your son committed a felony (PC 211, robbery) when he threatened to start swinging on the kid if he didn't give up his phone. I don't know why they would have dropped that charge. There are surely more details we don't know.
Your son then committed a misdemeanor when he stole the bike (PC 499b), or, depending on the circumstances (force or fear used to take the bike), this was an extension of the robbery.
After the kid chased after your son, he then turned and threatened the kid with a knife. This is another felony (PC 417), and possibly another of criminal threats (PC 422).

You really don't have much to be complaining about here. If your son is only facing one felony then he is getting off easy. It sounds like he deserves a lot more than he is going to get.
 
I'm a father of six so I sympathize, but your son faces much bigger problems than having a felony on his record. I'm sure you know that. Moose is right, he is fortunate to have only one felony in this mess. Being that he is as old as he is I'm concerned it is too late for you to crack down on him. He is likely to be in the system as an adult. I'm with you, a little jail time without the felony might be helpful.
 
I appreciate your replies.

I would like to clarify: My son did take the cell phone and threaten the first victim. The other person that was with my son took the bike and threatened a different victim with the knife.

2 separate victims
2 separate aggressors

Both victims reported to the police of each incident.

When my son was caught by the cops, he was told that he would not go to jail if he could point out the other 2 guys that were with him.

How much of the following is true from my son's statement may be questionable: since he had not been home for a few days (technically runaway because he could not do drugs at home – he had been reported missing) according to him we had met these guys the night before, he spent the night at someone else's home with them.

The cops questioned him about the 2 other guys but all he knew were their first names and where they had stayed. The cop asked to show him where they stayed and if he complied he would release him. My son did so. The cops phoned us to pick him up from the station. When I was on the phone with him, I let him know what the situation was with my son. How we were securing an inpatient facility for him. I had been advised from his probation officer that if the cops picked him up to tell them that he needed to go the nearest hospital to be detoxify as he qualified to being admitted and from there we could do a transfer to the inpatient facility. Unfortunately the sergeant questioning my son declined the request.

There is an additional statement from the attorney regarding the reason as to why my son was charged for the bike crime, which he did not commit, stead of the crime he did which was the cell phone charge:

He states that the DA can do anything they want and once they have made a decision no one can argue with it. They considered my son an accessory to the bike robbery. They amended the report to include that my son took the bike at knife point, dropped the cell phone charge and convicted him with the felony charge.

No matter how I look at this, it's just not righteous. I clearly understand that my son made a huge mistake, crime and violated probation. I will not justify it with the fact that he has an addiction with a horrible drug but to be charged for something he did not do, is just troubling to me.

Regardless of the legal issue, I agree my son has bigger problems, his addiction.

Forgive me for making this a bit longer but let me also explain a few other things to give you a better insight on who my son was and why we attempted to have the felony charge dropped to a hopeful misdemeanor and possible jail time.

Mom and Dad, do not drink, smoke or take drugs. We are not perfect but did want to set the example.

Dad was in and out of the hospital for 15 months, under went 5 surgeries and had a numerous amount of trips to the ER

Literally up to last year this same time, is when we were in the middle of my husbands illness when we noticed my son's change. We placed him in school counseling but everything began to fall apart from here on.

Prior to this my son was attending Mater Dai H.S. (his school of choice) – was an A, B student, on the varsity wrestling team, excellent in math and an analytical thinker. This may sound like I am over selling my kid here but it is reality. Never used foul language in front of adults, never argumentative, very respectful, caring and consider it. Extremely responsible and independent

All things that I can longer use to describe him; there are moments when he has displayed glimpses of the humble and caring person but this glimpse does not last long. In our case I can say that meth is a soul thief!

A few weeks prior to him completing the inpatient program he was very motivated, wanted to get back on track and had a plan in place to catch up and finish off his senior year. He looked forward to his future and was very genuine when he said all this. This is why we decided to hire an attorney. Financially it was very challenging as Dad had been off work for 16 months, we had drained our savings, I was trying to keep it together but also needed to care for my husband, especially the 6 months he had the open wound that ran from his mid chest to below his belly button. We sold personal items, borrowed and collected cans to gather money for the attorney fees. We know there was no guarantee but never expected the outcome we received.

This is nit a sad story it is our reality. Should there be anything that can be done; we are open to all suggestions, comments and feedback.

Thank you for allowing me to explain. God bless you for taking the time to read.
 
The DA is correct. Your son was a conspirator, more or less. This is another felony (PC 182). HE had a part in the bike theft even though he was not the one that took it. I am not sure if you realize that your son committed a felony when he took the cell phone by force/fear. The DA seems to be doing him a favor by limiting this to just the one charge.
 
Thanks moose.

Yes, we do realize that the robbery by threat is a felony. That is the reason, at that time, we hired the attorney. As you can understand, none of this was explained to my son and least jet to us. As parents, who are unknowledgeable to the legal system, we questioned the legitimacy of the charge.

If what you have explained would have been said to us, we would have understood as we do with your explanation.

Don't get us wrong, we are not trying, in any way, to enable our child nor are we attempting for him to avoid his consequence -- we just want to ensure we understand.

In your opinion, what do you believe may happen to him after violating probation in multiple ways (by removing the ankle bracelet, running away etc...)? We don't think we can continue to afford an attorney, would you suggest we do?

Once again thank you for the clarification.

PS -- In no way we are trying to put the attorney on this case down...I am confident he did what he could. Sometimes the message is better understood with a different explanation or point of view.
 
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Your son is lucky he is still a juvenile.
since he has a history, and he is showing no signs of changing his behavior, I would expect that he will be doing some time over this. Probably no more than 6 months though. Probation clearly hasn't worked and home confinement with the monitor hasn't worked... he isn't leaving the judge many other options. Imposing fines will only hurt you, not him.

Your son is old enough to know better. Somewhere along the line he needs to stand on his own. I'm sure you love your son and want to protect him, but you will run yourselves into the ground trying to defend him for things which he really has no defense. He needs help for drug use, and it will be a life long problem for him. Do what you can to find a rehab/counseling program and do your best to get him to cooperate.

My suggestion: don't abandon him, but let him stand on his own in his own mess. Be there more moral support, but don't show him that you will throw your life savings down the drain to defend his drug habit.
 
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