Wendy,
I believe Senior Judge is correct when it comes to the law. His answer is typical in that in our current criminal justice system one of the things they try to do is isolate the accused and try to eliminate any help that family and friends can offer to someone they want to convict. And let there be no doubt, they are in the business of convicting, not in the business of serving justice.
Being charged with a felony is very serious. Your son could go to prison for a long time. My son got 5 years for giving someone 1 vocodin tablet and for being at the party where that person died of an overdose from drugs someone else provided. I also spent a lot of time observing felony court and saw them convicting everyone from soccer moms to retarded people, they don't care.
We told our son to just tell the truth. That was bad advice. They will twist whatever you say so it sounds bad. A skilled prosecutor could make Mother Theresa sound like a cheap whore... if it resulted in a conviction for him.
Here's my advice after having helped my son through felony charges, a jury trial, and a 5 year prison sentence:
1. You obviously care about your son, so help him whether he's guilty or innocent. It doesn't sound like anybody got hurt even if your son did what he's accused of.
2. Advise your son to not talk to police or prosecutors. The more he says, the more they have to work with. There's really no point in your talking to them either as they will just try to get you to say something they can use against your son.
3. Now there are many laws that make it so you have to prove your innocence or you're automatically guilty. Here it may be the case that the law states that since your son was in the car with the gun it's assumed he possessed the stolen gun and is therefore guilty.
4. The vast majority (over 90%) of criminal cases are plead. Don't think that a jury trial will be fair. It's been my experience that prosecutors and some police will cheat at trial and the judge may help them.
5. Regular criminal defense attorneys will try to collect a big fee up front promising you that they'll keep your son from going to prison. They'll huff and puff about going to trial until they get your money. They really have no intention of going to trial. They will want your son plead guilty. They are really at the mercy of the prosecutors.
6. I'd test the water and see what a public defender could do. The main thing is to try to keep your son out of prison. Prison rarely does anyone any good. Try to get the charges plead down to misdemeanors as it's extremely difficult to get a job with a felony on your record.
7. If your son agrees to it, some defense attorneys will let you be involved. Even my son's public appellate attorney allowed this. Again, you can only do damage by talking to the police and prosecutors.
I'm sorry to have to give you this information, but you may as well have it now versus going into this thinking that our criminal justice system is at all fair today.
I hope the best for you and your son,
-Dave H.
