State v. R.O.

Aggravated Robbery. Client was a 17 year old young man. Never been arrested or in any real trouble in his entire life. Then, the summer before his senior year he hung out with the wrong crowd. The two boys that he was running with were linked to a murder, unbeknownst to the client. They would drive around the neighborhood robbing hard working yard men and innocent bystanders. Truly scary stuff. Client then used a gun to steal a car that an innocent person was just washing. He was caught and that gun was his friends, which was linked to a murder. Talk about big trouble and a nightmare. Client went in and confessed to 7 armed robberies that summer. By the time he bailed out and came to me, we had no defense. So we started the long hard road of getting him back on track. He graduated high school, got a construction job, stayed clean, and just went to work and home. He donated his free time with church. We went to the Judge for a PSI hearing. The Judge showed tremendous compassion and mercy and gave the young man deferred adjudication probation for 7 years, 6 months jail, and 6 months juvenile boot camp. Which means, if the client stays clean and out of trouble all of these cases are dismissed and he gets a fresh start at life. We talked about how all of his friends will probably spiral down for the next 7 years, but he will advance. There can be a silver lining, you just have to find it. Thank you to that wonderful judge for showing mercy on this young man and giving him a second chance at life.