rejectedmom
New Member
I am thinking about writting a letter to difficult child's public defender and also to the judge hearing his case. It turns out that the girl whose house he trashed while in a rage is the niece of the assistant DA. difficult child is being charged with second degree asault even though he didn't hit anyone. In the state he committed the crime if the victim feels their safety was in danger it is considered an assault. So this is technically his third assault because they counted the one on me when he was almost eighteen which he did 3 years for. The prosecutor's office is refusing to even consider running his new sentence concurrent to the one he is serving. They are talking about adding another 8-10 years on top of a current 7 year sentence. So difficult child is looking at 17 years for two different instances. I have no problem with the 7 year sentence he is currently serving. I think it was relatively fair given the circumstances. But another 10 years for breaking a piece of furniture and putting a hole in the wall and violation of parole? That seems a bit much.
The PD is not aware of difficult child's mental health issues and MI was not taken into consideration with his current sentance. I want to write to them to outline these problems and see if they will use some compassion during sentencing. I do not condone difficult child' behaviors in anyway. Honestly, they disgust me, but they do stem from mental illness and I think that should be a matter for consideration. I have stepped away from difficult child's court dealings since he walked away from every program and therapy I hooked him up to. However 17 years for a broken nose and some broken furniture (Two different situations) seems excessive when rapists and murderers have gotten less. At the same, time I do not want to give him the impression that I will rush in and protect him from the consequences of his own actions.
What do you think? Would it be enabling of me to intervene? Would it be to his advantage? Or should I just let it be and leave him safely behind bars? His MO so far is that he doesn't learn from his mistakes and keeps repeating them over and over again. I have no way of definately insuring that he won't hurt someone else in the future and no medicine has ever truly helped him stay on track and away from pot and alcohol which was a factor in these assaults. The thing is I will be almost 80 when he gets out if they go through with this severe sentencing decision. I definately will not be able to help him then. -RM
The PD is not aware of difficult child's mental health issues and MI was not taken into consideration with his current sentance. I want to write to them to outline these problems and see if they will use some compassion during sentencing. I do not condone difficult child' behaviors in anyway. Honestly, they disgust me, but they do stem from mental illness and I think that should be a matter for consideration. I have stepped away from difficult child's court dealings since he walked away from every program and therapy I hooked him up to. However 17 years for a broken nose and some broken furniture (Two different situations) seems excessive when rapists and murderers have gotten less. At the same, time I do not want to give him the impression that I will rush in and protect him from the consequences of his own actions.
What do you think? Would it be enabling of me to intervene? Would it be to his advantage? Or should I just let it be and leave him safely behind bars? His MO so far is that he doesn't learn from his mistakes and keeps repeating them over and over again. I have no way of definately insuring that he won't hurt someone else in the future and no medicine has ever truly helped him stay on track and away from pot and alcohol which was a factor in these assaults. The thing is I will be almost 80 when he gets out if they go through with this severe sentencing decision. I definately will not be able to help him then. -RM