Yesterday, I got to take off work, so I could go to court with my son. He was accused of being with the wrong people, at the wrong place, with the wrong thing in his pocket. He was already guilty of being stupid.
But he was looking at both trespassing and possession of marijuana charges. In fact...he was guilty. His "friends" and he were caught in a field entrance, passing a joint. He willingly gave up his baggie full of goodies, even though they weren't smoking his stash. This proved to be the smartest thing he did that night.
So we wait in court, and watch the first bunch of cases go through. If you've never gone to court, you are missing out. I've gone a few times, innocent every time of course, and I love it. The one thing that I am amazed, is that the older I get, the more casual it gets. My lawyer, every time, has told me to make sure that I dress up some.
The first guy was there for child support. He was in shorts, and a cut off, sleeveless t shirt. The second was a large lady, loud, and she was wearing a mini skirt, sort of frilly. Yuck! The third was there ffor a divorce, in jeans and a Motle Crue t shirt. And so on...
The judge was a different one. We're in such asmall county, that court is held one day a week. Thats right, one day a week. So the docket is loaded usually, but we lucked out, and 45 minutes in, we were up there, with one of the other kids Dem was arrested with.
We went over the case, and the State's Attorney recommended a fine, and something called ARM, which is a program over a weekend for drug and alcohol offenders. It would be $300, and he'd be there 3 days.
The judge looked at Dem and his friend, then asked my ex and I if we took off work to be there, which we had. He asked what we have done since his arrest. I jokingly told him he's been on unofficial house arrest since then, just going to his mom's, or grandma's, and not being left alone. He was able to work, and go to school.
The judge then stunned us, gave Dem 6 months supervision, and if he doesn't get arrested, its off his rocord. No fines, just court costs. We then thanked him, he dismissed us, and we went and paid the court costs.
Myself, I was surprised. I fully expected some sort of fine. I would have begged for the chance to remove it from his rocord, but the judge took care of that. I also would have been happy with community service. So Dem got lucky. Before he left, he told Dem and his friend that everybody deserves a second chance, so don't blow it. I hope he listens to him better than he does me .
