Quote Originally Posted by Twisterdog
Yes, it was his first offense. It was his first offense for ANYthing, actually. He was in school, and had no prior record whatsoever. He had never been in court, never been on probabtion, etc.

Yes, I could have fought it. I called a lot of lawyers for information. I would have gotten a lawyer and fought it from the beginning, but I had no idea I would need one. From everything that everyone had told me, I had nothing to worry about. I heard about a hundred times that the judge would lecture him, give him probabtion and some work restitution to pay off his fine. That was fine with me, I wanted him punished ... just not to the degree he was!

After the sentencing, I started calling lawyers. They told me they would take the case, but by the time we got a trial date in our vastly meth-case-clogged system, chances are he would have served the entire sentence anyway. They also told me she is a moody, vengeful judge, and if I fought it and my son ever had to appear before her again, that he would be pretty much dead in the water. They said she holds a grudge and never forgets.

They also said that the sentence she gave him was within the limits of state law, and even though most of the time the judge does not go for the harshest possible sentence on the first offense ... that they certainly can do it if they choose to.
Hmmmmmmm....yes, we have some judges like that here to.
Well anyway....I just think that's so harsh a sentence for a minor. I hope he comes out of this ok for you. He will certainly learn a lesson from it, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will benefit him in the long run. Not that he needs this, but seeing that he has to put in the time, hopefully he can get something out of it.
Wom