what can we expect in court

hello

24 yr old son has a prelim court date for felony possession of drug paraphernalia and unknown substance. he was pulled over right after leaving a dealers house, the officer asked if he had anything in the car that he shouldnt and son was honest. the officer offered my son to be an informant and turn in some people and issued a felony ticket. we didnt go that route, looking back maybe he should have done that.

ok, back to the court question, this is complicated.

he does not have any priors.

he has a past with drug use (oxy) and currently is homeless and without money. both parents live out of state.

at the moment he is in a mental facility due to a poem he wrote while at another facility and the first words were "i want to die" so off he goes to the mental place. they took it as a suicide note. i do understand they had to act upon it.

if he gets probation what are the chances a judge would allow him to live with his dad in another state... hardship probation transfer?

should he have a lawyer or would a PD suffice?

we feel son needs to leave the state where he is vulnerable to relapse. plus he has no where to reside in his home state, he would be most likely to use again under this situation. whereas, if he were allowed to live with his dad and continue drug treatment and have support of family he may have a better chance of beating his addiction.

thanks

Tell me what state your are in so I can give you a more educated guess. The terms vary from state to state.

thanks for your reply

kentucky

any educated guesses?

Now that I know your state, I can try to give you a little help.

The first thing is that without any priors your attorney should be able to work some kind of a deal with the prosecutor (would depend on the prosecutor in this case) to do what's called "PTI" (pre-trial intervention). In this case the judge can order that your son be placed into some kind of drug rehab program instead of any jail time or probation. He would have to live up to the standards of the rehab program or be faced with jail time (basically the same as probation, except with some kind of help instead of a bunch of rules). Doesn't mean he is going to be placed in a facility, could very well be and outpatient program (like a 12 step or something). He would also be subject to random and pre-determined drug testing.

As far as him moving out of state, that would depend on the prosecutor, judge and PAP rules. Shouldn't be a problem as long as you are not trying to move from Kentucky to Alaska. Kentucky to most southeast states should be fine. Again that all depends on the three factors above.

Do not have any idea where in Kentucky your son was arrested or who the PD's are there so I can't give an opinion on the PD without knowing this. As a general rule as long as your son faces his screw up and wishes to make a deal then the PD should be fine. Most have a good working relationship with the prosecutor (making deals). if it was a case where your son refused to face the facts or the case was a little complicated (multiple defendants) then a private attorney is always better.

Hope this give you some help, if you have more questions feel free to ask.
thanks,
MDM

[bert110]

The first thing is that without any priors your attorney should be able to work some kind of a deal with the prosecutor (would depend on the prosecutor in this case) to do what's called "PTI" (pre-trial intervention). In this case the judge can order that your son be placed into some kind of drug rehab program instead of any jail time or probation. He would have to live up to the standards of the rehab program or be faced with jail time (basically the same as probation, except with some kind of help instead of a bunch of rules). Doesn't mean he is going to be placed in a facility, could very well be and outpatient program (like a 12 step or something). He would also be subject to random and pre-determined drug testing.

As far as him moving out of state, that would depend on the prosecutor, judge and PAP rules. Shouldn't be a problem as long as you are not trying to move from Kentucky to Alaska. Kentucky to most southeast states should be fine. Again that all depends on the three factors above.

Do not have any idea where in Kentucky your son was arrested or who the PD's are there so I can't give an opinion on the PD without knowing this. As a general rule as long as your son faces his screw up and wishes to make a deal then the PD should be fine. Most have a good working relationship with the prosecutor (making deals). if it was a case where your son refused to face the facts or the case was a little complicated (multiple defendants) then a private attorney is always better.