He's out!

Vincent, Stephanie and I went to court today and met Scott Cox, the partner of the original lawyer we worked with (Mr. Mazzoli – who turns out to be the son of the longtime Democratic congressperson from Louisville). Cox used to work in the U.S. attorney’s office. He’s tall and has an imposing presence. He explained that he’d read Mr. Mazzoli’s interview notes and talked with him. He asked Vincent a few questions, then went straight in to negotiating with the prosecutors.

Mr. Cox said the prosecutors wanted Vincent to do 24 weeks of anger management classes, which he said the court usually sends abusive spouses and boyfriends to, and which he said is an ordeal. They also wanted Vincent to plead guilty to something. But apparently he pushed – brandishing Vincent’s lack of previous problems with the law, his week in inpatient treatment, and his continued counseling with Jodi Klein (he said the prosecutors seemed to be aware of her and were impressed that that was who he was seeing).

What Mr. Cox came out with was quite different – a de facto year of informal probation – but, formally, nothing. He said the prosecutors would for all practical purposes drop the charges and would allow Vincent to seek to have the charges against him expunged from the record in a year, when he turns 19. The provisions would be: Vincent would have to keep going to counseling or keep taking medication as professionals recommended. Mr. Cox said de facto we as his parents would continue keeping an eye on that and in general, and so that if we came in and said he wasn’t taking his medication, going to counseling, or even not doing other things he was supposed to, that would be a problem for Vincent. Also, Vincent was supposed to stay away from the schools (Mr. Cox said Vincent going to JCHS to take the final exams for his on-line classes would be OK – but he did say don’t go to school functions like basketball games etc. – Brown has already gotten Vincent banned from all Brown-related events.) Mr. Cox encouraged Vincent to press on ahead with school and hopefully go to college.

Belatedly, Mr. Cox and then Judge Prather stressed that if evidence came up that Vincent was not doing something he was supposed, Judge Prather could hold him in contempt of court – meaning, I think that he could be jailed even without a trial – that only a limited amount of evidence could get him in trouble. Also, if in a year Vincent were to seek to have his record expunged, if it turned out that Vincent had gotten in any kind of trouble – particularly with the law – at any time in that year – it might doom his expungement.

Vincent and we asked a few questions, and then Vincent said he agreed to it. After chit-chatting with Mr. Cox for a few minutes, we were called into a courtroom, and, while we sat down, Vincent and Mr. Cox went before the judge. Judge Prather and Mr. Cox talked about the deal and – like I said – Judge Prather warned Vincent about the possible contempt of court option. He also asked Vincent in a couple of different ways whether he understood the deal and whether he was OK with it. “Yes, sir, I understand” – was a phrase Vincent repeated a couple of times.

We are to call Mr. Cox back in a year to try the expungment – assuming nothing goes wrong.

Vincent consented to having us take him out to lunch at Fourth Street Live, but then he was off to go visit with his friend and Pablo, who has just returned from Arizona. He was meeting them a little closer to school that we would like and going off without washing his hands or really without perfect clothes for this weather (he wore a new short-sleeve short Stephanie had bought him for Easter to court (plus had his old winter jacket). But he came back to mention that he was still interested in spending the night at Pablo’s (you’ll recall I reminded him that Samantha will have school Wednesday). We have mixed feelings about some of this because – as I mentioned – we kind of liked having Vincent around. Being able to go out will help him get more exercise, and hopefully he’ll still find time to do his 30-45 minutes of school work per day four days a week and maybe even look for a job. Our month of having Vincent back is apparently over. Hopefully, the better habits he developed especially in the past month about being more cooperative at home and even doing some stuff with us will continue a little bit. Now, he not only has the experience of doing stuff with us and getting along with us again, but he also has this de facto supervision we have hanging over him a little. The lawyer said – I’m still learning new things everyday, at age 49, getting a little wiser, and I’m sure you are too, to Vincent. May it be so.

Thanks to Stephanie for hanging with Vincent when I was ready to give up and for arranging for the mental health inquest and persuading Vincent to go to Jodi Klein, for all of the professionals at Kosair and Wellstone and others (Jodi Klein, Dr. Knox) for helping with Vincent – and Mr. Mazzoli and Mr. Cox, to Grandma Martha for helping us connect with the lawyers, and for many friends and other family members who provided advice, support, and prayers (including our pastor, Jane) during this difficult time. Good work also, Vincent, for hanging with (and staying calm during) the week of in-patient treatment, the four weeks of house arrest, and the two court appearances. With a year of informal probation, seven plus classes still to finish, and no job yet, Vincent isn’t out of the woods yet. But he’s a lot closer now.

(Vincent and Stephanie went today to get him a bank account separate from ours, and he still needs to register for the would-be draft. Stephanie also got a root canal this morning. Grandma is also trying to get used to (apparently) losing another of her portfolios, the one that gives her a chance to find equivalent scores for several different standardized tests.)

Belated happy birthday! Enjoy and be responsible with your freedom, and stay in touch!

-- Perry