Mother desperately needs legal advice for teen w/felony charges

[Diroba]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? GA

I don't know if these forums can help me or not, but I've spent literally hours & hours researching online the past 6 days, only to get nowhere.

I'm 54 years old & a single mother of 2 teens,,,,which is way too old to be dealing with teenagers! Hindsight is such (NOT!!) a wonderful thing!

I live in SC & the law here is that at age 17, they consider teens to be an adult & they can go/come as they please. But a parent is still responsible for them until age 18.

My 17 year old daughter is in GA. & called me last Monday, that she has been arrested for THREE felony charges!! I do not know what the laws of GA. are, but I know she has no driver's license, so no proof of her ID. She also told me she asked them to call me the night she was arrested, but they didn't.

I am able to pull up her arrest record, showing the charges, but it gives me no detailed account. And I'm not buying her story that she is totally innocent & she is the victim. I know that you do not get arrested on 3 felony charges unless they have GOOD proof or probable cause. I talked to one investigator & he told me yes, his unit was handling the case, but he refused to give me any info whatsoever.

My daughter has had severe emotional problems for many years now & does not have the mentality to grasp the concept of certain things. She is NOT mentally retarded, just some heavy duty emotional problems that have lead to a high lack of maturity & understanding. I ran the roads for years with her, taking her to counselors, etc., literally begging for help for her before it was too late. All to NO avail!

But she thought she would be able to get out of jail on PR bond. I explained to her that felony charges aren't the same thing as something as simple as perhaps writing a bad check. And most likely NO bond at all. She did go before the judge/magistrate or whatever, on Monday or Tuesday night & was of course denied bond. But she is still thinking when she has her prelim hearing in 4-5 weeks that I will be able to post bond for her. And in her state of mind, she says once released, she is going to sue the other party. She just cannot comprehend certain things.

I cannot afford a 4 hour (one way) drive to GA. if it is going to prove fruitless, as I have to pay someone to drive me. At this point, I truly want to know what the full story is, from some type official that knows the details of the arrest. (The boy she was with was also arrested for the same charges, though I noticed online, at one point they changed his charges, then changed them back). They are also now showing the 2 of them will be tried together, and I feel that isn't in her best interest. And up until now, she has still not had a lawyer/Public Defender come talk to her. I had told her to please give them permission to talk directly to me, but a friend told me they may not even go see her until the day before her prelim hearing, which is Aug. 15th. A very long time to have to sit & wait when you don't know what is going on.

And it's costing me $27.00 for EACH collect call she makes to me, so I'm going to have to put a stop to that, because I cannot afford it. And I'm so afraid that she is going to start feeling it is a helpless situation & if she has any opportunity to do so, I'm afraid she will try to take her own life, because right now all she can foresee is that she will be spending the next 25 years or rest of her life in prison.

I am a law abiding citizen with only a high school education, so I know very little about legal matters. I am not a hysterical mother, just a mother that is highly concerned over her child. She is my baby, and whether she is guilty/not guilty it doesn't alter my love and concern for her.

If anyone can give me any info at all, that might could lead me where I could get the entire story, it would be greatly appreciated. I do not understand most of the legal terms I've seen the past few days, but I know I am climbing the walls, feeling totally helpless.

[rmet4nzkx]

Of course she's your baby, guilty or not, most likely she did something or possibly got entraped into doing something because of her mental state. If you can't afford an attorney for her, I suggest calling the public defender's office and see if they can see her sooner and ask for a psych evaluation, believe it or not, she may do better in jail than out and at least she is not getting into more trouble, who knows what she might do if she got out OR or on bail.

[Diroba]

Originally Posted by rmet4nzkx

Of course she's your baby, guilty or not, most likely she did something or possibly got entraped into doing something because of her mental state. If you can't afford an attorney for her, I suggest calling the public defender's office and see if they can see her sooner and ask for a psych evaluation, believe it or not, she may do better in jail than out and at least she is not getting into more trouble, who knows what she might do if she got out OR or on bail.

Thanks for your reply. While I DO agree she is most probably better off in jail than on the streets, I would still like to be able to find out the FULL story of what actually happened. That could help me determine what, if anything, I should try to do at this point & time. I'm praying that she was arrested due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Perhaps she didn't know what was going to happen.

Yet I'm not one of those mothers that always say 'I KNOW my child would NEVER'!! Because I do know they had to have very solid evidence to arrest her on 3 different counts.

[calatty]

You probably have to wait until she has an attorney. The attorney will have the police report, which will summarize the case against her. S/he will also decide whether to make a motion to sever the boy's trial from your daughter's. If you believe your daughter is at serious risk of committing suicide, like if she said something to you, you should call the jail and they will put her on suicide watch.