2nd possession charge a felony?

[wearymom]

Arkansas-
My 19 year old son was arrested last night for POSSESSION CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE (marijuana), POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA , CONTRIBUTING TO THE DELINQUENCY OF MINOR (he was at a party, smoking in a car with a 17 year old friend), and MINOR IN POSS ALCOHOL (M) {UCR: 90G}.

He was also arrested for possession in August and just had his court date for the previous arrest on Dec. 11 (9 days ago). He was given a fine and will be paying that off in $100 increments for the next 6 months or so. Now that he has been arrested a second time they tell us they will be treating the possession charge as a felony. Is that accurate??

I've spoken with him one time today (his one phone call) and the bond will not be posted until sometime tomorrow. He knows he's screwed up on this. We will not be bailing him out (nor did we in August) - though we did offer to contribute $100, which will be his Christmas present, as he has requested.

I am wondering how much to expect for the bond amounts and what to expect from here on out. He is going to ask for a public defender, as he cannot afford to pay for a lawyer. I am trying to prepare myself for whether he will be able to afford to get out of jail for Christmas or not. Bad thing is, if he cannot afford to bond out of jail, he will miss work, which means no money to pay fines. He has made his bed, but it's hard for me to watch as he lies in it.

Thanks for any advice you send my way.

 

[cyjeff]

Can you give us the exact statutes under which he was charged? The numbers?

 

[FlyingRon]

Second offense possession is a felony in AK. He needs a lawyer.

 

[Ohiogal]

Second offense possession is a felony in AK. He needs a lawyer.

Psst.... what does ALASKA have to do with this? AR maybe? But I agree. He needs a lawyer.

 

[dave33]

Come on, is this your son we're talking about? Just bail the kid out. I completely understand the tragedy and the plain ugly results that lots of drugs have on a community. He has spent some time in jail and is being charged with a felony. Maybe go visit him and ask if he would be willing to enter a program or at least drug tests. I understand jail as a punishment, but do not believe that it is successful drug treatment. The recidivism rate alone clearly shows it's rehabilitative failure. Just an opinion.

 

[cyjeff]

Come on, is this your son we're talking about? Just bail the kid out. I completely understand the tragedy and the plain ugly results that lots of drugs have on a community. He has spent some time in jail and is being charged with a felony. Maybe go visit him and ask if he would be willing to enter a program or at least drug tests. I understand jail as a punishment, but do not believe that it is successful drug treatment. The recidivism rate alone clearly shows it's rehabilitative failure. Just an opinion.

I was going to go the other direction and compliment the parents on the tough love.

I wouldn't leave my kid in over Christmas... but would wait until Wednesday to spring him.

The kid has used up a lifetime's worth of chances in less than six months...and this one is going to bite him HARD.

There is a real chance he should be getting used to a small cell.

 

[dave33]

I hear ya. I don't know what the answer is when drug abuse is involved. I've also been where the son is, and it's a lonely place to be. I believe at this stage his anguish (if he is so inclined) maybe punishment enough. Also having it all marijuana related, I believe keeps it in it's own category. Does the punishment fit the crime? Granted, incredible stupidity getting busted on probation. That's what their whole world revolves around chaos and stupidity. I guess the bottom line here is everybodys answer to an abuse/addiction problem is different.I also have a hard time with the tough love. I think that's when you discover whom you can truly count. He could realistically be looking at jail.Anyway. goodluck.

 

[wearymom]

Thanks for the feedback. I don't have the numbers for each charge yet...just what's posted online on the county jail website, which is exactly what I posted here. Bond has not been set, so there's no bailing him out until tomorrow. Hearing is in the morning.

Thing is, he got arrested at a party right after he turned 18 (April 2008) and someone there who was actually selling marijuana told the police that the weed belonged to my son, so it was his first arrest - first felony. We did bail him out as soon as we could, hired the best criminal defense team around and paid out the wazoo. Wiped out our meager savings. Eventually the other boy confessed and charges were all dropped. We told him at the time that if he were ever arrested again, we would not be funding any of it.

He knows we love him and support him physically, spiritually, and mentally, but not financially - not where these lifestyle choices are involved. We've made it very clear how we feel about the lifestyle he has chosen and he knows that he is responsible for his mistakes. Yes, as a mother I want to get him away from there as quickly as possible. On the other hand, he is consistently arrogant about his love of marijuana...always glad to extol it's benefits and smokes it any chance he gets, as far as I can tell. He is highly intelligent, yet works part time at a local pizza joint, with little to no ambition toward college, etc. His #1 goal seems to revolve around hanging out with likeminded friends. Yes, he still lives with us. If we were really good at tough love, he would've been out on his tush long ago, but we can't seem to bring ourselves to go that far.

We will see what tomorrow holds and pray for a decent public defender (is there such a thing?). We will do what needs to be done to get him home for Christmas...but as cyjeff said, letting him sit for a couple of days won't hurt.