TessaNeedsHelp
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois
My family has had little experience with the court system, so we're completely in the dark about how everything works. My cousin (who is 28) was just sentenced to 1.5 years in jail and 6 months at a "behavioral bootcamp." He was caught in possession of marijuana. A cop pulled his friends over and they threw a bag of marijuana in his lap (I know, likely story.) But he's very loyal and took the blow.
He was on parole prior to this, because at the age of 21 (he was 22 at time of sentencing) his girlfriend's (who was 16) family decided she was spending too much time with her boyfriend and pressed charges. My cousin's family is very poor and he took the state appointed lawyer. The lawyer would not talk to anyone but his clients. My mom drove 6 hours to talk to him one day, because she there was a cop in his town that wanted to speak for my cousin, but the lawyer would not see my mom - at all. So, my cousin was slapped with a child molester sentence and spent 1.5 years in jail. He was still on parole for that when he got caught with the marijuana.
Since then, he has held a job for almost 9 months. He has a fiance - and together they are raising her 3 year old son. He spends most of his nights watching children's cartoons instead of running with his thug friends. Even his parole officer, recommended an extended parole sentence at worst because he was doing so well.
We were all shocked to hear his 1.5 year prison/boot camp sentence today.
My questions are this:
He is allowed to appeal, correct? and we can get him a different lawyer?
And if we as a family paid for this lawyer, how much does that usually run? Should we just look up criminal lawyers on the internet or is there a better way to select a new lawyer? Like I said, my family and I know nothing about the legal/court system. Some of these questions might be really obvious and I'm sorry for that.
Thanks so much for any help!
My family has had little experience with the court system, so we're completely in the dark about how everything works. My cousin (who is 28) was just sentenced to 1.5 years in jail and 6 months at a "behavioral bootcamp." He was caught in possession of marijuana. A cop pulled his friends over and they threw a bag of marijuana in his lap (I know, likely story.) But he's very loyal and took the blow.
He was on parole prior to this, because at the age of 21 (he was 22 at time of sentencing) his girlfriend's (who was 16) family decided she was spending too much time with her boyfriend and pressed charges. My cousin's family is very poor and he took the state appointed lawyer. The lawyer would not talk to anyone but his clients. My mom drove 6 hours to talk to him one day, because she there was a cop in his town that wanted to speak for my cousin, but the lawyer would not see my mom - at all. So, my cousin was slapped with a child molester sentence and spent 1.5 years in jail. He was still on parole for that when he got caught with the marijuana.
Since then, he has held a job for almost 9 months. He has a fiance - and together they are raising her 3 year old son. He spends most of his nights watching children's cartoons instead of running with his thug friends. Even his parole officer, recommended an extended parole sentence at worst because he was doing so well.
We were all shocked to hear his 1.5 year prison/boot camp sentence today.
My questions are this:
He is allowed to appeal, correct? and we can get him a different lawyer?
And if we as a family paid for this lawyer, how much does that usually run? Should we just look up criminal lawyers on the internet or is there a better way to select a new lawyer? Like I said, my family and I know nothing about the legal/court system. Some of these questions might be really obvious and I'm sorry for that.
Thanks so much for any help!