More details to this question:
1. 17 year old son ran away and lived with mom for 1 1/2 years 2.Got arrested for marijuana charge when 17 3. blew off P O and flunked urine test 4. showed up at door wanting help 5. has several tickets worse being #2 6.i was summoned to court 7. called lawyer was told only pre trial no need for counsel 8. was called by P O was told he must have a lawyer 9. trial is on Tues oct 15 10. since he is know 18 can he apply for a court appointed attorney ? 11. Do I need representation?
1 ANSWER
General Practice Attorney serving Ontonagon, MI
at
Robert Peterson, Attorney at Law
Update Your Profile
You need to contact local counsel to discuss this situation. Unfortunately there are several issues in this case, and I would need more information to give you advice. For example.
You stated that your son was 17 when he was arrested for marijuana possession. Is this case in juvenile court or district court? If it is in juvenile court, was this informal or formal adjudication? Was the case waived to district court? Is there a Child in Need of Assistance (CINA) case? As you can see, there are many questions and the answers vary per the answers.
Even if your son is now 18, if the case is a juvenile case, and it has not been waived to district court, it would remain a juvenile case for disposition.
Regardless, if there is a court case, your son is entitled to an attorney if a jail term is a possibility, and marijuana has a minimum sentence of 48 hours in jail. Thus your son should apply for a court appointed attorney with the clerk of court in the county of the charge. Your son should have been told his rights which include the right to counsel. Talk to counsel about the case immediately.
Answered on Oct 26th, 2013 at 4:09 PM