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My son is a 32 year old African American. His license was suspended because of child support. As long as he worked he would pay his child support. Even when he was unemployed he would pay his child support with his unemployment. The first time he got stopped he did not know that his license had been suspended. My son Dax McCarthy had no record. He never hangs with gangs. He is not on drugs. He is a hard working young man. It like he can’t get a brake. He has 3 children. He loves his kids. He is not the best father but he tries. Because of child support he not able to drive so he takes the bus. The first time he went to court he went to the wrong court house. How ever the clerk at the wrong court wrote a letter to the other court to let them know that he was at the wrong court house. The court didn’t want to hear it they put a warrant out for him. Sometime if it was not for bad luck that boy would not have any luck. Going to jail will not help my son. He is a good person and I could get letters saying that. He just had not been able to get any order in his life. I felt if he had some kind of help. If the court would put him on Probation and make him go to school or make him do something positive with his life. I don’t know who he will be if they put him in jail. Going to jail would make him lose his job; get farther back on his child support. Looks like Maryland wants to put these young men in jail quick! My husband went to court with my son the other day. And for some reason the D.A. was determine to send my son to jail. My husband said that the D.A. seemed to give everyone else PBT but when he got to my son, he just wanted to put him in jail. My husband is a Master Mason so he did conduct his self in and orderly fashion and so did my son. When my husband asked if he could be community service the D.A. was indignant for no reason. I was a parent for 16 years. I came to Baltimore, and married my husband, who is an honorable man and he helped me raise my two children. We never had problems with him except for that child support. He is paying child support for my youngest child for which I have 3 to 4 days out of a week. I am on ss and so is my husband. Somehow we will get an attorney if you think that’s what we should we should do this. Can you let me know what steps to take? His jury trail is July 18, 2012.Kaye Disch
Optional Information: Country relating to Question: United States State (if USA): Maryland Already Tried: My husband tried to talk to the D.A. For some reason he felt it was proper to be disrespectful to him. Hollering at him.
I hope this message finds you well, present circumstances excluded and I applaud you for sticking by your son's side during this difficult time. I would highly recommend getting an attorney to represent your son and the sooner you can do it the better with the approaching court date.
There are a lot of really good public defenders our there, so my first advice would be to ask the court in which your son's trial is scheduled to appoint a public defender. You can do this by contacting the court clerk and asking that they give him a public defender. He will likely have to fill out some paperwork that states that he cannot afford an attorney of his own currently. Meet with the public defender as soon as possible.
When he meets with the attorney, he needs to bring with him a time line of events that have led to this current situation. He simply needs to sit down and type or write out in detail about his children, his employment history, his child support requirements, his driver license suspension, etc. This will help the attorney understand the situation, which will save time and help him or her defend your son in a more skilled manner.
I would also suggest that your son request that they attorney try to reach a plea deal for community service with the prosecutor prior to the trial. The public defender ought to be very accustomed to such request and should have a working relationship with the prosecutor to do just that.
In summary, I would highly recommend getting an attorney to represent your son. Moreover, I would first start with a public defender. Request that the court appoint one to him. If you are not satisfied with the public defender, you then may want to put together the money to hire another attorney. Try to reach a plea deal before the trial if possible. If, by some chance, he has to go to trial and loses, he can always file an appeal from the ruling and it will be beneficial to have an attorney present to help file the appeal.
I wish you guys the best going forward with this ordeal. You are taking the right steps and it will work out in the end.
Experience: 9 years practicing IP law and general litigation