Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

These are questions for your public defender, or another lawyer, who is familiar with the facts of your son's case and has reviewed all relevant documentation. The prosecutor is not your lawyer, so any words from him are not necessarily meant to help you. No lawyer can tell you why they didn't prosecute anyone else, other than it was probably due to lack of evidence. Nobody would know for sure without reviewing the entire case, all police reports, and talking to the prosecutor. If your son had mental disabilities, this should have been addressed before entering a plea, having a trial, or sentencing. If a person is found to be not mentally capable to understand right from wrong or the nature of their actions, they cannot be found guilty for their actions. The penalties sound extremely severe for a simple larceny case, unless your son has a criminal history, or there is a factor that you're not stating (such as other charges that were dropped, whether there were any weapons involved, etc).

I don't see how the average person with autism would be mentally competent to understand their actions sufficiently to warrant a guilty verdict, or be able to testify in his own defense. However, you didn't say whether your son entered into a plea bargain, or the case went to a jury or bench trial - that makes a difference.

Appeals have strict timelines. I'd suggest you retain a lawyer immediately if you want to explore your appellate options. I can assist you, but unfortunately not on a pro bono basis.

Good luck.

Just because your son may have some mental deficiencies does not mean that he may not be responsible for his criminal behavior. Competency and criminal responsibility (sane or insane) are usually issues that an attorney would bring to the court for an evaluation. If he is found competent and criminally responsible then he could be tried regardless of his limitations and could be criminally punished. http://www.wolverinelaw.com