Part 10~The Fight For My Son's Life Began

So here I was. My 18 son was in jail, accused of a murder I knew in my heart he did not commit. A murder he told me he did not commit.



What do I do? What do I say? Where did I go from here? What was next? All I could do was what I thought was right. I had no experience. No real knowledge of the legal system. I wasn't wealthy be any stretch of the word. I was just a clerk at a local department store, making a little above minimum wage. My husband was a skilled laborer. Together we were making just enough to survive. We had 7 children, 4 were still living at home and 1 was in college up North.



My son had been given a court appointed attorney. That attorney later called me and told me point blank that he didn't have the means it would take to defend my son, this case was just too big. That I needed a lawyer with what he called a 'war chest'. And the funds just were not there for him being a court appointed attorney.



I got on the phone and called a cousin of mine who was a lawyer. I explained what was going on. He told me he had seen the news all that day. I told him we needed a good lawyer and I needed his help to find one. He himself was not a criminal lawyer. But he said he knew a few different ones and he would get back with me as soon as possible.



In the mean time I also called the lawyer my brother in-law had told me about. We set up an appointment with that lawyer while we waited to hear back from my cousin. We went and spoke with this lawyer and I liked him quite a bit. He had already researched my son's case and had spoken with him. He said he believed my son but with this signed statement it was going to be a very tough case. He then told us he would need 75,000. just to be retained, and there would be more fees as the case progressed. I was crushed. There was no way we could ever come up with the sum he asked for.



My cousin then came through. He had a Friend who was a very good criminal lawyer and had a lot of experience with high profile cases. And as a favor to my cousin, he went and spoke with my son. He then said he believed my son and he would take the case for a much lower fee. So we remortgaged our home, borrowed money from family, and Jon's father, my ex. And we retained this lawyer. I had heard it said once that this lawyer was the lawyer's lawyer. I believe we hired the best we could.



I did not know at that time the other two boys parents or families. Unknowingly we had all done the same thing and hired the best lawyers we could. None of us went with the court appointed attorneys. This wasn't something that the authorities thought would ever happen.



I will always believe that the authorities, thought that this would be a slam dunk case. That they had three troubled youths, from troubled homes and who's families did not care about them. I think they thought they'd all have court appointed attorneys and they would all "plea" and the case would be closed.



However, these were not three throw away boys from bad homes. Troubled youths perhaps. But they had families who loved them, cared about them, and who all separately swore to stand behind them. I truly believe had they known "Us" at all they never would have settled on our three sons.



The authorities were in for a fight they never expected.