It's over!

19 months later, life can be lived outside

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

This past Monday, it finally happened. After 19 long months, Mr. Lucky signed his plea agreement. In that moment, his case was done and done with a huge win for himself and the autism community.

We've never been able to prove that my son didn't do what he was accused of but, thanks to our attorneys, a very forward-thinking prosecutor, and a very forward-thinking judge, Mr. Lucky walked away with just 10 years of supervised probation. No jail time. No signing the sex registry - something that was my biggest nightmare. This is a huge win because in very conservative states like Virginia, consideration for the differences of the autistic mind are not always given. In fact, those differences are rarely taken into account.

I wish I had a photo of Mr. Lucky, in his dark blue NY Yankees jacket, flanked by our attorneys Chris and Cary in their dark blue suits, sitting like the dream team in front of the judge. The judge had some questions for my son and a few for his attorneys and for three seconds I worried the whole thing was going sideways. But, it turned out that the judge just wanted to make sure my son understood, 100%, what he was agreeing to.

And then the judge asked my son to stand, and he, Chris and Cary, did. And then I heard what we’ve been waiting for and praying for for close to two years.

“Mr. McCorkindale,” the judge said, “I wish you good luck."

What can I tell you? I started to cry and so did Mr. Lucky.

There was lots of hugging and laughing with relief as we all walked to our cars. Chris and Cary off to the office, Mr. Lucky and I off to check in with the probation office as we were told to do.

So, we get there. It’s about one o’clock in the afternoon, and they don’t have the final dispensation of Mr. Lucky’s case. It probably won’t arrive until the evening but, that’s ok. They don’t need it. Why? Because according to them, my son’s probation will be based upon his original charge. Who cares what the plea agreement says!

Oh yes, they tried to railroad us - Mr. Lucky - into signing the SEX REGISTRY.

We were both in shock. I kept saying, I just spent 19 months of my life trying to save my son's life, trying to save him from this, and THIS is what you're doing to us? And God bless my boy. He kept saying, Mom, call Cary. So we call Cary, and the probation lady is insisting that they don't care what the final plea agreement is, his probation will be based upon his original charge. Then she brings in some Deputy, and he says the same thing. Meanwhile Cary is on the phone saying no no no. And Mr. Deputy is like, I'm sorry, we make the final determination here, in probation. On top of that, they've told me I can't bring my son home. Not until they come and inspect the condo and make sure there are no minors living here and that this will take SEVEN DAYS and for that period of time, Mr. Lucky can live in some special "house" they have or a hotel.

I lost it. I didn't curse (shocking, I know), but I lost it on them. I said they could arrest me, but I was taking my autistic son home with me. (I think I was so frightened that my typical cursing was replaced by the words autistic and autism. I just kept throwing them around, trying to get through to these small, evil people.) And I kept repeating that we didn't fight for 19 months for them to come along and undo what a judge just approved.

It was a nightmare. I am still reeling from it. And I can tell you that THIS is what they do to people who don't have family with them, and those who aren't educated, and those who don't have high priced attorneys fighting for them. They take advantage and they don't care about the end result.

At some point I recalled that I had a draft of Mr. Lucky’s plea agreement in my email and I sent it to the Deputy. We waited about 30 minutes for him and the others to read it and then they brought us back in. They started going over the details of his probation again, still treating him like a pervert, and I said, again, My son is coming home with me. And they said, yes, we're letting you take him home. Then I thought I'd really kill one of them. I said, you're not letting me do anything. He is supposed to come home, so stop screwing with us. That took some of the wind out of their sails, particularly when they had to admit that Mr. Lucky’s probation would indeed be based upon his plea agreement.

Friends, I was shaking. I wanted to smack them for scaring us so cruelly. It was a nightmare. If God forbid my son had signed that piece of paper, no amount of fighting, seeing the plea agreement, anything, would have gotten him off that list.

In the end, we won. We did it. And that bodes well for any other young adult with autism who gets caught up in the criminal justice system in Virginia. But please, beware of law enforcement. They lied straight to our faces on Monday.

---

The Moral of the Story

Never go straight to the probation office after your court case is concluded. Go the next day or the day after. And bring someone who loves you with you.

---

I couldn’t have survived this journey without you. Thank you for reading Life on the Inside and cheering us on. Now that we have the final chapter, I can continue turning this into a memoir and working on Autism and the Law, an outgrowth of all I’ve learned since this started. I hope you’ll subscribe. Your support means so very much to me. Again, my deepest thanks. I’ll be in touch. Happy Thanksgiving!