My son, Alexander VanVleet, broke the law when he was 19. The charges brought against him were for crimes that he had not committed, and the court and district attorney acknowledged that. He was found guilty of a lesser charge, that he did commit. He was given the maximum time, for this lesser charge, even though he was a first-time offender. He received a 15-year sentence with parole to follow.

Alex has served over 10 years of his sentence. The friend he was with got a 5-year sentence and has been home for a while now.

My son deserves a second chance. Also, my health is failing, and I really need him home to help me. These two reasons are why we are asking for help in convincing the judge to reduce his sentence to ten years, or time served. Ten years is still over half of the minimum sentence for the crime he did commit.

Alex has learned his lesson many times over, understands that he was wrong and needed to go to prison for his crime. He has finished growing up in prison and is now a 30-year-old man. 

There is a website with much more information about the crime and sentence, as well as pictures of Alex, which is justiceforvanvleet.org.

Please sign this petition to get my son started on the rest of his life. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Cathy VanVleet