We are overwhelmed and humbled by your generosity, your kindness, your passion, and your support. This petition has gone far beyond our own circle of friends and our broadest expectations. Thank you, a thousand times, thank you! This is all any of you need to know: we are so grateful! If you want to know more, please continue reading, otherwise, just know you have made a huge difference in a young man’s life. Paul’s eyes light up as we share the growing numbers of people signing his petition. He hears you and he is one person with autism who knows he is not alone and has the support of both friends and strangers, although Paul has never met a stranger and were he to meet you, he may, without prompting, begin lecturing you and testing your knowledge of U.S. college sports or roller coasters of the world. His anxiety visibly eases as this petition grows and he draws strength and comfort from your affirmations. Whatever the outcome of this case, you have made a young man believe that people can understand him for his exceptions. Thank you, you give his mother and I hope for the kind of world to which we will leave him. And, for more than Paul’s sake, this petition should be broadly supported, since, in many places across the USA and the world, justice systems’ harsh treatment of the developmentally disabled has been on-going. I cannot imagine how poorly some developmentally disabled people are living amidst the present strife in some parts of the wide world. Our hearts go out to them and we hope for their safety. Here is where I will gently point out that the first innocent, unarmed victims of the Nazi regime of Germany were the severely disabled, as part of the Nazi “euthanasia campaign.” History is full of events where the disabled have been the least regarded and most expendable of many societies. You all should know that we are very grateful for your support and hope you will continue to support Paul and the rights of all people, including the developmentally disabled. Please continue sharing this petition, but let’s think ahead of how we may make all justice systems mindful of the developmentally disabled. Our attorney is seeking stories from other families of the developmentally disabled that may have had similar negative experiences with the justice system, especially here in northern California. Please feel free to contact me with your story and how we may contact you. sgordo88@hotmail.com The San Francisco chapter of the Autism Society of America (SFASA) and Change.org have been very supportive of us. SFASA is hopeful of creating a legal defense support that, ideally, can assist with legal support for families and, perhaps, strive for legislative change to address this flaw in the legal system. Hopefully, this is the beginning of solutions and support for protecting the legal rights of the more vulnerable people of the U.S. or any society. In the Law Review link included, the author gives a scholarly treatment of how the question of "intent" or the "criminal mind," when the U.S. justice system deals with the developmentally disabled, can vary from state to state, county to county, and town to town. I thank Jill Escher of the SFASA for sharing this article with me. http://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/45/4/Articles/45-4_Nevins-Saunders.pdf If you are interested, the following are details and clarifications regarding Paul’s case: 1. It is our contention that the Monterey County District Attorney (DA) is by implication making behavior caused by autism a crime. What Paul did was a direct result of his disability. However, to be clear, the DA is not directly charging him with autism as a crime. So far, autism itself is not a crime, but seems so, in cases, such as Paul’s. Cases such as Paul’s, if criminal charges are acceptable under the law, at present, we would hope to change that. 2. We do not know the extent of the alleged injury to the disabled woman, but, as with any accident, there can be a civil remedy for a victim to consider. Under any circumstances, convicting, let alone charging, our son with a crime does not make her whole and serves no purpose, but to bury our son under a list of “wrong-doings” that can, ultimately, enable society to institutionalize him under the label of criminal, rather than needy and exceptional. Therapy has been a much needed and on-going success for Paul. 3. We do not condone what our son did, we are very concerned about the alleged victim's welfare (when we asked, ADA Hornik refused to give us any information), it was an unwanted event, and I was an unhappy eyewitness to the event. But, we do not feel that a criminal charge makes sense when Paul lacked criminal intent. Emotionally and as a state-of-mind, Paul’s behavior and impulse were like a five year-old’s. Would there be a criminal charge of any kind against a five year-old who did the same thing as a result of a tantrum? 4. Paul has impulse and behavior challenges related to his autism and is not specifically intellectually disabled (mentally retarded) or mentally ill. He does have severe differences concerning his senses, emotions, and ability to understand others. He is complicated and unique. In the autism community, the saying is, “if you have met one person with autism, then you have met one person with autism.” All people with autism, or any disability, may share some characteristics, but all people with a disability, are, ultimately, unique and one-of-a-kind, just as are the “neuro-typical,” people who function more typically. Some of the issues facing the mentally ill may be the same, but that is not, at present, his diagnosis. 5. With any crime, especially a felony, prison is always a possibility, though, a hospital facility of some kind may, realistically, be the most severe placement. The only negotiation offered by Assistant District Attorney (ADA), Jones, or, before him, ADA Hornik, was that Paul plead guilty to the felony charges and the District Attorney’s office would recommend probation. Despite many attempts on our part to engage and discuss the issue, even now, after two full months since Paul’s arraignment, as of this writing, no new position has been made known to our attorney. We do not think Paul should have a “strike” under California’s Three Strikes Law because he pushed someone. Once again, we cannot thank you enough. Our best wishes to you and hopes for your new year.