Today, Wednesday, 12/16/15, and Friday, 12/18/15, Paul will be in court. The DA's office has made no change in position. Some people may reason we should plead out and spare Paul this trauma, but that would be rewarding bully behavior with our submission. In a reply to a comment I gave the following reasons we will not and should not settle: I thank you for your thoughtful comments and good wishes. As for your contention that he should have "some" consequence, I would agree, except that: 1. this was already a known and documented problem, yet the school chose to deliver services in a less controllable environment (he was under the school's responsibility to deliver Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)); 2. he was awaiting a residential placement (yet a public library was appropriate in the interim ?); 3. he has already been stripped of most his higher order civil rights, such as voting, so he can be compelled by us, his conservators to accept whatever placement that will satisfy the court, without the necessity and stigma of criminal conviction; 4. punishment is a meaningless form of behavior modification for most people, let alone someone with developmental disability; 5. if he had a form of Tourette's Syndrome where he compulsively uttered profanities, even in front of children, would you seek even a more gentle criminal charge? Autism, especially where there are higher functioning aspects (he can read and write), is “invisible” to most people and, thus, they project neuro-typical expectations on people with high-functioning autism. 6. this can be the beginning of a slippery slope (actually, it would seem, already begun) where public agencies are able to abrogate their responsibilities and failures to the criminal justice system and legally "wash their hands" of expensive problems. Paul's behavior should have been addressed by the school long before this and this is why, before this event in July, we had hired a law firm and were in the middle of a civil complaint with the same school district. Most any school activity had, in itself, become a trigger for this behavior. A principal part of our complaint is that the school district conditioned him to behave like this since he would often be sent home as a "consequence." Most students, including Paul, find such a “consequence” rewarding. No, the school district should have offered a different placement or a better behavior plan, but they did not, and, as a result, his behavior became progressively worse. I am sorry, but, no, we will not plead out. We will correct his behavior through therapeutic means and the victim, if they still need to be made whole, can seek a civil remedy in law. In fact, I propose that a government underwritten insurance (as is flood and earthquake insurance) might, in the future, be made available for people with such disabilities, thus criminal prosecution would be not necessary. You may add comments to this reply at the following Google Drive address: