Wednesday, 2/17/2016 UPDATE in Brief: DA reduced all charges to one misdemeanor assault with potential for Great Bodily Injury (GBI). Paul is on an "informal probation," which means he can stay indefinitely at the Lakemary facility in Kansas, without reporting to a probation officer. Paul leaves for Lakemary in the next day or two. The court still ignores that this was prosecution of a disability. Not sure how much I can say, but tomorrow, we hope will be, may be, Paul's last day in court except for any possible follow-ups on probation. This means we are relieved, angry, sad, and grateful. Relieved? Well, at least this part would be over. Paul was visibly happier when we related to him that tomorrow's court date could be his last for a while. But honestly, I am sure the rate of "Pleading Out" in cases involving the Developmental Disabled/Intellectually Disabled (DD/ID) is super high. It has been a nightmare dealing with a our son's stress. Hey, any district attorneys that need more wins, prosecute DD/ID people. The families are typically traumatized and accustomed to apologizing. Easy win! Hang out by moderate/severe classrooms, group homes, and just about anywhere with someone DD/ID. We are grateful that this DA and his office have proven to be fair, thorough, compassionate, and considerate in their treatment of Paul. Unfortunately, in this process, we have learned of other autism families in other jurisdictions that have been not so fortunate. Just being clear, here. https://www.justicepartners.monterey.courts.ca.gov/Public/JPPublicViewCase.aspx?id=CjngLfNXkMsg+PfN/qNlLw== Angry? Let's imagine, the charge is reduced to a misdemeanor. That's good, since it's far better than a Strike felony, however, the whole question of a known risky behavior being placed into a "perfect storm," where harm could happen as a result, by a lazy, irresponsible, and/or scheming school district remains a problem. The fact is, not that Monterey Peninsula Unified School District certainly did so, but a school district or any support and/or service providing agency can, should they so choose, rid themselves of a troublesome or "expensive" student. Simply put them in the wrong place at the right time... Voila! I cannot be sure why the school district has been given no mention of liability, civil or criminal, in this case, but I can only speculate. Everything that has happened, since this day in July, has played well for the school district that carefully hid costly alternative placements for Paul, long before this legal matter arose, so maybe the school district has a friend in a high place? There are so many unanswered questions and loose ends here, I am forced to speculate. He is still being convicted of doing something that is directly caused by his autism and made worse by a lack of timely remediation from support and/or service providers. In other words, this should have been addressed far sooner and the library should never have been offered as a setting. Sad? First, the school district has deliberately and/or negligently made Paul's behavior reach a point where at his age and level of need an out-of-state facility was his only placement option. Second, my son may not be home for a year or more. Third, part of me was glad he was being prosecuted for his behavior related to autism. I mean, gee, if autism is illegal, then society will have to offer a cure, right? But, so far, no cure is offered, but plenty of shame and scorn, in abundance. Our cup runneth over with good intentions, yet we are sad. Grateful. I can say with absolute certainty that friends, supporters, and critics have made a huge difference and for this we are grateful. The first two, for obvious reasons, as they gave us courage and helped to bring "focus" to the issue. The third? Well, most of the critical comments on media were rightfully concerned about the safety of the public and, on this. we have no fundamental disagreement, apart from automatic institutionalization of people with DD/ID. By asking for the charges to be dropped, we sought to distinguish unfortunate consequences, such as those caused by Paul's behavior, from deliberate harm that others may cause. No one has proven nor can prove that Paul meant harm in his actions, so were the charges to have been dropped, this was not a "dangerous precedent." A "dangerous precedent" where people need only get a diagnosis of autism by the age of four, receive specialized education throughout their school career, qualify for DD/ID support services from local regional centers, then hurt people as they see fit. Honestly, some people implied that dropping the charges would create such a chain of effects as to endanger the public with roaming bands of enabled autists doing as they will. The other critics? Well, beyond the scattered public safety concerns, the remaining critics fell comfortably into the area of "hate" speech with a few "R" words and summary monster-like descriptions of Paul. These well-thought smears of Paul were, presumably, based upon what could have only been the most cursory readings of the articles or other media sources. One, comment, following Mr. Carlson's article in the Sacramento Bee online, turns out to have been "cyberbait," (ie. looking for spirited responses), from a conservative talk-show, shock-jock, host in the San Diego area. What concerns me is that this shock jock identifies himself as a former police officer and firefighter, so is a first responder, who feels that the solution is to simply lock-up my son in a sort Draconian One-Strike-and-You're-Out form of "justice." How many "First-Responders" feel the same way? Here's the Sacramento Bee page with the comments at the bottom: http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/article57245043.html His Twitter page: https://twitter.com/gringotj His webpage: http://hartleyrichard.com/ But such was the risk I assumed when I took Paul's case to the public. I learned something from this experience and, if I am ever, again, in the classroom or have cause to comfort a teen victim of cyberbullying. I learned that it does hurt, so, "just ignore it," is hardly a solution. I learned that cyber bullies, just like the in-person variety, are easily cowed when confronted. Of the "hate" speech "critics," none deigned to respond to my answers to their posts nor to any of the responses from others. So, if I were to counsel a teen victim of cyberbullying, my advice would be to find comfort in your own words, your own courage, your own friends, and your own sympathizers, but, bullies, like terrorists, win, when you give up and accept their "truth." With Mixed Feelings, But Certain Gratitude, Steve Gordo Paul's Dad.