Thanks everyone. Elmore I can talk about it. I could have talked sooner, but I don't like to put anything out on the internet until it's over. It was a total crock of poop. My client was goofing around after a night out having a few drinks with friends. He was a college senior and it was the last weekend of college. He and a buddy were goofing around in the dorm. He lit a door decoration (piece of paper on the door) on fire and his buddy put it out. they went into the shower room and he lit a piece of paper on fire and dropped it into the garbage can and they put it out.
They were laughing and giggling like drunken college students because they were drunken college students. Anyway, he went into the bathroom, found a girl in the guys bathroom. That was really funny to all of them. she made her exit. He used the facilities then saw the toliet paper hanging down from the dispenser. he lit it with the lighter and no surprise it burned up wards. His buddy kicked the dispenser off the wall and they thought they had it out. They went to bed and woke up to fire alarms and smoke. Somehow it wasn't out and the dispenser was burning. It destroyed the dispenser, melted the toilet seat and sent tons of really thick smoke into the halls. No one got hurt and the "fire" was out about the time the fire men got there.
For this he was charged with Arson in the first degree. If convicted he would have had a mandatory 25 year prison sentence and since he's a permanent resident from Bosnia, he would have been deported. The jury had two other options that they could have convicted him on, second degree arson or reckless use of fire. If he got the reckless or not guilty he was fine. The second degree he could have gotten probation, but he would have been deported. The offer was second degree. The jury said not guilty.
My client is a really great kid. He got his bachelors in Business Administration and Marketing. He'd never been in trouble before. He's just a really cool guy. His mother doesn't speak much English, but she and his brother were there. He came to the US and played basketball for one of the local powerhouse high school basketball teams and got an academic and sports scholarship to college. Both the high school coaches and the college coaches came to the trial yesterday to show support. The support his friends and family showed was fabulous and that really makes an impression on the jury.
Today I gave a 22 year old his life back. It was a nice day
