With all that being said, it becomes quite evident that the kid didn’t have money and his public defender didn’t do anything on his behalf, except sell him out.
With all that going for him, his attorney told him to accept a plea bargain altering his life forever.
That guy should be brought up on charges of legal malpractice.
I think that the prosecutors should have to pay restitution out of their own pockets, a full ride, including room and board to USC. ...but we can include the public defenders in that as well. They tried the kid as an adult and then used scare tactics to convince him to take the plea bargain.
I’d say that they should all be disbarred, but then they wouldn’t have any money to pay the restitution. Where are all the restorative justice advocates when you need them?
How did he give the advice? I'm not a crim law practitioner, but if a client came to me in his situation, it would be my duty to run all the possible scenarios by him. These are the consequences of a conviction. These are the consequences of a plea.
I used to know a Los Angeles public defender. He said that if he didn't plea deal 99% of his cases, he'd have been fired. The whole job is running people through the system as quickly as possible.