Brent was not offered a Public Defender prior to being questioned, before being read his Miranda by the Mesa Police Department. His parents sure didn't hear one offered-- they'd been removed before that questioning began at 10am. At the school, Brent was questioned from 10am until 11:27 am, before his Juvenile Miranda was explained to him.
Andrew Thomas had him direct-filed into Adult Court at 11:30am, three minutes later, YET the interview did not end until just after 1pm-- time and information enough to consider what action was most appropriate for charges??? OR JUST LONG ENOUGH TO ENSURE THE CHILD COULD NOT RECEIVE MEDICAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING IMMEDIATELY, in order to establish that baseline/UA for further, future testing. (maybe we should be grateful he has an irreversible physical and potentially lethal condition?)
BRENT was asked ONLY if he still wanted to proceed with talking to the "Peace Officers," and asked again only once, upon arrival at the Police Station, if he wanted to speak with his parents. He was NOT asked if he wanted his parents PRESENT at any time once he had been detained, per the PD's recordings. AGAIN: he was still considered a JUVENILE AT THAT POINT-- having received his JUVENILE MIRANDA, and as his parents, we asked to be back within his immediate presence several times. We don't care what he wanted. It was our job to care for him, and we were denied that right. The FACTS are: if we HAD been present to advise him, and if Brent had said nothing at all, there would be NO CASE NOW. Remember as well, that the things he DID say were twisted out of true, using wording that BRENT did not use, but which was PARAPHRASED by the Mesa Police Department in such a way that Brent's original intention completely disappearred and was presented to the public on an entirely concocted platform!
The Detectives told him they would get him help if he told THEM what he was THINKING. When he agreed to verbalize his THOUGHTS, they said he had made threats at that point, and deliberately denied him the help they had promised. BRENT THOUGHT he was being arrested for one charge that never even got mentioned-- he found out what the charges against him were only after the Grand Jury indictment on 9 April 2007, when he also discovered he'd been incarcerated in adult facility on ADULT charges! NO ONE ever told him WHAT charge(s) he was being arrested for specifically.
When we asked the Clerk of the Court if he had a Public Defender assigned on April 2nd, she said yes. When we asked for that person's name and contact information, she stated that no actual PERSON was assigned. HOW was it right to send this CHILD before the Grand Jury, without Counsel? Until he appeared before the judge on the already-decided Grand Jury indictment, he had no Public Defender, no idea what the charges against him actually were nor that he had been charged as an adult, and no idea he was being detained in an ADULT facility. A WEEK LATER, upon receiving documentation from that hearing via jail mail, there was (finally) the name of a Public Defender assigned... who NOT ONCE EVER contacted him.
Yet Andrew Thomas believes this BOY capable of understanding a Plea Agreement which takes the rest of his life from him, with no chance for apology, redemption, or atonement-- which the BOY wishes to provide!
We found the funds to retain Brent's attorney-- and we have every confidence in them. WE JUST GOT THERE TOO LATE to stop things before they spiraled out of control. Many thanks to our friends & family who helped to raise those funds so quickly! We know many of you sacrificed a great deal of your own assets and family time to help us with this crisis!
What we DID find of particular interest were the credit checks run against us, through all three of the major reporting bureaus, without our knowledge or consent between 10am and 11:30am on 23 March 2007. NO--we can't tell you from whom those inquiries came... because we can't find out. All we know is: the source is "protected information."
