I have a 16 yr.old and a 21 year old that are being treated unfairly by the court system.. It's completely outrageous.

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I’m sorry to hear you are having these problems with your legal issue. I know that can be frustrating. However, we can get this resolved quickly.

Your younger son is being charged with murder during committing a felony? What is your older son charged with?

I’m sorry to hear about your issues here, hopefully, we can solve them quickly.

Felony murder occurs when someone causes a death while committing a felony. When combined with aiding and abetting, anyone involved in the felony that led to the person's death can be convicted of murder. And that can lead to a life sentence without parole in Minnesota.

Generally, the juvenile court has jurisdiction over individuals under the age of 18 who engage in unlawful conduct, with certain exceptions. The juvenile court may decide that a child over the age of 14 who is accused of a particularly dangerous offense and/or has engaged in criminal conduct in the past would be handled more appropriately in the adult court.

The law presumes that certain juvenile offenders will be certified to adult court for criminal prosecution. A child is subject to this presumption if:

• the child was 16 or 17 years old at the time of the felony offense
• the court finds probable cause to believe the child committed either: (1) a felony offense that would result in a presumptive commitment to prison under the sentencing guidelines and applicable statutes (generally violent or other repeat serious offenses); or (2) any felony offense while using a firearm.

Thus, it is very possible that he will be charged as an adult since this is a violent crime and involves death.

So if you're younger son is charged as an adult since he's only 16, he could face up to life in prison for this. Murder during the commission of a felony is one of the top tiers of criminal offenses in our legal system.

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If you cannot afford a lawyer and are low/no income, your sons will be appointed the public defender at the first hearing at no cost. Since there is jail time attached to the crimes they are charged with, the right to counsel applies pursuant to the 6th Amendment.

Unfortunately, there are no private lawyers that do criminal defense for free. That is why the public defender's office exists and the judge will appoint that during the first hearing/appearance. They will then get to meet with the public defender who will represent them.

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