Brief facts: Juvenile and two of his friends go on a b-b gun shooting spree around our fair city. They manage to do over $11,000 worth of damage to people's cars, windows, etc. This is in late July.

I get the police reports in early August. Juvenile turns 17 on August 12 or so. Juvenile has no prior record.

I am trying to come up with a creative way to get around the fact that I can only put this kid on probation for less than a year and have him ordered to pay restitution. Does anyone have any ideas, or is he just lucky?

I had a similar case in Ft. Bend where a kid did $150,000 worth of damage with a bulldozer in a new subdivision just before he turned 17. I tried to certify him but the judge wouldn't (he had no prior record either). You can make a restitution order on him and his parents that is not a condition of probation so it won't necessarily end when he turns 18, other than that I think you're stuck. You could also do Motions to Release Records for the victims and ask the court to allow you to divulge the names, addresses, etc of the parents and kid so that they can file in small claims court for their damages.
If you need any of the above paperwork let me know and I can fax or email it to you.

I had the same thing here, except the kids tore up the city golf course and damaged a lot of private carts and their contents. Apparently, golf carts and golf clubs don't float very well. Anyway, Stacey I would appreciate the chance to take a look at your forms. You can e-mail them to me if you want. My info is in my profile. Thanks.

John,

For some reason I can't pull up your email addy in the info section.
Email me at stacey.brownlee@co.gregg.tx.us
and I will send you my forms.

S