A youth who was wanted by local law enforcement, and allegedly led Batavia Police, State Police and Sheriff's deputies on a manhunt in the city two months ago, was sentenced to prison time for a violation of probation.
Christopher Laird, 17, originally from Elba, but has also lived in Le Roy and Batavia, failed to report for probation meetings in early 2010.
Police eventually caught up with Lair in Le Roy on April 4, two days after the manhunt, which involved a State Police helicopter.
Laird's probation was revoked. He will spend one to three years in state prison.
On Sunday March 21st I met
On Sunday March 21st I met this kid at the DeWitt SANDWASH...After awhile he finally trusted me enough to have a conversation...There is at least two sides to every story and he is not the riff-raff the press portrays...
The press hasn't portrayed
The press hasn't portrayed him in any manner. The facts and allegations have been shared, that is all.
Amen, Howard. I feel bad for
Amen, Howard. I feel bad for this kid, way too young to be going to prison, however, he made his own bed. Hopefully, this will be a lesson learned.
What crime(s) did this kid
What crime(s) did this kid commit? Was he bad in school?
I think being bad in school is a crime, but I'm not sure if it goes on record as a crimminal offense. My son just got himself a year of probation for having ADHD.I wanted a trial, but the public defender and the county attorney cooked up a beautiful sceme.When we rejected the county attorney's offer of a year on probation, he asked the court to hold my son in detention until the date of trial. The court agreed with this request. The county attorney first claimed it would take up to a month or longer to contact witnesses. The public defender claimed to need as much or more time. Here's where it gets tricky, we then find out the county attorney would have to ready his case within 3 days of the date my son would have been placed in detention. The public defender, who I thought was representing my son, claims she couldn't be ready in those 3 days. So if the defense counsel can't ready thier case in those 3 days, my son would have to stay in a detention center until the public defender was ready for trial. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I certainly don't believe the county attorney would have been ready in 3 days either.
So as you see, the public defender made, what I would call a very unproffessional manuever, she should have called the bluff.Most of the witnesses were the same on both sides of the fence. Would the witnesses drop everything for the county attorney, and suddenly not be available for the defense, I think not. My son committed no crime, if their is a criminal in this case it would be the City school district, which are now under investigation for their failure to comply with the provisions of federal education law in regards to handicapped students. So the only way I could get a trial would result in my son being put in detention/court placement for 30-45 days. The judge made sure to cover their tracks by asking my son if he felt he was coerced in accepting the 1 year probation.His only mistake was, he forgot to ask me. This was coercion at its best. The public defender did not clarify the fact the prosecution would have to be ready in 3 days, she led us to believe my son would be detained until the date of the trial.She explained all this to me the following day. Of course they do have transcripts of the proceedings, but this court has in the past, been accused of tampering with the transcripts.