The Law Offices of Haytham Faraj, PLLC

When D and his mother came to my office, they were desperate for help and answers. D had been caught in school with some Marijuana. D is an African-American teenager. He was not doing well in school and looked unlikely to complete high school. He certainly was not going to graduate with his class. D, according to the complaining teacher's statement was caught with the illegal substance. And he wasn't just possessing; he was smoking.What normally happens in these cases and what the prosecutor expected will happen is that D will plead guilty and be placed on probation. Lawyers that D's mom spoke to quoted her a price but gave her no confidence that her son would avoid a conviction on his record. When she came to my office she was distraught and seemed desperate. I asked her to tell me the truth about her son. She said that she interrogated him and believed him when he said that he was not using and the accusation was false. I told her to get him drug tested to confirm. She did. The test results came back clean. I took the results and went to speak to the prosecutor. I was given the standard deal offer. I refused. The court gave us more time to decide what to do.I counseled D on staying out of trouble and gave him some life advice, the type of advice I used to offer my Marines. I asked D's mom to continue to test him. Today, three months after allegations were initially made against D, we had another pretrial conference. I persuaded the prosecutor that he had nothing to gain by going forward. I had the evidence that proved D was not a user. More importantly, I had gotten to know D and really liked him. I was determined to help him avoid a conviction. We would go to trial. The prosecutor agreed to drop the charges. D is now pursuing military options. I had a meaningful day.Haytham FarajHaytham Faraj is a trial attorney with offices in Metro Detroit and Chicago. He also represents military clients throughout the United States and the world. He can be reached by email at Haytham@farajlaw.com.