we went to court today

[Mr 5 0]

Dani/Mustangbelle/old guy:

The attempt to run down the girl's father meets the criteria for attempted murder but it's difficult to prove so yes, a lot of the charges may simply be dropped down a bit but if the family keeps the pressure on the prosecutors office (I would if it was my daughter) they may not accept a plea that gives him just six months in jail.

Aside from the obviously criminal nature of his actions (death threats, the vehicular assault, etc) many prosecutors look at these stalking and threatening attempts very seriously, as they should.

Back in the '80's, in my state (CT) an ex-husband of a women did basically the same thing. Endless threats, stalking, attempts at physical harm but the local cops just blew it off as a 'domestic disturbance' and gave the guy a warning or did nothing at all.

One fateful day, the ex came calling and beat the woman to within an inch of her life (she never fully recovered). When she made a panic call to the police, they took about 15 minutes to arrive...way too late.

Oh, they got the guy in no time and he eventually did about ten years in prison but the woman sued the town police department and the state (for not jailing the guy on other pending charges like violating a court-imposed restraining order) and for not protecting her.

She won a multi-million-dollar settlement and the state changed the laws regarding stalking, threatening, and assaulting. It was named the 'Tracy Thurman' law after the woman who was the victim of the aforementioned crime.
Now, stalking and death threats are a felony and believe me, in my state, they send you up big-time when you pull that stuff, no matter the reason.
Sad stories don't save anyone anymore.

Many other states (possibly Indiana) saw the wisdom of getting serious about men stalking and threatening women and enacted similar laws and developed similar tough attitudes about this kind of crime. This may be in play in your boyfriends sons situation.

Of course, he may very well just get a few months and some treatment...hard to say at this point.
His attorney would know more than any of us would as he's on the case and knows the local legal system. Things change from state to state.

I do know that simply denying everything is not going to get him anywhere. He needs to cop to the crimes, try to get a reduction in the charges and do a Mea Culpa in order to hope for a lighter sentence.

Playing hardball will guarantee he goes up for a long time, as prosecutors hate to go to trial but if they have to on a slam-dunk case like this, the judge usually is annoyed that everyone's time was wasted when there is no real defense, so they come down hard. Something the son should be thinking about.

Denial won't get him squat - except more trouble.