Battery to a minor

[Chitownman]

My 15 year old cousin was walking home this past weekend at 9:30 at night and was approached by seven different men (all over the age of 18, some 21). They beat him up pretty bad, broke his nose and messed up his jaw pretty good. He went to the hospital and he was too scared to file a report but apperantly the hospital has to call the police and file one (which is good, I tried convincing my cousin that he had to).

Here's the thing, his mother is a schizophrenic and has been in problems with the law before so the police are not really taking this seriously. My cousin gave them names of people who were involved but nothing has happend. When I called a little while ago they just said they were taking care of it and that there was nothing else they could do. What I want to know is.. is there anything I can do? Should I hire a lawyer? This would be a battery right? What kind of sentence are these men looking at? Any help would be appreciated because this is a very sad thing to happen to a child especially one that has already had a rough life like him. I also dont' want them to be arrested and get out really fast and get vengence on my aunt and my cousin which is why I ask what the sentence is.

[Valor55]

We can't answer the specifics of the law without know where this happened.

If you've made the report that's all you can do. Wait for the police to finish the investigation and file charges if they can.

You also may have civil remedies and a lawyer familiar with civil law suits can better address the specific merits of your case.

[scott715us]

Hiring an attorney for criminal charges won't do you any good during a police investigation. Although a report was done, if your cousin didn't know who the suspects were and/or there were not any witnesses, the likelihood of it being solved is low.

Like Valor advised, you could hire an attorney to pursue civil charges to maybe pay for hospital bills, etc. But like I said above, if they can't determine who the suspects are, then your basically up a creek without a paddle.

Even if they are identified, getting money out of them through civil court would be hard. They probably don't have any money to begin with and you would end up spending more on attorney and court fees.

Sorry that it happened, but battery, even on a kid of his age, is usually a misdemeanor. It really doesn't become a felony in most states unless a weapon is involved or the victim is under a certain age.

Good luck.

[S43riff]

but battery, even on a kid of his age, is usually a misdemeanor. It really doesn't become a felony in most states unless a weapon is involved or the victim is under a certain age.

Good luck.

Broken nose? would be a felony here.

[scott715us]

I guess that would fall under "serious bodily injury."

[Chitownman]

Yes he recieved a broken nose. I'm very upset over this becuase he's a good kid that has been dealt many bad hands. He gave the officers two names out of around seven who partook in the beating. He's extremely scared because he thinks that they are just going to let these guys go and that they'll come after him and his mom. He didn't even tell his mom about it until about 3 hours after, when he couldn't take all the bleeding anymore.

[Valor55]

It sounds like it would make a felony here. I'm sure the cops are working on it. Welcome to the justice system, hurry up and wait. We can't solve a case in 44 minutes with commercial breaks. We also can't commit all our time into one case, we have massive case loads that get dealt with when we can. Then the prosecutors may not even want to file charges.

[MOCOP]

Give the PD a little time to do their investigation. Just because they have a couple names doesn't mean they can run right out and hook them up. They might be having trouble finding them our more pressing cases than a assault.

Here as the arrestting officer I would apply for felony charges.....but the PA can do what she wants and make them misd or file as felony then drop it to a misd in a plea agreement. Welcome to the justice system.