Hello, so a friend of mine recently got assaulted and robbed when he stupidly sold marijuana to a friend of his (who set him up). My friend ...

Question

Hello, so a friend of mine recently got assaulted and robbed when he stupidly sold marijuana to a friend of his (who set him up). My friend was 16 when this happened, and the 3 men that assaulted him were all 19 years or older, and they were apparently 200lbs+, so my friend obviously got beat bad (he got knocked out, he woke up in the hospital with a concussion and several bruises and lacerations). He doesn't have healthcare, so his family decides to press charges to attempt to get re-compensation to pay for his medical bills. So when the police officer interviewed him, he told them he got jumped when he was walking home (omitting the information that he was there to sell drugs, which was about 3 grams of marijuana according to him, for fear of being charged with drug distribution). A couple weeks pass and he gets a call to get interviewed by the State Attorney. The State Attorney claims that the people that jumped him have evidence (text messages) showing that he was there for a drug deal, and wishes for my friend to admit to attempting to sell drugs to them as it conflicted with what my friend told the police officer in the first interview. The States Attorney claims he will not charge my friend with anything if he admits to being there to sell drugs, but my friend asks for paperwork claiming he will not get prosecuted before he says anything at all. The States Attorney decides he will attempt to write something up, and schedule my friend another interview in a month if he wishes to tell them more information as to why he got jumped. I known my friend since we were little kids, and I would hate to see him get in more trouble with the law when he already got traumatized and beaten, can you give me advice on what to say to him? Should he admit to attempting to sell drugs, or keep on denying it as the only evidence pointing to him actually doing it was text messages and the word of the very 3 people that robbed and assaulted him. Thank you for your time.

Answer

Your friend might have a Fifth Amendment privilege not to testify, but the prosecution might be unable to prove its case and get an order for restitution without his testimony. Of course, there is no guarantee that the defendant(s) have the ability to pay regardless.

Beware that you might be practicing law without a license, if you attempt to provide legal advice to your friend. He should seek an experienced criminal defense attorney. If he cannot afford one, then he should and his parent(s) should apply to the Office of the Public Defender.