POCATELLO — As with most fathers, Lee Plackett just wants what’s best for his son, David Plackett.

    But at the same time, Lee doesn’t have any illusions about his son’s transgressions.

    “He’s made some poor decisions, I know that,” Lee said. “My son’s been in more than his share of trouble. I am not even going to defend it.”

    What Lee will defend, however, is David’s right to rehabilitation and his son’s right to be safe should prison time be the price he ultimately pays.

    David was arrested in the fall of 2011, charged with felony aggravated battery and with using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony, stemming from an incident during which David stabbed another man at the Oasis Bar in Pocatello. He pleaded guilty to the aggravated battery charge last June as part of plea agreement with prosecutors who dismissed the enhancement charging him with using the deadly weapon in the commission of felony.

    In July, David was sentenced to three years fixed and six years indeterminate. Sixth District Judge Robert Naftz then retained jurisdiction over David and he was sent into the retained jurisdiction program, one that looks to address the underlying cause of criminal behavior.

    Ryan Godfrey, the deputy Bannock County prosecutor handling the case, confirmed David was sent on the therapeutic community rider, one that takes about 12 months to complete.

    The September of 2011 stabbing wasn’t the only incidents involving David in 2011. A little more than a month prior to that incident, David was charged with misdemeanor carrying a concealed weapon and discharging a firearm within city limits, stemming from his shooting at a party early one August morning. In March of 2012, he was also charged with misdemeanor domestic battery, a charge that was later dismissed. David also pleaded guilty to discharging the weapon in city limits and the carrying a concealed weapon charge was dismissed.

    After Naftz sentenced David in July, he was sent the following month to the retained jurisdiction program. But, according to a letter Naftz read during a court proceeding last week, David was already of concern for those in the program just a few days after his arrival. The letter was recommending relinquishment of David from the program and suggested he serve his prison sentence.

    David and his attorney, Stephen Larsen, were in front of Naftz on Jan. 7 for a hearing to review David’s performance on his rider. The state was concurring with the recommendation of those in the retained jurisdiction, that David should be sent to serve his prison sentence.

    Larsen, however, said David has a history of seizures dating back several years. A part of that condition is a low tolerance for loud and constant noise, Lee confirmed during an interview the following day.

    Larsen said it wasn’t that David refused to participate, it was that he was suffering significant migraines and was medically unable to participate. He said David was also suffering seizures, causing him further difficulty.

    But medical personnel in the Idaho Department of Correction cleared David for participation, a point prosecutors made when recommending he be sent to prison.

    Larsen requested Naftz not only review David’s medical records, but also asked that he appoint an independent medical evaluation for David.

    Naftz agreed to review David’s medical history, but denied the request for an independent medical evaluation. He ordered the medical records be sent to him as soon as possible and set another hearing date of Jan. 22.

    Lee said he is thankful that Naftz is taking the time to look further into David’s medical history. But he’s also pessimistic that it will not lead to a different result, that his son is still destined to be sent to serve his prison sentence.

    He said David has had a history of behaving badly, and that his medical condition, the seizures he suffers, were actually brought on by one of the incidents about three and a half years ago, when officers used Tasers to subdue David.

    David, 24, began suffering the seizures shortly after the incident.

    “It was maybe a month after that,” he said. “We’ve struggled with it since then.”

    Part of the struggle, Lee admits, is just being able to afford the medication David needs. Lee says there have been times, knowing that his father couldn’t afford to buy the relatively expensive medication, that David didn’t tell him he’d run out.

    Although he hasn’t seen the seizures themselves — they are of the variety that includes violent twitching — Lee has seen the aftermath.

    “He is left, kind of, out of it for a while,” Lee said. “It can take him a couple of days before he’s back to normal. Until then, he’s kind of in and out of it.”

    The condition, he said, makes it difficult for David to do the rider, whether it’s his low tolerance for the noise that David has told Lee is so prevalent at the facility, or his reduced mental function in the wake of a seizure event.

    “I worry about him,” Lee said. “He’s my only son.”

    Lee is looking for alternatives, hoping for a judge who finds better insight into the issues that not only make it difficult for his son to complete a retained jurisdiction program, but could also make a prison yard a dangerous place for him, more dangerous than it is for the average inmate.

    “If he has an episode, it takes a couple of days for him to get back into things,” Lee said. “How is he going to take care of himself among all those other people if he’s not all there? He would be vulnerable if he had a seizure.”

    At the same time, though, Lee is starkly aware that Idaho has few other options.