The Fugitive

Par spent the next few weeks in jail in California, but this time he wasn’t in any sort of protective custody. He had to share a cell with Mexican drug dealers and other mafia, but at least he knew his way around these people. And unlike the some of the people at Rikers, they weren’t stark raving lunatics.

Richard Rosen took the case back, despite Par’s having skipped town the first time, which Par thought was pretty good of the lawyer. But Par had no idea how good it would be for him until it came to his court date.

Par called Rosen from the jail, to talk about the case. Rosen had some big news for him.

‘Plead guilty. You’re going to plead guilty to everything,’ he told Par.

Par thought Rosen had lost his marbles.

‘No. We can win this case if you plead guilty,’ Rosen assured him.

Par sat dumbfounded at the other end of the phone.

‘Trust me,’ the lawyer said.

The meticulous Richard Rosen had found a devastating weapon.

On 23 December 1991, Par pleaded guilty to two charges in Monterey County Juvenile Court. He admitted everything. The whole nine yards. Yes, I am The Parmaster. Yes, I broke into computers. Yes, I took thousands of credit card details from a Citibank machine. Yes, yes, yes.

In some way, the experience was cathartic, but only because Par knew Rosen had a brilliant ace up his sleeve.

Rosen had rushed the case to be sure it would be heard in juvenile court, where Par would get a more lenient sentence. But just because Rosen was in a hurry didn’t mean he was sloppy. When he went through Par’s file with a fine-toothed comb he discovered the official papers declared Par’s birthday to be 15 January 1971. In fact, Par’s birthday was some days earlier, but the DA’s office didn’t know that.

Under California law, a juvenile court has jurisdiction over citizens under the age of 21. You can only be tried and