Autistic Man Gets More Jail Time, Mom Vows to Appeal

Stafford, Va. –– A man already facing a 10 and a half-year prison sentence was given more time behind bars.

Reginald “Nelli” Latson, 19, was sentenced last week in the beating of a Stafford sheriff’s deputy outside North Stafford High School last May.

He plead not guilty for reason of insanity, but the deputy – a school resource officer – had to retire because of his injuries.

On Thursday, a jury in a Stafford courtroom gave Latson seven more months in jail in connection to the 2008 beating of a then fellow high school student, Fredericksburg.com reports.

Prosecutors say Latson went to the home of the victim he had previously been \ involved in an argument with at a bus stop. While there, he knocked on the door and when the victim answered began punching him in the face.

Prosecutors said Latson entered the home and continued attacking the victim.

Defense attorneys argued there was not enough evidence to say Latson was guilty of breaking and entering, but a jury thought otherwise, Fredericksburg.com reports.

In addition to these latest convictions, Latson has also been previously convicted of misdemeanor assault.

Through all of this, Latson’s mother Lisa Alexander, has maintained her son was not breaking any law when sheriff’s deputies were called to North Stafford High School last year for a report of a suspicious person.

She says he was walking in the area and that the department used excessive force when questioning Latson, who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome and does not interact well with people.

“This is not over,” Lisa Alexander, Latson’s mother, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “I will not allow them to do to my son what they have done to so many other black men in Virginia.”

Alexander said lawyers and court fees have drained her financially.

Latson will be formally sentenced May 19.

He was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome when he was 13-years-old.