"No Older 'N Seventeen": Defending In Dylan Country

This article is about an actual experience the author had defending a teenager accused of a serious crime where Bob Dylan grew up-- the Minnesota Iron Range. In order to protect the young man's privacy, it does not divulge the actual time period of the case. Likewise, details about his life and the charges he was facing have been changed. His name has been changed to Jamal.

Things did not go well for Jamal. Though a child when he was sent from the juvenile jail outside of Washington, D.C. to a secure treatment facility for serious juvenile offenders in the Iron Range, Jamal was ultimately tried and convicted as an adult and sentenced to many years in prison.