Reginald Cornelius "Neli" Latson is an intellectually disabled African American man with Asperger's syndrome who became the subject of national media attention after he was arrested in 2010. Latson was approached by a sheriff's deputy while waiting outside a library, and the interaction turned into a fight, in which the deputy was injured. He was sentenced to prison, followed by a regiment of mental health treatment programs. While in a group home, Latson was arrested after another altercation with an officer and returned to prison. In prison, while on suicide watch, he was placed in solitary confinement for nearly a year. Disability and civil rights organizations (as well as Latson's mother) argued that the corrections system was causing Latson's mental health to deteriorate, and that racial bias influenced how he was treated in prison. They lobbied for clemency, and he was given a conditional pardon in 2015, and then a full pardon in 2021.
Arrest
At the time of his arrest on May 24, 2010, Latson was 18 years old and lived with his mother Lisa Alexander in Stafford, Virginia. His IQ was 69, one point lower than the threshold of intellectual disability. He had also struggled with depression. He had changed schools multiple times, struggling in both special-needs schools and large public schools. In 2009, he had pled guilty to a charge of misdemeanor assault, and given a suspended sentence of 30 days.
Latson had left the house early that morning to go to the public library, where he often went. Finding it closed, he sat on the grass outside to wait for it to open. At 8:37 a.m., the Stafford County Sheriff's Office received a call about a "suspicious male, possibly in possession of a gun" outside the library and launched a search. Later investigation would confirm that the original caller had not seen a gun. The sheriff's deputy serving as a school resource officer at the elementary school across the street noticed Latson, approached him, and asked for identification. According to the deputy's account, Latson attacked the deputy and ran away, leaving him with lacerations and a broken ankle. After a search with police dogs, Latson was found in a nearby wooded area and arrested. Latson initially faced three charges: malicious wounding of a law enforcement officer, assault and battery of a law enforcement officer, and knowingly disarming a police officer in performance of his official duties. He was sent to jail before trial, although he spent some time at a psychiatric hospital for competency evaluation. The deputy would soon retire due to the ankle injury: he had worked in law enforcement for 33 years.
Alexander accepted that he injured the deputy, but believed that the deputy had attempted to grab Latson as he walked away and Latson reacted with a fight-or-flight response, which can be extreme in autistic individuals. She later filed a complaint against the sheriff with the United States Department of Justice, stating she was not allowed to see Latson until a few days after he was arrested. Alexander started a web site to raise money for Latson's legal bills and to raise awareness, and stated that he needed treatment, not prison.
First trial
Latson was indicted by a grand jury in the summer of 2010. His trial began on March 2, 2011, where he pled of not guilty by reason of insanity. A psychiatrist testified that Latson suffered from several disorders, including Asperger's, intermittent explosive disorder and attention deficit disorder. Latson did not testify, but the defense presented transcripts and video where Latson disputed the deputy's account. Latson stated that the deputy used racial slurs and other verbal abuse and attempted to sexually assault him, and that the deputy's ankle injury was caused by the deputy kicking Latson. Latson also said that other deputies and police dogs attacked him during the search. The prosecution said that Latson's injuries were not consistent with his account. The prosecution argued instead that, while Latson did have autism, he also possessed "violent tendencies" and "racial hate and this hate for law enforcement" that were unrelated to his disabilities. The prosecution used the outdated term "retarded" while dismissing the insanity defense as a "convenience", and asserted that since the deputy had an adult "mentally retarded" child, the deputy was sensitive to children with disabilities.