It’s not the Twinkie defense, but it’s darn close.

Attorney Curtis Pouliot-Alvarez successfully argued that his client, accused Tesla torcher Owen McIntire, be released from pretrial detention because he’s “an adolescent first-year college student with no criminal history, deep ties to his community, and a stable, supportive home environment waiting for him.”

McIntire, a UMass Boston student, was back home in Kansas City, Missouri for spring break last month when he allegedly used a Molotov cocktail to light a Cybertruck on fire. The blaze spread to a second Cybertruck in the dealership lot.

The Cybertrucks had sale prices of $105,485 and $107,485.

All that is beside the point, apparently.

“He has well-documented medical and mental health needs — including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), ADHD, depression, and gender dysphoria — that require ongoing care and structure, which can only be provided in the community,” McIntire’s public defender wrote.

There’s a lot to unpack here, starting with the statement that a 19-year-old can be considered an adolescent. Technically, according to the World Health Organization definition cited by experts, 19 is at the tail end of adolescence, when adult behaviors set in. However, many jurisdictions consider 18 the age at which one can be tried as an adult. Including Missouri.

And neurodivergence and depression are not de facto get-out-of-jail cards. As Forbes reported, over 13 million American adults live with an autism spectrum disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. That doesn’t turn them into arsonists.

“He also receives gender-affirming medical care, which began in March of this year and is likely to be interrupted or terminated entirely if he remains in pretrial detention,” wrote Pouliot-Alvarez.

President Trump did enact an executive order barring gender-affirming care to those in federal detention, but a federal judge paused the ban.

“By moving back home with his parents, he will have access to the care providers who are familiar with him and his specific needs,” his lawyer wrote.

By moving back home with his parents, McIntire will have a lot of comforts and familiar care absent from a jail setting. That’s one reason people prefer home to jail. And home McIntire can stay, with the proviso that he stay away from Tesla dealerships.

Once again, the person accused of a crime is the victim deserving of sympathy, and the owners of the firebombed property are irrelevant.

McIntire isn’t the only person with an alleged incendiary response to Tesla vehicles (and Elon Musk, Tesla’s owner). Vandals have vented their rage on vehicles and dealerships across the country in protest of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency moves.

To damage and destroy private property is to resist, in progressive circles.

“Let me be extremely clear to anyone who still wants to firebomb a Tesla property: you will not evade us. You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You will spend decades behind bars,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.

But not if you can get a judge like Jessica Hedges, who overruled objections from US attorneys from the Western District of Missouri who claimed the terrorism-related charges warranted that McIntire be treated as a public safety threat, according to KMBC.

As long as judges such as Hodges, Hannah Dugan and Shelley Joseph (the latter two accused of helping illegal immigrants avoid ICE) are on the bench, we can expect to see more such outcomes.