juvenile charged with sexual assault

My 15 year old son was questioned by the police in response to an allegation of sexual assault. We asked if we should consult a lawyer -- police said, "No, we're just investigating." My husband was present for a portion of the statement, but then agreed to leave when asked. This statement was taped, but we have not seen the tape.
Two days later, our son was charged with 4 counts of felonious sexual assault.

We do not know the extent of what our son's court appointed defense lawyer has seen, but he has admitted that he has not seen the video taped statement.

The prosecutor is asking for a guilty plea to the 4 charges of FSA with a year of detention, suspended, two charges kept on file, 2 years of probation, counseling, community service, DNA kept on file, etc.

This is a first offense.

Some questions:
1) My son was never "read" his Miranda rights -- we have never been involved in a legal issue at all, of any kind, and -- obviously -- would respond very differently if police officers showed up on our doorstep in the future. Do we have recourse against this statement being used?

2) Neither my son nor we have not seen the evidence -- don't we as legal guardians have a right to see the evidence?

3) His court appointed lawyer has not responded to repeated phone calls, only met with our son once, and -- although he has not seen the taped evidence -- encouraged a guilty plea. Should we ask for a different lawyer? Do we have the right to do this? Would it jeapardize our son's standing with the court in any way?

4) It has been suggested to us by others that the charge might be able to be reduced. My son is willing to enter a guity plea to a lesser charge and accept the prosecutor's sentencing guidelines. How can we get our court appointed lawyer into "our court" to make this a possibility?

5) Is our son's lawyer correct when he says that he is only representing our minor son and we are not privileged to be involved in their meetings? He is not sharing any information with us -- but, worse, he is not open to discussing strategy or options with us, although our son has said in his presence that he desires our involvement!

[L00ph0le]

Miranda rights must be read to use the tape.

http://www.worldlawdirect.com/article/959

[Texas-TAO]

I do not know what has happened with this but if this is truly the case, your son will have to register as a sex offender if he loses his case or takes a plea deal and in alot of cases a person has to register as such for the rest of their lives.

So take this matter VERY seriously and fight it all the way with a paid attorney and do not take no plea deals on this one.

Is your son being charged as an adult or a child? I know in some States even children convicted or found guild or plead guilty to are required to register as sex offenders.

I don't know about some of the rest of your post but the lawyer is correct about him only representing your son. We had to hire a lawyer for our son and the lawyer does not speak to us (even though we pay the bill) unless our son gives specific permission. Our lawyer will only call our son and will only take answers/decisions from him. Kinda sucks I know, but I believe that is true in your case too. My son is 15.