11-year-old escapes felony trial

[GaryKelly]

11-year-old US girl has been spared a felony trial for throwing a stone at boys pelting her with water balloons.

Thank gawd the lawyers managed to agree a deal. Let's hear it for the lawyers! Huzzah, huzzah for the shysters!


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4744025.stm

Stone-throwing girl escapes trial

An 11-year-old US girl has been spared a felony trial for throwing a stone at boys pelting her with water balloons.
Maribel Cuevas was given informal probation and ordered to talk through what happened with the boy she injured, in a deal agreed by lawyers.

She spent five days in detention and a month under house arrest after being detained in a major police operation.

Police in California said it had been a serious assault, but others said it was no way to treat a childish crime.

The girl's lawyer, Richard Beshwate, said the deal had been agreed ahead of her felony trial on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, which was due to start on Wednesday.

Under the deal, she will not be required to admit to a criminal offence.

But she will have to attend a Victim Offender Reconciliation Programme, part of which would involve sitting down with eight-year-old Elijah Vang, whom she wounded, and talking about what happened.

Read her rights

"I think everything will be fine," said Maribel's father, Martin, after the proceeding. "This way she'll be able to stay with my wife and me and go to school normally".

Police responded with three cars and a helicopter after the 11-year-old threw a stone at a group of boys who rode by on their bikes and pelted her and her brother with water balloons.

Maribel, who speaks little English, was read her rights twice in English before being detained.

Police defended their actions, describing the stone as a "jagged-edged, two-pound river rock" that left Elijah Vang with such a deep gash he needed to have stitches.

During her five days in detention, Maribel was reportedly granted one 30-minute visit by her parents.

At the time, Mr Beshwate accused the authorities of "treating her like a violent parole offender."

"It's not a felony, it's an 11-year-old acting like an 11-year-old," he said.

The confrontation happened in late April in a poor district of Fresno, central California, where the girl lives with her Spanish-speaking family.

[gonzo914]

. . . it's an 11-year-old acting like an 11-year-old . . .

No, it's an 11-year-old acting like a 6-year-old.

I'm sorry, but anyone who cuts loose with a two pound rock in response to a water balloon has some issues. Barring some type of intervention, this child will amost certainly be putting in a repeat performance before she reaches majority.

[Turtle]

I had a situation like that with my daughter when she was nine. She was
charged with Battery for defending herself from an older girl on the
playground at school. Needless to say we fought that one through the
court system. When she showed up in the court room in her little pink
dress, the judge just shook his head, had a little chat with the
prosecuting attorney, and promptly dismissed the charges. The system
is getting a little ridiculous when it comes to matters like this now days.
It seems such a waste of time and money for everyone involved. I have
no problem with justice, but it makes me sick that the legal system is
getting so namby pamby that it forgets that children tend to act
childish at times, and that this is a natural part of growing up.

[GaryKelly]

No, it's an 11-year-old acting like a 6-year-old.

It's a kid acting like a kid. 6, 8, 11, still a kid.

I'm sorry, but anyone who cuts loose with a two pound rock in response to a water balloon has some issues.

Issues?

Barring some type of intervention, this child will amost certainly be putting in a repeat performance before she reaches majority.

Hmm. I'd have thought that three cop cars, a helicopter, 5 days in detention (with only one 30-minute visit from her parents), and 30 days of house arrest is "some type of intervention" for sure.

[missy]

in the case of kids - I think, before a "sentence" is handed out, the entire family situation needs some real scrutiny.

We recently had two 8 year olds rob someone - and they used GUNS! That judge (who is an adult court judge) I referred to in a different thread asked our COP group if we thought that these two kids can be "helped". I stated that ONLY if they are removed from their family surroundings and put into a different one. I'm sorry, there has to be something majorly lacking if 8 year olds are using guns to rob someone.

We always hear about a perps "family" and background when they are accused of a crime (the infamous "They are such a good boy" comments from relatives). I think with children, the family really needs to be looked at to see if there are opportunites for change - and if not, the child should be placed in a different atmosphere.

[Martin Milner]

I'm left wondering if the injured 8-year old boy felt he may have done anything to incite the girl, and also how the heck she managed to hurl a 2 pound rock far enough to hit him, unless she dropped it on him?

I think at 11 I'd have known throwing a big rock was using excessive force - a bit like the excessive Police response. What if she's just kicked him, or thumped him? She'd probably still have got in trouble with the authorities.

[Tyler]

. . . it's an 11-year-old acting like an 11-year-old . . .

No, it's an 11-year-old acting like a 6-year-old.

I'm sorry, but anyone who cuts loose with a two pound rock in response to a water balloon has some issues. Barring some type of intervention, this child will amost certainly be putting in a repeat performance before she reaches majority.

I don't think that we have enough information to make that kind of judgement...
Along that line of logic, what kind of violence would the boys with the water balloons graduate to?

I'm left wondering if the injured 8-year old boy felt he may have done anything to incite the girl, and also how the heck she managed to hurl a 2 pound rock far enough to hit him, unless she dropped it on him?

Spot on. If she was an adult/teenager, throwing a 2lb stone to do the kind of damage described would be no problem. I've always been athletic, played ice hockey and kendo most of my life, and at 11 I was pretty stout, but I don't recall that 2lbs of stone would have been the first weapon most easily weilded...I wouldn't have needed a rock, but I'd still have to get pretty close to use 2lbs of it at that age.

From having had much experience (through my wife teaching elementary school) with kids near that age, I'd be willing to bet that the boys had done more that their fair share of inciting this incident in the form of past torment.
In my time I have seen some little sh*t (pardon the expression, but that's what some of them are, mostly because their parents refuse to dicipline them) torment other kids, younger and older than themselves, and if the victims of the torment eventually retaliate, the original victim always seems to get the stiffer punishment regardless of what kind of home life they live in, and the bullies are usually off scott free. Kids can only take so much torment before they just can't take it anymore, and they all react diferently. I feel that more research into the boy's behavior in the past should be looked into more. Maybe he's the one who needs the intervention.
The police overkill was definately uncalled for.

[Flyingcursor]

There's obviously too much going on that we don't know.

I'm just waiting for the inevitable.

[anniemcu]

. . . it's an 11-year-old acting like an 11-year-old . . .

No, it's an 11-year-old acting like a 6-year-old.

I'm sorry, but anyone who cuts loose with a two pound rock in response to a water balloon has some issues. Barring some type of intervention, this child will amost certainly be putting in a repeat performance before she reaches majority.

There is admittedly some difference between a two pound jagged edged rock and a two pound water balloon, but the fact that the assault by the boys on their drive by is not even considered a contributing factor is a bit telling, don't you think? Nice young boys, just being boys, but the young girl who stands up for herself and her brother, with the only weapon at hand, is arrested and charged with assault? Let's get a bit *more* realistic here and charge the hooligans who started this little interaction as well.

[anniemcu]

... In my time I have seen some little sh*t (pardon the expression, but that's what some of them are, mostly because their parents refuse to dicipline them) torment other kids, younger and older than themselves, and if the victims of the torment eventually retaliate, the original victim always seems to get the stiffer punishment regardless of what kind of home life they live in, and the bullies are usually off scott free. Kids can only take so much torment before they just can't take it anymore, and they all react diferently. I feel that more research into the boy's behavior in the past should be looked into more. Maybe he's the one who needs the intervention.
The police overkill was definately uncalled for.

Think "Draco Malfoy" "suffering" in the infirmary from the "dreadful" injuries inflicted upon him by... well... gee... the very beings whom he had been tormenting... poor little innocent Draco... (choke)

[djm]

I agree that the incident with the ballons was aggressive and was the instigation of the confrontation. I agree that hurling a rock in response was not a wise thing to do. But perhaps the girl was unprepared to be attacked by strangers and was not aware of an appropriate response. How do you think the girl should have been prepared before hand? What kind of counselling is correct regarding being attacked by strangers, regardless of the severity of the weapons used?

In my experience, when a child first perceives a hostile invasion of their personal space, their immediate reaction is one of outrage, and irrational behaviour is the typical response. Its what children do. Going to court over such a matter is an abuse of the police' and court's time IMHO, and the accusing parents should have been fined proportionally.

djm

[s1m0n]

According to her laywers, the water balloons were *far* from the first provocation that these particular boys had engaged in with this girl. It was the time she snapped, but they had been bullying her for some time.

[Redwolf]

As the parent of a child who has been unmercifully bullied (and who also has emotional issues, which is why other kids feel free to bully her in the first place), I can say that I'm only surprised we don't hear about more of this kind of thing. Too often the adults in the situation either ignore it or tell the victim she's being "overly sensitive" until one day the victim just loses it.

The felony charge was ridiculously extreme. Intervention? You bet! All the kids involved need intervention, as far as I can tell. But felony "assault with a deadly weapon" charge? That's just insane.

Redwolf

[GaryKelly]

Also according to the child's lawyers, the stone she threw had first been hurled at her, narrowly missing her 6-year-old brother. And apparently the stone wasn't the girt big rock the police and prosecutors were offering in evidence. Interesting detail at: http://www.freemaribel.org/

[fearfaoin]

At first, I thought that this happened in New Mexico, where it is a felony for anyone to throw
a rock of any size. The story I heard was that a lawmaker pushed the law through after his
child was killed by a thrown rock. But, in California this is not so clear cut, law-wise.