Posted on 04/22/2005 3:24:01 PM PDT by madprof98
LAGRANGE — The boys looked like the worst trouble they could be facing was stealing ice cream bars or maybe breaking a window.
Instead, the two fresh-faced 10-year-olds stood before a Juvenile Court judge Thursday, accused of forcing a 7-year-old neighbor into some bushes and forcefully sodomizing her.
The testimony from a police officer was disturbing, causing one boy's grandmother to choke back sobs. She wore sunglasses to hide her tears, as did the other boy's mother.
The two boys who were charged "approached her and asked her to perform some sort of sexual acts," LaGrange police Detective Robert Kirby testified. "Both said she said 'no' but they did it anyway."
Another boy, a 12-year-old friend, also is considered a suspect and may be charged, Kirby said. The boys are charged with aggravated sodomy and kidnapping, charges that would carry serious sentences if they were 13 or older. Instead, they'll probably remain charged in Juvenile Court and face a two-year sentence if convicted, one judge said.
The alleged attack has shocked residents in this town about 60 miles southwest of Atlanta and has caused them to wonder what societal forces are at work.
"These are 10 year-olds, you wouldn't even think they know about such things," said Donna Hendrix, who was with her husband and two grandchildren Thursday by the pool of the Meadow Terrace Apartments, where the alleged victim and at least one of the boys live. "I think kids see and hear too much."
Kirby said the boys' videotaped statements were hard to pin down and changed quite a bit during their telling. But he said they agreed on the gist of it — that they pulled down the girl's pants and tried to or did have sex with her. The boys agreed on something else, Kirby said; the girl was crying.
The alleged attack happened about 7 p.m. Sunday as the girl walked from her apartment to get a soft drink from a machine near the pool. The boys approached the girl, one asking "if he could haunch her," Kirby testified. Two residents at the complex said the girl and one of the defendants live in the same building.
The two boys pulled and pushed her to some bushes behind one of the apartments, Kirby said. The girl told the officer she was unable to flee because she was held down.
One boy told police that the other brought body lotion with him to aid in the attack.
The third boy, who may face charges, told police a similar version of the events, Kirby said.
"It all stopped when [one of the boys'] mother came around the corner and asked what was going on," said Kirby. The woman took the girl home to her mother, who called police.
Troup County Juvenile Court Judge Michael Key found probable cause that the crimes occurred and bound the case over for a possible trial early this summer.
Key allowed media to attend parts of the hearing, in part, because "the public needs to be aware our children are committing more and more serious crimes at younger and younger ages."
Douglas County Juvenile Court Judge Peggy Walker, who is not connected with this case, echoed Key's observation: "I see younger and younger children doing more serious crimes. And it's not just sex crimes. There is a great deal more violence."
Part of the problem, Walker said, is not enough parental supervision. Also, "A lot of it is culture — a culture with a great deal of violence and sex. It gives children a sense that this is a lifestyle, and it is an acceptable lifestyle, and that there are not consequences. Without the family network to counteract that, these children learn the hard way."
One of the boys, the smaller of the two in court, had been released earlier to the supervision of his grandmother, who lives elsewhere. Key said the boy, a fourth grader, needed to get back into school (the boys attend a different school from the girl). But Key added that he had to tell school administrators to ensure safety of the boy and other students.
The judge worried momentarily about informing other people about the boy's troubles but added, "they're probably already aware in this small town."
The judge then closed the hearing to talk about the fate of the other boy, who had been held in a regional youth detention since Monday.
Minutes later, the boy walked from the building with his mother and father, with the man's arm around the boy.
— Craig Schneider contributed to this article.
Sounds as if at least one of these kids actually had a father in his life, but evidently not the sort of "family network" the judge had in mind.
"These are 10 year-olds, you wouldn't even think they know about such things,"
Ever watch MTV or BET, lady?
Thanks Bill Clinton.
Good Lord. Words fail me.
More of Clinton's legacy?
Butt it wasn't premeditated...
Ah, the gift of MTV just keeps on giving......
(MTV banned in my home for well over 18 yrs, or at least as long as I think we've had cable)
What has happened to kid's these days that has them on this track?
Could it be "television"? (SATAN!)
At 10 years old I didn't have a clue about sex and couldn't have cared less. At 10, in 1951, I had other things going on in my life. This is so shocking. Culture has become so degraded I really feel for parents trying their best but they are swimming against the tide. So sad.
Really....remember oral sex is not sex
It didn't say oral sex, did it?
It didn't specify the type of sodomy but it was the escapades of Kaiser Willie that made "oral sex isn't really sex" part of the modern culture.
Interesting theory, but I believe Revelations has a few things still left undone.
they brought lotion.
it wasn't ORAL.
MTV couldn't survive if prayer was allowed back into the public sector.
You ain't kiddin' we're swimming against the tide. This is what I went through recently:
All 5 of my kids are in a private Christian school. My 15 year old daughter had a required reading book from history class called, The State of the Arts: From Bezalel to Mapplethorpe. Knowing who Mapplethorpe is (a pornographer) I picked the book up to see what my daughter would need to know about that freak. Chapter 1, page 1 discusses Mapplethorpes photo of a man urinating into the mouth of another man. I kept reading and found "Annie Sprinkle's performance art consisting of masturbating on stage, then inviting the patrons to come up and view her genitalia with a flashlight."
The school defends the book, saying the kids need to be instructed in what is not "Christian art." I'm of the opinion any idiot could figure that out and our kids will not be going back to that school.
You try so hard to protect your kids from smut but it's being thrown in their faces at every possible chance.
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