Posted on 8/11/2007, 3:47:28 PM by jazusamo
The two 13-year-olds accused of indecently touching girls are no longer at risk of a lifetime registration as sex offenders
Saturday, August 11, 2007
McMINNVILLE -- A Yamhill County judge dismissed all the sex abuse charges Friday against two Patton Middle School boys accused of repeatedly slapping girls on the buttocks in a school hallway and with touching two of them on the breast.
The move was a partial though important victory for the boys, Ryan Cornelison and Cory Mashburn, both 13, who still face misdemeanor harassment charges but are no longer at risk of lifetime registration as sex offenders.
It also marked a sharp reversal for the Yamhill County district attorney's office, which had initially pressed felony charges against the boys and jailed them for five days. On Friday, Deputy District Attorney Debra J. Markham opened a hearing in the case by asking Circuit Judge John L. Collins to dismiss all the sex abuse charges.
Markham's only explanation was that it would take too much time for prosecutors to prove the boys' touching was sexual in nature.
Family members and the boys' lawyers said they would press to get the remaining charges thrown out when the juvenile hearing continues Monday. Defense attorneys are arguing for dismissal on grounds of selective and vindictive prosecution, saying nine other Patton students admitted to similar behavior but weren't charged.
"The state could not prove sex abuse in the first degree. It could not prove sex abuse in the third degree," said Mashburn's defense attorney, J. Mark Lawrence. "I'm looking forward to dismissal of the harassment charges."
The boys' case became an Internet and talk radio phenomenon after The Oregonian obtained confidential police reports and disclosed last month that other Patton students also were swatting students on the buttocks. The story sparked a national debate about where adolescent horseplay ends and a sex crime begins.
Prosecutors initially charged the boys with several counts of first-degree sex abuse, a felony. But two of the alleged victims refused to cooperate, the newspaper reported, and the charges against each of the boys were reduced last May to five counts of third-degree sex abuse and five counts of harassment, all misdemeanors.
Why these boys?
At Friday's hearing, preliminary to a scheduled Aug. 20 trial, Lawrence grilled Markham for more than three hours about why the boys were hit with criminal charges while other students weren't.
Lawrence cited a police report in which one of Mashburn's alleged victims told investigators she also swatted Mashburn on the rear when doing "high-fives."
"I'd characterize them (the swats) as self-defense in nature," Markham said from the witness stand.
"High-fives in self-defense?" Lawrence said.
Later, Lawrence brought up the case of a different Patton student who swatted a girl in the buttocks. Markham said she didn't prosecute the boy "because the two were dating."
"Isn't that sexual touching?" Lawrence asked.
"I can't answer that question," Markham responded. "I placed it in another category."
Asked after the hearing why the prosecution waited until now to abandon the most serious charges against the boys, Markham told a reporter, "We've done what we feel is appropriate for all involved -- the boys, the community, the public and the victims."
Supporters of the boys jammed the small courtroom. A dozen wore apple-green T-shirts that read, "Free Ryan and Cory." Both sat beside their lawyers, wearing somber expressions along with long-sleeved shirts and ties.
"I have faith that we're going to have a good outcome," Cornelison said before the hearing began.
Investigation issue
Although the issue surfaced only briefly in Friday's arguments, defense lawyers are also taking issue with the investigation that led to the charges.
In motions to the court, Lawrence claims that under state law, female students who were interrogated about the bottom-swatting incident should have had a female officer present. Instead, the interviews were done by two males: Vice Principal Steve Tillery and Marshall Roache, a police officer stationed at the school.
"(I)nterrogations of the numerous juveniles were coercive, and threats of school discipline and criminal charges, as well as misstatements and overstatements, were repeated to the juveniles in an effort to force incriminating . . . responses," Mashburn's lawyer wrote in a motion.
Tillery and Roache are scheduled to testify when the hearing continues.
Collins also dismissed one harassment charge against Cornelison after Markham said the alleged victim of breast touching decided not to cooperate.
The boys were seventh-graders at Patton when they were seen running down the hall swatting girls on their bottoms. A teacher's aide sent the two to the office, where they were read their Miranda rights and questioned. Besides admitting to the swatting, they each volunteered that they had poked or grabbed girls' breasts in the past.
In February, Collins released the boys from detention but ordered them to leave school while the case was pending. He barred them from seeing each other or friends, and they missed nearly half of the school year.
Friday's arguments came as donations continued to pour into the boys' legal defense fund, which has reached more than $39,000, the boys' parents and lawyers said.
Many of the donations have come with letters criticizing Markham's boss, Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry, for bringing criminal charges. School officials had suspended each of the boys for five days.
Their parents and supporters maintain that the boys' behavior was inappropriate but not criminal.
Thirteen-year-old McKenzie Gephart, one of the girls who was initially named as a victim but who declined to participate in the case, attended the hearing with her father, Tim.
"This whole thing is crazy," Tim Gephart said. "These kids were just doing kid stuff."
Ping!
People scream for the rights of gay men to prance naked down the street in front of churches in San Fran and then prosecute kids for horseplay.
All I can do is spit to get the awful taste out of my mouth.
In the old days........these two would have been hauled to the principal’s office... given licks, detention and a call to the parents.
That’s exactly how this should have been handled, the princial didn’t do his job. Then the Yamhill County DA went completely nuts with the charges.
That is the other problem. Dicipline is forbidden
“These kids were just doing kid stuff.”
I agree with this statement. When I was a kid, in high school, if they arrested all boys that touched girls in parked cars, the school would have been empty. Kids are growing up for pete’s sake.
I coached football in the Oregon school system (in the Jr. Hi programs). Many of the teachers in the school were totally unreal and over reacted to many situations, rather than work with the kids. I was not a teacher in the school so I could go to bat for the kids, which I did many times. Many of the teachers didn’t like me or my assistant coaches.............why? Because our kids, by the end of the season had a B+ average in school. Reason being is that we checked their grades during the football season and the kids knew I wouldn’t let them play in a game if they weren’t trying in the classroom. The key here is, “trying”. I didn’t care what their grades were as long as they were trying. By the way, we won the league championship three years in a row. I loved those kids. The schools should try doing the same thing.
I do believe that the good prosecutor was getting Nifong Syndrome, and rightly so. It's about time the Nazi-like prosecutors in this country get a boot in THEIR butt for trying to advance their careers at the expense of American Citizens loosing their right to correct Due Process.
By the way.............we beat McMinnville every time we played them. Their teacher coaches couldn’t coach very well at all. I loved it.
Even the father of one of the female "victims" is saying that it's crazy.
It's interesting that the people who took it to this level include both the school authorities and the prosecutors. The types of people who enter both of these professions must have a lot in common.
When I look back to my highschool years, which is longer than I care to discuss, the teachers I had the most respect for were the ones that were also coaches. Almost without acception they motivated the kids.
I'm afraid you're right, they are overwhelmingly liberal, it's a shame more conservatives don't fill those positions.
I remember that. lol
No child’s left behind. Or right for that matter.
EXACTLY RIGHT! So when kids act out of turn, they are either ignored and allowed to continue doing so (99% of the time) or a federal case is made of the mischief (as it was here). This is what has happened as a result of the ever-so-sensitive liberal types who have polluted both the courts and the schools.
I still believe in the values that most of these kids possess, and that if the girls did not like what was going on, that they would have literally knocked those boys out. I see it as consensual horseplay. The “victims” tag, I suspect came from the hormonally imbalanced school principal.
Li’l Debbie was trying to be a Nifong, but just not quite as smart...she folded up fast when grilled by a REAL lawyer! Well, that’s affirmative action for you!;)
Oregon can’t arrest the pervert walking around naked on his property in front of buses but goes after children doing childish things.
I wonder why didn’t they charge them with battery ?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.