Posted on 04/10/2008 11:58:49 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
ERIE, Pa. - Two young girls accused of brutally attacking another girl on a playground are too emotionally immature to understand the criminal charges against them and the charges should be dismissed, their attorneys said.
The girls, ages 10 and 11, face aggravated assault and other charges for the attack on another 10-year-old girl at an elementary school playground the evening of April 3. The girls are accused of stomping on the victim and breaking her hip, police said.
Erie County Public Defender Tony Logue says he will ask a Juvenile Court judge to dismiss criminal charges against the 10-year-old girl.
"How can my attorney effectively communicate with his clients given the client's chronological age versus emotional age?" Logue said.
Attorney Bruce Sandmeyer said he has similar concerns for his client, the 11-year-old, and expects to file a similar motion in the coming days.
"My client is just 11 years old and just an elementary school student," Sandmeyer said.
The lawyers said the case should be treated as a dependency case, not a delinquency case. In legal terms, a judge who rules a child is dependent can place the child under the supervision of the Erie County Office of Children and Youth.
A delinquency case, which is what the girls currently face, is the juvenile court equivalent of a criminal case. If the girls are found delinquent, the equivalent of a guilty verdict, they could be confined in a juvenile detention facility or otherwise be under the supervision of the court until they turn 21.
Ian Murray, another lawyer for the 10-year-old girl, said she and her family feel deep remorse for the attack. "This is tragic for everyone, especially the victim," Murray said.
Family members of the 11-year-old suspect say she is an "A" and "B" student who has never been in trouble before.
The injured girl said the other girls pulled her off the monkey bars and attacked after she told the girls to stop splashing water on her 8-year-old sister in the school playground. Police said the victim was repeatedly stomped on the head and legs.
The victim remains hospitalized and is expected to undergo at least one week of rehabilitation at a hospital. She has three pins in her hip to keep the bones in place and may eventually need a hip replacement, her mother said.
The girls, ages 10 and 11, face aggravated assault and other charges for the attack on another 10-year-old girl at an elementary school playground the evening of April 3. The girls are accused of stomping on the victim and breaking her hip, police said.
Placing them in some sort of kiddie jail for a few days might help their “immaturity”. Placing their parents there might also help.
Too emotionally immature to understand, my foot. At 10 years old I certainly understood that it’s wrong to attack someone.
Another shining example of how government schools promote “socialization”—something tragically denied to homeschoolers, who are condemned to living in the narrow, confining world defined by their parents.
I don’t think you can say..”monkey bars” anymore...........
If an incident like this convinces just one family to remove their own children from government schools, then this girl’s hip will not have been broken in vain.
Erie County Public Defender Tony Logue says he will ask a Juvenile Court judge to dismiss criminal charges against the 10-year-old girl.
“How can my attorney effectively communicate with his clients given the client’s chronological age versus emotional age?” Logue said.
Attorney Bruce Sandmeyer said he has similar concerns for his client, the 11-year-old, and expects to file a similar motion in the coming days.
These 2 attorneys are complete morons, I guess all animals should get a pass until they reach a “level” of maturity./s
Then punish the parents.
At 10 and 11 they know the difference, give them their JD’s. If the 11 year old is an A/B student, then she is capable of knowing right from wrong; if she is a sociopath, then sh should not be mainstreamed.
Their reaction was to being told to stop bullying an 8 year old, the victim did what was right and was punished for it. Any lack of punitive action against the two of them will send the wrong message.
I do hope they were expelled at least.
Now the family can hit them and the school/ town with a civil suit since the victim was not protected from the attack.
Definition:
The defendant lacks substantial mental capacity to understand the proceedings or assist in his or her own defense.
Does a 10 year old lack substantial mental capacity to understand the proceedings and assist in their own defense???
@#$%@#$!!!
my THREE YEAR OLD understands consequences.
The parents in these cases should be jailed.
Maybe a consequence like that would cause a bit more parenting to happen.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21
If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. —
Correction: I don’t think you can say the “M” word anymore.
PC ALERT!!!!! The article mentions “monkey bars”!!!!!!! Call the PC police!!!!!!!
And I’ll bet “jungle gyms” are definately out too. LOL!
And don’t you dare install those things on your front porch.
It’s quite likely that these girls’ violently out of control behavior is rooted in their home experiences. I’m no fan of public schools, but most 10-11 year old students in public elementary schools don’t do things like this (especially girls, and especially in places like Erie PA). If these girls’ parents suddenly announced they planned to start homeschooling their little darlings, I’d want to see a thorough investigation of the homes and parents first. Something is very wrong with these girls that isn’t wrong with the other kids at the same school, and the court should be looking hard for the source of the problem.
10 and 11 is more than old enough to know what you’re doing when you deliberately and viciously attack someone like this.
The attorney is lying out of his @ss and knows it.
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