Posted on 08/20/2007 11:32:16 AM PDT by rednesss
Judge dismisses sexual harassment charges against 2 Ore. teens
08/20/2007
By WILLIAM McCALL / Associated Press
Two 13-year-old boys accused of slapping girls' bottoms and poking or cupping girls' breasts at school apologized on Monday as a judge dismissed charges against the two, ending a six-month case that drew national attention.
The charges triggered a debate over whether such behavior in school should be considered criminal.
Four girls listed as victims by the prosecutors had asked the judge to drop the charges against Cory Mashburn and Ryan Cornelison.
Yamhill County Judge John Collins did so on Monday, saying it was in the "interest of justice."
A number of young girls were in the courtroom during the hearing. They included at least some of the four who asked that the charges be dropped, attorneys said.
During the brief hearing, the two boys faced the girls and apologized.
"I never intended to hurt you in any way," Mashburn said.
Cornelison told the girls: "I hope we can still be friends."
The News-Register newspaper of McMinnville reported that a "civil compromise" reached by prosecutors and the defense called for both boys to apologize, to pay each of the four girls $250 and to complete a "boundaries education" program.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys said they could not comment on the newspaper report or release details of the settlement because they are confidential.
Pressure has been building on prosecutors to drop the charges, with critics saying they had blown the matter out of proportion and were overzealous.
The boys, apparently inspired by the movie "Jackass," were accused in police reports of swatting girls on the bottom in a school corridor, grabbing girls' breasts on at least two occasions, teaming up to "dry hump" girls, poking girls' breasts and engaging in what's known as "party boy" dancing mimicking sexual intercourse.
They were originally charged with felony sex abuse, misdemeanor sex abuse and sexual harassment in February. Amid growing public opposition to sending the boys to prison and putting them on a sex offenders' registry, prosecutors first dropped the felony sex abuse charges and later the misdemeanor sex abuse charges, leaving the sexual harassment counts.
The judge dismissed the final charges following negotiations between prosecutors and the defense, and discussions with the four girls about whether they wanted the case dismissed.
Well, out here almost all the kids are 4H and they all know which end of the mule eats and which end doesn't by the time they're 8 years old. By the time they're in HS, all the kids are pretty knowledgeable about procreation and respect the results, because they've had hands on experience raising anything from fouls to goats. They also respect it because through the program they're taught the monetary value of their work.
Grab ass in school? sure, it happens but it is always done in fun and jest and if things get a little carried away, the level headed one's set things straight real fast without any of the staff knowing about....at least they believe that line, as we hear about it in a nanosecond
One more thing, the girls are feminine as only a young girl in levis and a pearl buttoned shirt on a fillie can be, but they're tough as iron and the boys treat them with respect. Of course when they start flirting, all bets are off.
Feminist sexual politics is all about punishing all male behavior and advancing the Feminist Agenda. That's why they want these boys labeled sex offenders for life because, in the mind of the feminist, all men are sex offenders.
What I heard is that the girls did try to get the school to stop it, but the school didn’t stop it. Hence, the cops were called.
As I’ve said before, what they did met the legal definition of sexual assault. As for any defense that the acts were not intended to be sexual in nature, I suspect that the dry-humping would put the lie to that.
I don’t think that sexual assault is trivial just because it was committed by 13 year olds.
I’m just astounded that there are so many here defending it, and acting as if it’s just a situation of “boys will be boys.”
Would you say that what these boys did was not worth any kind of punishment?
That's why they want these boys labeled sex offenders for life because, in the mind of the feminist, all men are sex offenders.
Actually, I read on another thread (when these boys were first charged), that the girls went to the school authorities, and the school made the decision to call in the cops.
Thankfully, the boys and their attorneys and parents were smart enough to accept the plea deal, so they don't have to worry about being branded. (By the way, note that the article says the girls asked that the charges be dropped. They didn't want the boys branded for life either.)
They didn’t accept a plea deal. The charges were dismissed. Granted this came about due to a civil compromise, but it is not a plea deal as no criminal charges are pending any longer.
In a perfect world, going to the authorities results in justice and a punishment that suits the crime. But this is not a perfect world and the result of these school administrators getting the police involved was that the police were forced to administer justice that would be acceptable to the politically-correct powers that govern our institutions. It is not justice to label a kid as a sex offender for life just for playing a little mutual grab ass with some female classmates.
This could have been a "learning moment" where the boys AND girls were taught the lesson of mutual respect.
Instead, they were taught that if you have an axe to grind, you can get the authorities involved and if you're on the politically correct side, you can exact your punishment.
I always wondered why the recent teacher-student sex scandals didn't get more attention than just the "what was the harm to the boy" attitude. Could the boys be motivated by what they see in the news about teachers sexually seducing their students?
Regarding that, why haven't the schools, the media, and the law, not treat the teacher seduction stories as hostile workplace incidents instead of teacher-student hijinks? What does it do to the other teachers when a teacher is caught having relations with a student? How do the other students perceive teachers when one is found out? Does it make it harder for teachers to maintain discipline in a school where a teacher incident has occured? Do students begin to emulate the behavior of their teachers when the news punditry seems to excuse this behavior when the teacher is female?
Just some slightly off-topic thoughts.
-PJ
Many a child has aped adult behavior without understanding it’s significance or social acceptance/non-acceptance.
I have never written that the boy's behavior wasn't wrong...it was rude, vulgar and disrespectable. The school authorities have a responibility to maintain a learning environment free of harrassment. What they failed to do is use the boy's behavior to teach the student body that this behavior is unacceptable by either sex.
I don’t know why the reaction has been what it has been, in some cases, other than the good old double standard — which I don’t believe in, BTW.
It certainly was statutory rape. Haven’t some of these dames been charged? If not, they should have been.
Good God, what a tortured sentence...my apologies...
Some have and some have been convicted...and one was deemed "too pretty" to serve time.
NOT ME...I was a band geek.
“I think males who do this should go to jail.”
Just males huh? Sexist much?
OK, you got me...I once smuggled a couple of beers into the football game in my trumpet case.
These "guys" you speak of were all but 12 or 13 years old. They're kids for Gods sake. If the school administrators had any brains, they would have suspended them for a week, and then gave them trash pickup duties before and after school for 3 months, and make them write a 50 page essay on respect. Felony? Jail time? That's absurd.
There are other ways to get kids attention without sending them to jail to be housed with hard core criminals and gang members.
-PJ
No. I don’t believe that just males should be punished, although I can see how it might look that way to you. I wrote it that way because it was males we were talking about in this instance.
But, I’ve heard about groups of dykes sexually assaulting other women. And, I suppose groups of girls might go around sexually assaulting boys. They should receive the same punishment, in my view. I don’t believe in a double standard.
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