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.
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Is this the wonderful “socialization” that homeschoolers are missing?
By the way,,,,if this happened to an adult in the work place, the adult could sue for millions, but kids who are literal prisoners of the state in their government school cesspools are given an apology.
There is a big difference between the adult in an abusive work environment and a kid in a government “school” prison. The adult can always quit the job and find another. If the kid refuses to go to his government “school” day-prison, armed police and court will send him ( and possibly his parents) to REAL prison.
One more point:
We read every day about sexually, emotionally, and physically abusive government teachers. So...what about the abuse kids suffer from other kids in these compulsory school prisons every day? Why do this go unreported?
The boundaries keep changing and the re-education camps keep growing.
I do think these boys didn’t know what they were doing. They thought they were imitating what they have seen in movies and television and video games and that it was OK because that stuff is marketed to them and they have been allowed to view it.
But what these boys didn’t know and are innocent of, is the ramifications and consequences that their faux youth culture would subject them to.
They don’t know anything about the real world, or real adult relationships or how vulgarizing them will suck their souls and make happiness almost impossible.
They are clueless and innocent on that count. I seriously doubt jailing them would have helped. Simply would vulgarize their interpersonal relationships even more.
It’s a sad sick world.
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Well....that´s exactly what the Marxists want and need: Soulless people who are incapable of meaningful relationships and therefore dependent on the state.
The most important and powerful tools of the Marxists and their Useful Idiots are the media and our government schools.
Then go arrest all the girl who participated in the same, jail and stip search then. I’m all for equality, after all, right?
I disagree. A more fitting punishment would be a brutal beating with resulting contusions and stitches. I really hate a-holes like that.
I have intervened in public places like rock concerts and night clubs to beat the living hell out of some jerk that can't keep his hands to himself. If the bouncers get in the way, I beat them down as well. (I am one big, ugly cowboy.)
Some of this behavior is directly related to the lap dancing and strip club stupidity. I hate those places and the slime that congregate there, but I do like live music.
There is nothing cute about handling a woman that way.
Shakespeare’s Henry VI.
Semper Fi
I suspect the school also was thinking about a possible lawsuit from the 80 percent of lawyers who are ambulance chasers.
Think ACLU = AMBULANCE CHASSER.
Oops, that does not include my wife's two brothers, brother in law and sister who are attorneys.
Amen and Semper Fi
I've never read anything that indicated it was 'mutual' - in fact, all I've read says just the opposite. Got any reliable information that shows it was mutual?
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.
The victims asked that the charges be dropped after it was discovered that these boys would be labeled for life. The boys ended up paying $250 to each of the girls and apologizing publically. Seems like an okay outcome to me.
Thanks for the clarification.
My sincere apologies, lady lawyer.
Anyone lawyer opposing ACLU is remarkable.
Look out for the crew from the Smithsonian, the ones carrying the huge bell jar. You are the last of your kind, you know.
As I sit down before my somewhat deserved meal of crow, with humble pie for dessert, might I inquire as to your justifications for imposing the draconian penalties now mandated for “sex offenders” upon such “offenders” as these school boys?
Something to contemplate as I pick the bird shot out of that crow, you know.
Don’t forget the trip to the Gloria Steinem Male Castration and Re-Education Camp that they have to successfully complete. Where I’m sure they will learn that little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice, and little boys are just future sex offender scum to be labeled for life.
Actually, I’m not the last of my kind. I know lots of lawyers who are as motivated by conservative values as I am.
On this particular issue, I think the behavior of the boys went way beyond normal teasing to disturbing, sexually aggressive behavior. These were 13 year olds who thought they had a right to grope and dry hump unconsenting girls. But the media seemed to leave out the most disturbing facts, like the grabbing of the breasts and the dry-humping.
I agree that if all that was involved was a slap on the butt on a day when everyone was doing it, the reaction would have been draconian. But, considering the fact that much more was involved and the administration tried to stop these boys without involving the law, but the boys persisted, then they got what they deserved, in my opinion.
As for labeling them as sex offenders — well, under the law, that’s what they were. There are various levels of sex offenses, and this activity qualified.
Maybe they were otherwise decent boys who, for reasons that no one can explain, suffered a temporary, amazing lack of judgment. But I doubt it.
They may have escaped the sex offender label this time, but my guess is that, for them to have engaged in such behavior, they will earn it again sometime in the future.
Perhaps these are the elements of the police report (not facts) that the girls later stated they felt pressured to make?
This wpuldn't be first time children have been coached and pressured into making false statements.
“Perhaps these are the elements of the police report (not facts) that the girls later stated they felt pressured to make?”
I’ve never seen any suggestion that the girls backed off their allegations. Was this in another article?
Wow, what a gender bias you have there. That would be akin to me saying, the girls who were involved in this, who at least one said that she engaged in the same behavior, may have escaped the "whore" label this time, but my guess is that, for them to have engaged in such behavior, they will earn it again sometime in the future and go to work in a strip club.
Perhaps what is being referred to is that the girls wanted teh cahrges dropped.
They, even though still minors, knew the law was “doing an Acton”.
Interestingly, the girls maturity was some years ahead of both the boys and arguably ahead ofm far too many of the adults in this case.
Other than the fact that they all stopped cooperating with the prosecution and had the charges reduced and then dropped altogether??
"Prosecutors initially charged the boys with felony sex abuse. But after two of the alleged victims refused to cooperate, the charges against each were reduced last May to five counts of third-degree sex abuse and five counts of harassment, all misdemeanors."
Perhaps the largest difference between your position on this matter and mine is this.
You feel America is a nation of laws. I believe it is a nation of principles.
When such a problem arises, I think the principal, the teachers, adn the aprents should have dealt with the unacceptable behavior.
Once there was an America where law and teh courts was resorted to to,balance conflicts where the rights of an individual were in conflict with another’s rights.
In this case, an eager consortium of “intervenors” waded in. Note that the girls didn’t want the legal circus.
Once the philosophy of legal rationalism replaced the historic American legal practice, the feminazis, the childs rights lobby crowd, the guardian at litum folks, ad nauseam - all waxed wealthy and/or powerful.
Voltaire’s only prayer was that G*d make his enemies ridiculous. Voltaire felt his prayer was granted.
Thanks to the antics of such as surfaced in this case, or in the case of the “swarms of officers sent forth to eat out our substance” like Lil Debbie, this writer has not felt the need for such a prayer.
There are all too many working diligently to make the conservative writer’s life one of unlimited material.
The menu is changed daily.
In closing, how many FloriDUH lawyer jokes are there?
Answer: Only three - the rest are true stories. They put the DUH in FloriDUH.
Though, in all honesty, they have lots of help. ;-(
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