Boy, 13, faces 8 years for spitwad (Convicted of two felonies in California)

SFGate.com ^ | May 14, 2002 | Henry Lee

[Shermy]

Jeffrey Figueroa, 13, admits he shot a spitwad at his Walnut Creek school last fall and that it hit another student in the right eye, requiring surgery.

But the seventh-grader and his parents said today that he never should have been convicted of two felonies -- let alone charged -- for what they call a schoolyard accident. He faces spending up to eight years in a juvenile prison.

[Shermy]

A story from your area. I think the journalist sums it up well with the last word from the father.

[Maceman]

The whole world has gone crazy.

[southern rock]

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

[VA Advogado]

This kid belongs in shackles for a long long time. 13 years old and already 2 felonies? Throw away the key.

[B Knotts]

This is getting like the Twilight Zone. Somebody wake me up, please...this nightmare is getting too surreal.

[Shermy]

I believe Califonia is a "three strikes" state. To get life he'd have to swipe a Slurpee too.

[Seeking the truth]

What law school did this DA go to? Mens rea?

[southern rock]

This kid belongs in shackles for a long long time. 13 years old and already 2 felonies? Throw away the key.

Your grasp of the facts is as consistant as ever.

[livius]

Oh, please. This is totally ridiculous - but then, this is totally California.

[widowithfoursons]

When we were that age (and younger), every boy had a BB rifle. One kid got hit in the eye by a friend accidentally. He lost his eye, but no parent would have considered bringing charges since it was an accident. Now spitballs are deadly weapons? I would be curious to know what kind of eye surgery was needed.

[glc1173@aol.com]

Ask yourself if any police officer would have charged a 13-year-old with anything had this not happened at a government school.

Government schools have totally proven their unworthiness of America's children. Any parent who cares about his kid must take his kids out of government school now and either send them to parochial school or homeschool them.

Inside the NEA

[Ronin]

I hear ya. Just when you think it just CAN'T get any stranger....

[southern rock]

I would be curious to know what kind of eye surgery was needed.

My guess is the kind that causes lots of "emotional pain and suffering", if ya know what I mean.

[Brett66]

Well, at least all of the lawyers have job security. </sarcasm>

[weegee]

"What we have is an unfortunate accident with injury to a child, but what one time had been horseplay has now been, by the D.A., elevated to felony status, just on the basis of the unfortunate outcome of an accidental act" said Pittsburg attorney Marek Reavis, who is representing the older child.

And Matthew Shepard's murder started as a robbery and then an assault. When the attackers left, he was still alive. "Unfortunate outcome of an accidental act" is a phrase for avoiding responsibility for his actions.

Let's remove all of the "accidential discharges" of firearms from the list of dead/injured kids (aged 1-25) when we here statistics about gun violence (after all, those were just an accident).

I read the article and couldn't clearly determine where his 3 strikes came from. Are the 2 felony assaults from this same case? And what do his heart problems have to do with the actions he took?

[ladylib]

The voters wanted this stupid and very dangerous juvenile law. It's up to them to get it repealed. Perhaps they never read the fine print. No, kids can't be kids anymore -- look at that asinine case in CO where a dingbat principal made kids' lives miserable over going bang bang with their fingers. The whole world is going nuts. You'd be better off just keeping your kid home -- forget public schools for one.

[Shermy]

The "three strikes" stuff is attempted sarcasm on my part, as I assume VA was attempting too.

You're point about assuming responsibility is well-taken. If the consequences are worse than average for the action, that is no excuse.

My issue here is the punishment. Why has it changed over time. Why isn't this child punished by being "expelled" to a new school or something. What was done in the "old days", and was it better and more just? I expect so.

[Nouge]

what happend to good ol' detentions?

[Jaidyn]

My brother shot me in the leg with a bb gun so I shot him back in his leg. I have lead in my arm, on my hands and a piece in my finger, all still visible from pencil fights we had in school. We took the pain as well as we gave it. The only pain that made us cry was the whippings we got after pulling these stunts. Looking back, I don't know why we cried about having our butts whacked when a bb hurts a H of a lot worse. I guess it's because Mom or Dad did it. Maybe Mom or Dad should get the belt out again providing they don't get arrested for loving their kids.