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Prosecutors Refuse to Drop Charges Against Texas 11-Year-Old Put in Solitary Confinement (themessenger.com)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by roastedDeflator@kbin.social to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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A school district and local prosecutors in Texas are refusing to drop charges against an 11-year-old who was held in solitary confinement.

Officers detained the boy and placed him in solitary confinement for three days at the Darrell B. Hester Juvenile Detention Center. Cameron County prosecutors argued for charges of "terroristic threat."

Despite being accused of ignoring Texas laws which require parental involvement before such interventions, Cameron County District Attorney Rene Garza told a hearing Wednesday that his office was gathering further evidence against Murray, rather than deciding to drop the charges.

Cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9591073

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[-] homoludens@feddit.de 152 points 11 months ago

Charges Against Texas 11-Year-Old

Um, what?

Put in Solitary Confinement

Um, WHAT?!

irked Palm Grove Elementary principal Myrta Garza so much with his requests, as well as questions about school dress code, that she called Brownsville Independent School District police.

WTF?

Cameron County prosecutors argued for charges of "terroristic threat."

How can this keep getting worse and more ridiculous at the same time? WHAT DO I DO WHEN ALLCAPS AREN'T ENOUGH?

ignoring Texas laws which require parental involvement before such interventions

Okay, I give up. Is rule of law no longer a thing? Like people aren't even pretending anymore?

[-] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 80 points 11 months ago

WHAT DO I DO WHEN ALLCAPS AREN’T ENOUGH?

USE THE HEADER TAG

[-] robdor@lemmynsfw.com 18 points 11 months ago

Say SLAMS somewhere too

[-] TigrisMorte@kbin.social 32 points 11 months ago

Laws don't matter when it is a Republican Official or a Wealthy Republican or a well connected Republican.

[-] kool_newt@lemm.ee 26 points 11 months ago

Okay, I give up. Is rule of law no longer a thing?

It is and it's working perfectly. It is utilized or ignored as needed to ensure the right people are kept down.

[-] the_post_of_tom_joad@sh.itjust.works 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

WHAT DO I DO WHEN ALLCAPS AREN’T ENOUGH?

your question was rhetorical, but the literal answer is you can use the pound sign (#) at the beginning of your line for an even bigger font

Like this

[-] paddirn@lemmy.world 100 points 11 months ago

Deep in the heart of Texas, where they can’t bear to approach school shooters, but will easily go after women and children.

[-] kilgore_trout@feddit.it 5 points 11 months ago

The principal who got the child arrested is a woman.

[-] garbagebagel@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

Shockingly (not shockingly) women can also be misogynistic!

It's not only men making those stupid fucking laws mate.

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[-] Custoslibera@lemmy.world 83 points 11 months ago

The principal that is causing all of these issues is a power tripping psychopath.

She needs to be put in solitary confinement, not an 11 year old child.

[-] paholg@lemm.ee 9 points 11 months ago

If it were just the principal then this child would never have been arrested. Sadly, a lot of people in this story should be removed from any position of authority, or possibly society altogether.

[-] Kid_Thunder@kbin.social 78 points 11 months ago

Judge: Adela Kowalski-Garza
Prosecutor: Rene Garza
Principal: Myrta Garza

“[Garza] has a lot of people to back her up. She has people in high places. So I guess she can basically do whatever she wants and she receives no consequences for it.

Hmmm.

[-] Bibliotectress@lemm.ee 28 points 11 months ago

This is what I want the article to actually be about.

[-] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago

Which Garza said that?

[-] JadenSmith@sh.itjust.works 7 points 11 months ago

Yes.

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[-] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 74 points 11 months ago

So his father dies and he asks his school for counselling and they respond by calling the police who lock him in solitary confinement and CPS threatens his mother with taking him away?

[-] Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 11 months ago

Also, the principal, prosecuted AND judge all seem to be family.

[-] theterrasque@infosec.pub 7 points 11 months ago

He also pretended to cut someone's hair

[-] treadful@lemmy.zip 5 points 11 months ago

Lesson learned

[-] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 74 points 11 months ago

Put an 11 year old child in solitary confinement because he lost his father and apparently annoyed the principal with requests for counseling?

This sounds so much like a "must be the US" story

[-] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago

We are running low on villains for Batman to fight.

[-] Pregnenolone@lemmy.world 63 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

“How were you radicalised?”

[-] jaybone@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago

Mexican Joker.

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[-] bartolomeo@suppo.fi 44 points 11 months ago

On Dec. 5, administrators, who had worked alongside Principal Garza, sought to file further charges against Murray of aggravated assault. He allegedly pulled another student's hair and tried to cut his finger with scissors, which Murray apologized for and said he had mimed cutting the boy's paper, not his finger. ... Data from Brownsville ISD seen by The Observer showed its officers made 3,102 student arrests between May 2021 and Nov. 2023. Nearly 60% of those were on felony charges and 76 of those kids were in elementary school.

This is insane. It seems like it's really true that the wickedness a nation imposes on another it will eventually impose on itself. It's especially heinous that the weakest member of the nation (a child) is subject to cruel punishment and legal charges like aggravated assault while the most powerful member (the literal president) boasts about "grabbing [women] by the pussy", has several charges of sexual assault against him, yet nothing happens. It's becoming obvious that the law is meant to keep the powerless subservient.

[-] gatelike@feddit.de 14 points 11 months ago

that's one elementary student arrested every one week? I would not send my kids to school there, my mind would crack if someone locked my kid up like that.

[-] Goo_bubbs@lemmings.world 8 points 11 months ago

Yeah, America is fucked, and Texas is one of the most fucked up states in the whole country.

[-] fsxylo@sh.itjust.works 43 points 11 months ago

Why does the power tripping principal and the power tripping DA have the same last name?

[-] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 18 points 11 months ago

Did you see the judges last name?

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[-] irmoz@reddthat.com 39 points 11 months ago

There doesn't even seem to be any info of the kid's alleged crime.

[-] StorminNorman@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

Someone else posted it in the comments of this thread, it's not great. Kid was just being annoying. Teachers a giant cunt. Not much more to know.

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[-] spacecowboy@sh.itjust.works 33 points 11 months ago

Reminder that Texas sucks. Republicans suck too. They’re a pox on humanity.

[-] kool_newt@lemm.ee 33 points 11 months ago

Right wingers are fucked up in the head. It's time we stop viewing right wing views as valid ways of living.

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[-] squiblet@kbin.social 30 points 11 months ago

Here's an extensive Texas Observer article for anyone interested.

[-] Gigan@lemmy.world 44 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

his school principal, Myrta Garza

Cameron County District Attorney Rene Garza

Judge Adela Kowalski-Garza

What's going on here, is this a coincidence or is there some nepotism involved?

[-] Beelzebabe@lemmy.world 29 points 11 months ago

It's definitely possible, but Garza is also a really common Hispanic name. I could personally name a few Garza's off the top of my head who aren't related at all actually lol.

That being said, this all sounds sketchy as hell already, so who knows? Can't say it would surprise me at this point.

[-] squiblet@kbin.social 6 points 11 months ago

I wondered that also.

[-] flawedFraction@lemmy.world 22 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

That's a great article. This part towards the end really stood out:

Based on an analysis of district juvenile justice referral data we received from Brownsville ISD, the district police made 3,102 student arrests over a period of roughly two and half years from May 2021 to November 2023. That’s 135 arrests per month in the school year. Fifty-nine percent of those arrests were for felony changes.

Of those arrests, 3.5 percent were for elementary school-aged children. From the beginning of the prior school year to November 3 this year, there have been 76 arrests of students 10 to 11 years old. Charges for terroristic threats accounted for 20 percent of those arrests. Most, 66 percent, were felony charges. There were no charges for aggravated assault for this age group.

I was curious so I looked up how large the district is and they have almost 38,000 students. . Such a large district puts those numbers into perspective a little bit but that still seems unbelievable.

[-] jaybone@lemmy.world 25 points 11 months ago

3000/38000 that’s almost 8%

Is it normal for 8% of a population to be arrested over a 2.5 year time period? Even in say China or Nazi Germany?

[-] Aatube@kbin.social 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Definitely not in China… for better or worse their juvenile students usually never break criminal law

Unless you’re talking about the Uyghurs, which I have the impression that only adults are interned but I currently can’t trust any sources about the situation either

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[-] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 16 points 11 months ago

Eh 3100 arrests on 35.000 students, correct me if I'm wrong but that is nearly 10% of the students. What the actual fuck, why are students, kids, arrested for?

If a kid's beats another kid into a hospital, you might have a reason for an arrest, but are student crime levels that high? Is Texas a crime hell hole or something?

I have so many questions, bit something tells me that this is little more than assholes on power trips and everyone accepting it

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[-] Pattywack@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago

Doing Dog's work, ty my Lemmy friend

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[-] squiblet@kbin.social 22 points 11 months ago

Oh, another gem about this situation: the town is outside of Uvalde and the family moved there because it was more affordable.

[-] eran_morad@lemmy.world 18 points 11 months ago

Bunch of fucking backward degenerates.

[-] MNByChoice@midwest.social 13 points 11 months ago

Cruel

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 10 points 11 months ago

I mean… it’s Texas.

[-] Razzazzika@lemm.ee 11 points 11 months ago

Kid would walked free if he threatened his fellow student with a gun

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this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023

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