Lancer
08-03-2005, 12:37 PM
11-year-old Fresno girl who threw rock spared felony trial
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LISA LEFF
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Associated Press
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FRESNO, Calif. - An 11-year-old girl charged with assault with a deadly weapon for throwing a rock at a boy during a water balloon fight was ordered to attend a mediation program with her young victim after her trial was scrapped in juvenile court.
Maribel Cuevas was prepared to face a felony trial Wednesday when lawyers reached a deal behind closed doors that allowed her to escape detention and avoid pleading guilty.
Cuevas was arrested in April for throwing a two-pound rock at a neighborhood boy, Elijah Vang, who had pelted her with a water-filled balloon. The rock gashed the boy's forehead, and the girl spent five days in Fresno's juvenile hall and a month under house arrest after police said she resisted arrest and scratched an officer's arm.
Since then, the girl's behavior and law enforcement's response to it has become water cooler and editorial page staples far from Fresno. The girl's parents joined church leaders and the state chapter of the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network in a vigil last week. They say the felony charge in no way matches her childish crime.
But Fresno's mayor and police chief say Maribel's case was handled appropriately, and that assault with a deadly weapon is the proper charge for an act that might have had fatal consequences.
The defense had planned to show that Maribel's action was provoked, and that she had been subject to harassment before, said Lisa Bennett, a legal assistant for defense attorney Richard Beshwate Jr. "This has occurred more than once so Maribel's reaction may have not been unwarranted," she said.
The girl maintained she was playing on the sidewalk with her 6-year-old brother on April 29 when Elijah rode by on his bike with a half-dozen neighborhood boys, who splattered them with water balloons.
The girl threw a rock that police later described as "jagged" and measuring 5.5 inches by 3.75 inches and it hit Elijah on the head, opening a gash that required stitches. While she ran to find Elijah's parents, a neighbor called 911.
Elijah's family, which has since moved away, was to testify for the prosecution but was not expected to be hostile to the defense, Bennett said. The parents declined to press charges.
In a statement issued shortly after The Associated Press published a story about the case, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer defended his department's decision to arrest the girl and seek a felony charge in the Juvenile Delinquency Division of Fresno County Superior Court.
"The simple fact is that we have an 11-year-old girl who struck a boy in the head with a jagged-edged, two-pound river rock, that required him to have stitches," Dyer said. "That is a felony, assault with a deadly weapon, and we are very fortunate that that act did not cause a more serious injury, even death."
http://www.mercurynews.com/images/common/spacer.gif
LISA LEFF
http://www.mercurynews.com/images/common/spacer.gif
Associated Press
http://www.mercurynews.com/images/common/spacer.gif
FRESNO, Calif. - An 11-year-old girl charged with assault with a deadly weapon for throwing a rock at a boy during a water balloon fight was ordered to attend a mediation program with her young victim after her trial was scrapped in juvenile court.
Maribel Cuevas was prepared to face a felony trial Wednesday when lawyers reached a deal behind closed doors that allowed her to escape detention and avoid pleading guilty.
Cuevas was arrested in April for throwing a two-pound rock at a neighborhood boy, Elijah Vang, who had pelted her with a water-filled balloon. The rock gashed the boy's forehead, and the girl spent five days in Fresno's juvenile hall and a month under house arrest after police said she resisted arrest and scratched an officer's arm.
Since then, the girl's behavior and law enforcement's response to it has become water cooler and editorial page staples far from Fresno. The girl's parents joined church leaders and the state chapter of the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network in a vigil last week. They say the felony charge in no way matches her childish crime.
But Fresno's mayor and police chief say Maribel's case was handled appropriately, and that assault with a deadly weapon is the proper charge for an act that might have had fatal consequences.
The defense had planned to show that Maribel's action was provoked, and that she had been subject to harassment before, said Lisa Bennett, a legal assistant for defense attorney Richard Beshwate Jr. "This has occurred more than once so Maribel's reaction may have not been unwarranted," she said.
The girl maintained she was playing on the sidewalk with her 6-year-old brother on April 29 when Elijah rode by on his bike with a half-dozen neighborhood boys, who splattered them with water balloons.
The girl threw a rock that police later described as "jagged" and measuring 5.5 inches by 3.75 inches and it hit Elijah on the head, opening a gash that required stitches. While she ran to find Elijah's parents, a neighbor called 911.
Elijah's family, which has since moved away, was to testify for the prosecution but was not expected to be hostile to the defense, Bennett said. The parents declined to press charges.
In a statement issued shortly after The Associated Press published a story about the case, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer defended his department's decision to arrest the girl and seek a felony charge in the Juvenile Delinquency Division of Fresno County Superior Court.
"The simple fact is that we have an 11-year-old girl who struck a boy in the head with a jagged-edged, two-pound river rock, that required him to have stitches," Dyer said. "That is a felony, assault with a deadly weapon, and we are very fortunate that that act did not cause a more serious injury, even death."