The boys showed up with water balloons and she improvised a weapon to retaliate.

She was irresponsible and wrong, but it's not like she set out to stone the kid.

She did when she picked up the rock. Premeditation doesn't have a time minimum.

I think that you have to consider the way that children don't consider the repercussions of their actions. He threw something at her, she threw something at him. If the rock had his his arm or his bicycle, no one would have thought anything of it. Her good (or lousy) aim caused it to hit his head, which was bloody and scary. I'm not saying that the girl is blameless, but charging her with a felony is a bit much.

Maybe she was just holding onto the rock? Because none of her friends had one that big ... and then the water balloons made her arm twitch, and of course she was wet, so it slipped out of her hand.

Something like that.

Or maybe she'd said days ago "Next time Charlie messes with me, I'm going to get medieval on his ass."

Or maybe she didn't.

I'm not saying that the girl is blameless, but charging her with a felony is a bit much.

Is there any age at which you can't get charged with a felony? I mean, legally?

How old were these kids. Salon suddenly doesn't love me any more, because I have a firewall.

But what I'm wondering is if they realise(d) there was a pattern. Because that's a big deal for one instance of water balloons. Not felony-big, but big.

It's a big deal if she had pre-meditated. She probably just reached down and threw the first thing she found. (I am impressed she was able to throw smething that big that well.) Kids don't necessarily think about the consequences of the rock being worse than the consequences of a water balloon. It possible both sets of parents would've worked out suitable punishments for both kids if the police hadn't stepped in. That's what happened when something would similar happen in my neighborhood growing up.

Or, what everyone else said.

I was just visiting a day camp, where they have "color wars," and the director was talking about the camp where his kids go, where they have "rock wars." We were like, WTF?!?!?! until he explained it's actually like deacade wars with a rock soundtrack -- the teams are 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s. Har. Seriously, ROCK WARS??

Is there any age at which you can't get charged with a felony? I mean, legally?

it varies by state, but I think that it might be 10 (I seem to recall a recent case where a kid couldn't be charged with a felony because he was only 6)

When my mother was a kid, she threw a rock at a kid who'd been tormenting her. He was walking away. She threw the rock. He turned around. Bam! Right in the eye.