And yet all the boys seemed genuinely shocked anyone got hurt from the rock dodging game I mentioned. I'd like to add that a mere three years after this rock-throwing incident, my brother was studying physics at Princeton. Make of that what you will.

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I agree that a felony charge seems sorta huge for that.

Last year, we had two kids, one girl, on boy, shoving each over a quarter on the floor. The boy covered the quarter with his shoe and the girl bit him.

The boy didn't report it but it was discovered by another teacher. The girl got suspended. Until the dad intervened on her behalf and said he taught his daughter to do anything necessary to a man or boy who was harrassing her.

Subsequently, the girl was no longer suspended and the boy, who didn't report getting bit in the first place, ended up with an inschool detention and a pissed mom. His mom was pissed because he was fooling around in class.

And the biter? no trouble at all.

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I just asked my resident expert (age 9 *and* a half) about this case and your conversation.

He says a 9 (*and* a half) year old knows throwing a two pound rock at someone is going to hurt them, and you don't do it, particularly not just because someone threw water balloons at you. Also, when I said some of you weren't sure she would understand the consequences of her actions, because she's only 11, he stopped me, saying, "Only 11?" In other words he thinks it's silly that people would think an 11 year old wouldn't understand that throwing a rock at someone's head might be dangerous.

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my brother was studying physics at Princeton.

Huh! the teacher in the biting incident? Graduated from Princeton.

I see a trend of two.

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According to another article I read (which I need to get a bugmenot login because it was already linked logged in when I read it), the girl speaks limited English, the police were speaking English, not Spanish and they Mirandized her in English, not Spanish.

And there are the other factors.

t /cynic

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In this case, was I wise?

Yes. Now I have to go back and finish reading. Because it is wrong but ... no, it is mostly just wrong.

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

I'm not talking about legal standards though. I'm talking about an 11 year old grabbing something and throwing it when a bunch of boys were throwing stuff at her...

or, like, what a bunch of other people said.

5 x 3 isn't THAT big a rock. She shouldn't have done it, needs to be punished, all of that... but she just grabbed something and threw it. And she's a child -- who ran and got the parents of the kid she's just hurt.

And the police and courts of Fresno probably have better things to do than unsolicited prosecutions in spats between children.

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Because it is wrong but ... no, it is mostly just wrong.

Oh, come on! It's not just wrong. It's also hysterical. In a very wrong way, but it's a victimless crime.

Although his wife might be a bit cranky.

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Also not right : "Steve, don't eat it!"

The prison wine part of that might be the funniest thing I've read this week. Too bad the janitor came in while I was reading it, simultaneously covering my mouth in horror and laughing out loud.

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My friend Rachel's response to the pot of meat? "So what? He's a picky eater."

Don't show that to Lori, please.

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