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.
my brother was studying physics at Princeton.
Huh! the teacher in the biting incident? Graduated from Princeton.
I see a trend of two.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
My friend Rachel's response to the pot of meat? "So what? He's a picky eater."
Don't show that to Lori, please.
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.
Sure, dangerous. But fleony dangerous? Assault with a deadly weapon dangerous? Ask him if he sees a difference between what she did and if she'd pulled a gun on the kid-- because that's essentially what she was charged with.
But there are points at which you figure they've been presented with enough information and have the wiring that they could be expected to get 4 from 2+2.
Like the 2004 elections?
5 x 3 isn't THAT big a rock.
It's a softball. Except it's not soft.
