Prosecutors Refuse to Drop Charges Against Texas 11-Year-Old Put in Solitary Confinement

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

squiblet,
squiblet avatar

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

Pattywack,

Doing Dog’s work, ty my Lemmy friend

Aatube,
Aatube avatar

Dog

Gigan,
@Gigan@lemmy.world avatar

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?

squiblet,
squiblet avatar

I wondered that also.

Beelzebabe,

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.

flawedFraction, (edited )

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,

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, (edited )
Aatube avatar

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

jaybone,

Yeah I was thinking Uyghurs and political dissidents, not like street crime.

phoenixz,

Uyghurs are pretty much all in detention and reeducation and sterilization centers, kids included. China wants the next generation to suck Winnie’s dick too

Aatube,
Aatube avatar

I searched it up. Uyghur children all have at least one parent detained but they are sent to highly guarded Mandarin schools and state orphanages, never sterilization, thankfully.

phoenixz,

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

skeezix,

Incarceration = profit. Thats all you have to know

homoludens,

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?

TigrisMorte,

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

kool_newt,

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.

RobotToaster,
@RobotToaster@mander.xyz avatar

WHAT DO I DO WHEN ALLCAPS AREN’T ENOUGH?

USE THE HEADER TAG

robdor,

Say SLAMS somewhere too

ImplyingImplications,

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?

treadful,
@treadful@lemmy.zip avatar

Lesson learned

theterrasque,

He also pretended to cut someone’s hair

Hawk,

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

Pregnenolone,

“How were you radicalised?”

jaybone,

Mexican Joker.

Spacehooks,

Worst part us the whole thing is a self forfilled prophecy they are too dumb to see it.

irmoz,

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

Daft_ish,

The war on potty mouth continues.

StorminNorman,

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.

bartolomeo,

It was pulling a classmate’s hair and miming cutting their paper, although at first it was assumed he meant their finger.

xx3rawr,

“THIS KID IS A TERRORIST. NEED TO FIND EVIDENCE. GRAAAAAAAA”

paddirn,

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,

The principal who got the child arrested is a woman.

garbagebagel,

Shockingly (not shockingly) women can also be misogynistic!

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

bartolomeo,

theonion.com/east-timors-first-female-dictator-ha…

xoggy,
@xoggy@programming.dev avatar

So much for protecting the minor’s identity.

bartolomeo,

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.

Goo_bubbs,

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

gatelike,

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.

gravitas_deficiency,

I mean… it’s Texas.

Razzazzika,

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

gatelike,

unfortunately I wondered the same thing. twobuttonsmeme.jpg

Kid_Thunder,

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,

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

RagingRobot,

Which Garza said that?

JadenSmith,

Yes.

xx3rawr,

It’s all Garzas all the way down

squiblet,
squiblet avatar

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

mindbleach,

Reality is a team sport, to some people. They can’t just be wrong. They have authority! Whatever they do is right, by definition, or else you’re saying they don’t deserve their position. Doubling down proves them righterer.

fsxylo,

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

1847953620,

Mexicans gonna mex

source: déjame en paz, güey

Goo_bubbs,

Found the racist

1847953620,

lmao, I’m Mexican. Pointing out the last name is Mexican being the reason it’s the same for both of them in a silly way doesn’t make it racist. It makes sense that we try to be watchful of actual racism, but it also makes sense to not go overboard, we lose support, sow division, and waste energy that way

RagingRobot,

Did you see the judges last name?

kool_newt,

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

grayman,

TIL it’s right wing to be a corrupt authoritarian dictator.

Why9,

You need a reality check if you’re surprised to have learned that…

bartolomeo,

Took ya long enough!

Holyginz,

That isn’t new information

phoenixz,

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,

We are running low on villains for Batman to fight.

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