2-27-2007
One question seemed to hang over the Yamhill County Courthouse this week: Did authorities overreact to the behavior of a couple of middle school students by locking them up in juvenile hall and parading them around in full prison uniform? Last week, administrators caught the boys engaging in what has been described as sexual abuse.
They were swatting female classmates on the bottom and performing the "Party Boy" dance (taken from the movie Jackass ... someone goes up to another person and dances very closely to them). Some describe it as sexual in nature while others say it's just a dance. Later, it was reported that the boys also grabbed some of their classmates by the breast.
After talking with some of the girls, the boys were taken into custody and held over the weekend on multiple counts of sexual abuse.
Which brings us to the courthouse this week. The two boys (12 and 13 years old) were led into a court room in full prison garb including blue jumpsuits, wrist shackles and body restraints for a custody hearing.
Hearings like this are pretty common and are normally brief. The state and defense counsel present arguments whether a defendant need stay behind bars or if he/she can be safely released on his/her own recognizance. I've sat through several and it's rare that they last longer than fifteen minutes. Not the case on this day in Yamhill County.
Juvenile Detention officials and defense attorneys spent a good 90 minutes battling back and forth, even calling forth witnesses and expert testimony ... all to decide if these kids could go home until their hearing several days later. It seems even the judge was a little taken aback by the fanfare the hearing received. He repeatedly reminded counsel that "we are not trying the case today." In response, counsel declined to call two of five witnesses.
The prosecutors argued that:
1. The boys admit to touching their female classmates both on the bottom and occasionally on their breasts as well as engaging in the Party Boy Dance (which counsel referred to as "Dry Humping.")
2. Any adult caught doing this type of thing with 12 and 13 year old girls would face first degree sex abuse charges. This type of behavior cannot be tolerated.
The defense countered claiming that:
1. It was just horseplay. None of the students felt it was sexual in nature.
2. The alleged victims were friends of the two boys and two of the five actually testified that they didn't feel threatened or harmed by the boys.
While the attorneys went at it, the boys were a complete mess. Both broke down in tears repeatedly. They say that the touching was all part of an ongoing joke and secret hand shake .... That they had no idea it was such a big deal ... That they are TERRIFIED of life behind bars and just want to go home (one of the boys apparently roomed with a 17 year old with a repeat history of lock-up).
The parents seemed torn between emotional outbursts of fear and frustration. Outside the courtroom they told me that they understand the touching was inappropriate and agree that discipline is necessary in this case, but they think the way the school and the county have handled things is completely out of proportion. One father specifically referenced putting his son in shackles as out of line. (Incidentally, neither boy has a history of discipline and parents say this was the first time they had heard of an issue).
Ultimately, the judge decided the boys are not a threat to society and will be supervised by their parents at home. They can't have any contact with the victims which proved an interesting dilemma for the parents. Some of the victims, it seems, are actually very good friends with the defendants and were in the courtroom for the hearing. They were inconsolable after the announcement that they couldn't see the two boys until everything was settled. On top of that, the boys must be supervised around any other children.
After the decision the Juvenile Detention reps didn't speak with press.
At this point the boys are still facing charges of sex abuse and will be back in court