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

  • homoludens@feddit.de
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    11 months ago

    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?

  • paddirn@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Deep in the heart of Texas, where they can’t bear to approach school shooters, but will easily go after women and children.

  • Custoslibera@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    The principal that is causing all of these issues is a power tripping psychopath.

    She needs to be put in solitary confinement, not an 11 year old child.

    • paholg@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      If it were just the principal then this child would never have been arrested. Sadly, a lot of people in this story should be removed from any position of authority, or possibly society altogether.

  • Kid_Thunder@kbin.social
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    11 months ago

    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.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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    11 months ago

    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

  • ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca
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    11 months ago

    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?

  • bartolomeo@suppo.fi
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    11 months ago

    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.

    • gatelike@feddit.de
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      11 months ago

      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.

        • 1847953620@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          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

    • StorminNorman@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      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@suppo.fi
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      11 months ago

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

    • Gigan@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      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?

      • Beelzebabe@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        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@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      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@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        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@kbin.social
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          11 months ago

          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

          • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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            11 months ago

            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@kbin.social
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              11 months ago

              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@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        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

  • squiblet@kbin.social
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    11 months ago

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