A 15-year-old girl in Baltimore has been given a sentence of six years for her part in assaulting a boy who is disabled. She will have to serve out her sentence in a juvenile detention center, despite her requests not to be sent to a place where she would be incarcerated.
The girl did plead guilty in the case. Her plea related to charges of displaying an obscene photograph of the underage boy and to second-degree assault.
The events that took place involving the boy and the girl — along with another girl, who was 17 — spanned a wide variety of abuse. The two made him walk out on the ice on a pond that was not totally frozen over, and he fell into the water. They tried to get him to engage in sexual acts with a dog. Some of the things that they did were recorded with the camera on a cellphone, which led to the pictures and images of the boy in obscene situations.
To top the whole thing off, the other girl, who is older, used a knife on two different occasions, putting it against the boy’s neck. She is facing charges that will be processed as if she were an adult, and they include false imprisonment and first-degree assault. She also faces charges for child pornography solicitation.
At any age, those who are facing charges for pornography do have a right to a fair trial before a judge, where they can plead as they wish. If they choose to plead guilty, their rights do extend to a sentence that is just and in compliance with local laws.
Source: CBS Baltimore, “15-Year-Old Gets 6 Years For Assaulting Disabled Boy” No author given, Apr. 25, 2014
