Probation recommended for two youths in school bus beating


LARGO — Three 15-year-olds appeared in court on Tuesday in connection
with the vicious beating of a younger victim on a school bus, and
officials have recommended probation for two of them.

The case made national news when a security camera video of the violent
incident was released and went viral on the Internet.

Now that video could become a key piece of evidence as Pinellas-Pasco
Circuit Judge Raymond Gross decides how to handle the charges against
the three.

"It's hard to convey what happened in this case without actually seeing
the video," Assistant State Attorney William F. Schopper told the judge.

Gross said, "I think it would be helpful if we could view that evidence."

Schopper explained the incident by telling Judge Gross that it
apparently happened because two of the teenagers attempted to sell
marijuana to the 13-year-old victim in school, and he refused.

Then, Schopper said, the 13-year-old followed the advice commonly given
to students: He told adults what happened. School personnel confronted
the other two teens and searched for marijuana but didn't find any.

Later, the 13-year-old and the two other boys wound up on the same
school bus headed home. Then came the beating, purportedly in
retaliation. The two teens allegedly brought in a third teenager who
wasn't involved in the incident previously.

All three of them attacked the 13-year-old, beating him "more times than
you could count." The boy's arm was broken and "I believe the only
reason he escaped further injury is he was able to basically conceal
himself underneath the bus seat since he was being attacked on all three
sides," Schopper said.

Two of the 15-year-olds are facing juvenile aggravated battery charges.
The Department of Juvenile Justice has recommended what is known as
court-supervised probation for both of them. Schopper argued for a
stricter version of probation that would be monitored by DJJ.

DJJ is still preparing its recommendations for the third teenager, while
he undergoes a behavioral evaluation. He is facing juvenile aggravated
battery and robbery charges.

Judge Gross set another hearing for Aug. 27 in all three cases.

http://tinyurl.com/lsjapna

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Our best dressed TV discussion host, when asked why he made a big deal
about the murder of Trayvon Martin and not this case replied "because
these teenagers were arrested right away, and George Zimmerman was not
arrested."

Perfectly valid explanation.

Probation doesn't seem a valid punishment but I wonder if sending the
teens to a facility for a year would be better, since all the facilities
really do is train inexperienced criminals into better criminals.