Prometheus 6

Dallas South Blog reproduced Judge Superville's explanation of how he came to sentence Shaquanda Cotton to a maximum of seven years in the excreable Texas Youth Commission. Comparing it to the Chicago Tribune article is an interesting exercise in semantics. These comparisons are made in the order Judge Superville raised them.

Superville:

Superville said after a three-day jury trial, which found that Cotton committed an act of juvenile delinquency — namely assault causing bodily injury against a public servant — he determined the best place for her would be Texas Youth Commission.

Trib:

The youth had no prior arrest record, and the hall monitor--a 58-year-old teacher's aide--was not seriously injured. 

Superville:

The judge said Cotton could have been released at that time but would not speculate why the appellate court did not grant the bond.

Me: That stands alone, I'd say. It's the same nonsense as when his ex-Governor's people talk about not engaging in hypotheticals...that's called planning. Superville will not speculate because honest speculation would sound really, really bad.

Superville:

Superville said he gave the 14-year old an indeterminate sentence up to seven years — her 21st birthday.

“Once I set the indeterminate sentence, Shaquanda holds the key to her jail cell,” Superville said. “It is up to the child and TYC.” 

Reality:

[O]fficials at the Ron Jackson Correctional Complex have repeatedly extended Shaquanda's sentence because she refuses to admit her guilt and because she was found with contraband in her cell--an extra pair of socks.

Superville: 

“The juvenile officer said the mother refused to cooperate and said he had no reason to believe the mother would cooperate if Shaquanda received probation,” Superville said.

“That theme was repeated witness after witness—that the mother made it impossible to help Shaquanda,” Superville said. “She blamed everyone except the child for misbehavior.”

Reality:

Shaquanda's mother, Creola Cotton, does not dispute that her daughter can behave impulsively and was sometimes guilty of tardiness or speaking out of turn at school--behaviors that she said were manifestations of Shaquanda's attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, for which the teen was taking prescription medication.

Nor does Shaquanda herself deny that she pushed the hall monitor after the teacher's aide refused her permission to enter the school before the morning bell--although Shaquanda maintains that she was supposed to have been allowed to visit the school nurse to take her medication, and that the teacher's aide pushed her first.

Superville:

“The county attorney put on a substantial amount of evidence that Shaquanda had been a persistent behavior problem at school and that the mother failed to cooperate at every turn.”

Reality:

Among the write-ups Shaquanda received, according to Reynerson, were citations for wearing a skirt that was an inch too short, pouring too much paint into a cup during an art class and defacing a desk that school officials later conceded bore no signs of damage.