Calif. Girl, 11, Spared Felony Trial
An 11-year-old girl charged with assault with a deadly weapon for throwing a rock at a boy during a water balloon fight was ordered to attend a mediation program with her young victim after her trial was scrapped in juvenile court.
Maribel Cuevas was prepared to face a felony trial Wednesday when lawyers reached a deal behind closed doors that allowed her to escape detention and avoid pleading guilty.
Cuevas was arrested in April for throwing a two-pound rock at a neighborhood boy who had pelted her with a water-filled balloon. The rock gashed the boy’s forehead, and the girl spent five days in Fresno’s juvenile hall and a month under house arrest after police said she resisted arrest and scratched an officer’s arm.
Since then, the girl’s behavior and law enforcement’s response to it has become water cooler and editorial page staples far from Fresno. The girl’s parents joined church leaders and the state chapter of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network in a vigil last week. They say the felony charge in no way matches her childish crime.
But Fresno’s mayor and police chief say Maribel’s case was handled appropriately, and that assault with a deadly weapon is the proper charge for an act that might have had fatal consequences.