Southside students sentenced
Published 10:42 pm Friday, January 4, 2013
Four students who attacked a teacher at Southside High School in December were sentenced on Thursday. Four juveniles, all female, were held in juvenile court throughout the holidays until Thursday, when they were sentenced to attend boot camp and complete 40 hours of community service.
Assistant district attorney, Loria James, said the state was very pleased with Judge Bob Armstrong’s ruling for boot camp.
“We take a hard line stance whether it’s an adult or a student against violence in schools — we will not tolerate it,” James said. “We will prosecute it to the fullest extent of the law, which means we will ask for the harshest punishment to send a message to others out there that school is not the place for violence.”
In December four Southside female students jumped a teacher in the school cafeteria and left her cut and bruised. James said this case for her was unusual.
“Since I have been working here I have not seen something like this,” James said. “I have been prosecuting for almost nine years now and I have never, ever had a case involving a student committing violence against a teacher. And in asking other [district attorneys] who have more experience than I do, they had never even come across a situation where students acted out violently on a teacher.
It certainly got our attention and we took the cases very seriously.”
More juvenile cases remain on the docket for January after more school violence in Selma occurred in December. Just one day before holiday break, two juvenile males were taken into custody after a gun was found in their possession at Selma High School. Their court date is set for Thursday, Jan. 10.