On the afternoon of Thursday, April 15th, 2013, a 13-year-old student at AMIKids Pasco alternative school was arrested, and subsequently charged with battery on a school employee, after he attempted to choke one of his teachers. The attack allegedly occurred when the teacher tried to break up a classroom fight between the 13-year-old and another student. The 13-year-old, who is reportedly around 5' 11' tall and weighs 240 pounds, put the teacher in a chokehold and held her there. It is alleged that the accused continued to choke her, and cut off her airway, until a few other teachers and students were able to intervene and come to her aid. The teacher suffered trauma and muscular neck pain, and the boy was taken to Pasco County Juvenile Assessment Center.
According to the law, a juvenile who commits a crime will be treated differently than an adult who commits a crime. In fact, the juvenile justice system takes more of a rehabilitative approach when it comes to sentencing minors. Rather than a juvenile offender automatically being sentenced to jail or prison time upon conviction, there are numerous programs and corrective actions which can be taken in an effort to reduce or prevent future acts of delinquency or crime. There are certain cases when a prosecutor may opt to try a minor as an adult, if the minor is at least 17 years old. The judge in the case would, however, retain the option of "sentencing back", which means they can sentence the offending minor as a juvenile and juvenile penalties will apply accordingly.
The Law Office of Timothy Hessinger has achieved much success defending juvenile clients against charges of drug possession, underage DUI, theft, assault, battery, sexual offenses and more. We have an intimate understanding on how the law and legal procedures are applied in cases involving juvenile offenders, and we work diligently to see that our clients are aggressively and professionally represented. Our objective is to protect our clients' rights, defend their interests and ensure the full array of juvenile corrective services are available so that they can become productive, contributing members of society.
If your minor child needs legal representation in a criminal case, we urge you contact a Tampa criminal defense lawyer at our firm right away.