After guilty plea, student to be released to treatment program
A student who shot a classmate in a South Memphis school building in September pleaded guilty Tuesday during a Juvenile Court hearing. As part of a plea agreement, the child was released to begin a treatment program.
The 13-year-old suspect faced a charge for criminal attempted first-degree murder Tuesday in a 20-minute hearing before Magistrate Judge Mitzi Pollard.
Pollard as well as lawyers, the boy, his mother and the victim’s father appeared among the video call participants broadcast onto a television in the courtroom.
The teen initially appeared on video before a judge the day after the shooting and Chief Magistrate David. S. Walker ordered he remain detained.
Emory Hammonds, the father of the victim, also 13, has been vocal since the shooting with a message of mercy. His son returned to school within a week of being shot.
“In the midst of accountability,” Hammonds has said, “I want us to remember mercy.”
Agreement includes treatment plan rather than detention
The agreement reached with the District Attorney’s office resulted in an admission of guilt from the 13-year-old and his acceptance of participation in a treatment plan.
Once released from custody, he will be on a house-arrest sort of program that allows him to be at home and at school. He is not allowed contact with the 13-year-old victim.
He will also complete programming determined by Youth Villages during an assessment since the shooting, defense attorney Blake Ballin explained. The agreement also stipulates the boy participate in a gun safety course. Ballin said the police had not revealed to him any details about where the 13-year-old got the gun he used in the shooting.
His mother is expected to also complete programming.
The 13-year-old shooter appeared virtually Tuesday, in a white longsleeved shirt underneath the green tshirt uniform, and, for part of the hearing, a black face mask. His mom appeared in another window, also tuning in virtually.
Once the boy accepted the plea agreement, Pollard replied.
“Good luck to you,” she said. Hammonds, the victim’s father, did not offer a statement during the hearing.
Once the boy, now convicted, is released, he’ll likely be enrolled in an alternative school, Ballin said, and will begin working with Youth Villages, which can include mental health counseling and other life skills.
Juvenile Court has jurisdiction over children through age 19, Ballin said, but if the boy complies with the treatment program, he could be released from the probation period within a year or so.
Because of his young age, Ballin said an adult transfer would have been unlikely. Shelby County transfers a disparate number of young people to adult court comparative to other similar counties in Tennessee.
“When you have somebody as young
as the defendant in this case, transferring him to adult court wasn’t really on the table,” Ballin said. “You also have a victim’s family who was in a very unique position. The child who was shot, his father has been very outspoken about reconciliation, about treatment, about making sure that my client, the defendant, was not going to be incarcerated as a result of this.”
When Ballin first met with his 13year-old client, “he was as shocked at his actions and the circumstances he found himself in as anyone.”
“Also, was worried about this kid that he had harmed,” Ballin said.
As time went on, the 13-year-old found more clarity in what had happened, shifting his focus toward healing.
“In my conversations with him lately,” Ballin said, “he’s seemed like his thoughts are a little more positive.”
Victim returned to school shortly after shooting
The shooting took place shortly after class began at Cummings K-8 School on a Thursday morning, Sept. 30, officials said. In the first court appearance, prosecutor Christopher West said the 13year-old facing charges had given a statement to police that he and the victim had been fighting for a while, so they met in a stairwell.
During the first hearing, West said surveillance video showed the victim and shooter met in a stairwell and that the accused boy went behind a door, pulled the gun out of his pocket and then extended his arm and shot the victim.
Hammonds’ son was shot in the abdomen. The boy accused of the shooting left the school, but his mother later took him to a police precinct — Raines precinct — then the boy gave a confession at Crump precinct, which has jurisdiction over the area where the shooting happened, West said.
It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer or another adult present when he confessed.
Hammonds’ son, the victim, was taken to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital moments after Hammonds arrived to the school. He went into surgery and was home and back to school by the following Tuesday, a string of events Hammonds described as “a miracle from God.”
Later that same Tuesday, Hammonds met with the shooter’s family and the leader of Shelby County Schools, Joris Ray.
During the hour-long meeting, the families prayed and Hammonds wanted to make sure there wasn’t any lasting animosity.
“Tell your son I love him,” Hammonds said he told the other boy’s mom.
About a week after the shooting, SCS announced that former Memphis Police Department Director Toney Armstrong would lead a review of the district’s safety measures and consider a districtbased law enforcement team of school resource officers.
The Commercial Appeal does not publish the names of children and teenagers accused of crimes except in rare circumstances.
Laura Testino covers education and children’s issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @Ldtestino