ST. GEORGE – Three teenage boys pleaded guilty to kidnapping charges in the case surrounding the kidnapping of a 14-year-old female.
Angela Adams, juvenile court prosecutor with the Washington County Attorney’s Office, said the three boys involved in the kidnapping of a 14-year-old female jogger in Santa Clara last May all pleaded guilty to kidnapping charges. However, none of the boys will face incarceration.
Adams said the 2nd degree felony kidnapping charges were dropped to 3rd degree felonies, and the boys were given suspended sentences of 30 days in detention and formal probation. The suspension comes with conditions attached. The boys had to enter a victim empathy treatment program and go through victim-offender mediation. They are also not to initiate any contact with the victim.
The suspended sentence – specifically time to be served in detention – came at the request of the victim and her family, Adams said. While incarceration would be avoided, the victim’s family and the prosecution were firm on the remainder of the sentencing recommendations, she said. The family wanted to boys to understand how the incident, which has been described as a prank gone too far, had affected the victim and continues to affect her.
Barring any future run-ins with the law, Adams said the boys would be able to have the kidnapping charges expunged from their records after they turned 18, though it is a process they will have to initiate themselves.
A hearing had originally been set for Sept. 28, but was cancelled due to a consolidation hearing held on Sept. 5 in which the three boys originally pleaded guilty and were given their suspended sentences.
Related:
– Santa Clara kidnapping; juvenile justice and school discipline
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Copyright St. George News, 2012, all rights reserved.
So they pleaded guilty and are not receiving any jail time? Hhmmm….”victim empathy” and “victim-offender mediation”…REALLY?!?!?! And “suspened sentences” to boot?? It is just comforting to know that the justice system (good-ole-boy network) is alive and well in this travesty of justice. Hope the victim remembers this next time she goes jogging, if she ever does at all. Sad day in Washington County.
They all knew each other, the boys were stupid, put her her the truck drover around the block then released her. Her father sees the possible media attention and forces her to make a big deal out of it. The Father is the one giving her nightmares. This is not the first time he has tee’d off on an opportunity. The boys really are good kids, that have been shaken to the core and rightly so. This not about the good-ole-boy network, it is a drama queen father, that will say and do anything to get attention, May this young woman, be able to put the whole thing behind her as she goes on with a happy life.
Really they are kids not adults lets not judge!!!
Triple Tap, I know the BIL of the girl who was kidnapped. I don’t think the boys are bad kids, but even good kids can make a horrible mistake and cause severe and lasting trauma to another person. All it takes is lack of empathy and the ability to carry out a stupid “prank” with your friends. And if you’re let off the hook for it then you’re more likely to think what you did wasn’t all that bad and do it again. I don’t think these kids have been let off the hook personally, and I’m glad they took responsibility for what they did.
The girl sustained physical injuries from the event, and was emotionally traumatized and has since been pressured by people in her community to hush up about what happened to her. A church leader in the girl’s community accused her of “tearing the community apart” simply because she and her family decided to press charges against the boys who have now pleaded guilty. I’m sure that made the girl feel her divine worth. Thank heaven this girl’s father is sticking by her and her family is supporting her, otherwise this whole thing may very well have been swept under the rug and the girl would have a heck of a lot harder time healing and putting this behind her knowing the people around her don’t care about what happened to her.