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Boys Face Trial Over Slapping Charges

By SCOTT MICHELS,
ABC News
Posted: 2007-07-25 09:27:36
Filed Under: Crime News
NEW YORK (July 25) -- Two middle-school students in Oregon are facing possible time in a juvenile jail and could have to register as sex offenders for smacking girls on the rear end at school.

Cory Mashburn and Ryan Cornelison, both 13, were arrested in February after they were caught in the halls of Patton Middle School, in McMinnville, Ore., slapping girls on the rear end. Mashburn told ABC News in a phone interview that this was a common way of saying hello practiced by lots of kids at the school, akin to a secret handshake.

The boys spent five days in a juvenile detention facility and were charged with several counts of felony sex abuse for what they and their parents said was merely inappropriate but not criminal behavior.

The local district attorney has since backed off -- the felony charges have been dropped and the district attorney said probation would be an appropriate punishment. The Mashburns' lawyer said prosecutors offered Cory a plea bargain that would not require him to register as a sex offender, which the family plans to reject.

But the boys, if convicted at an Aug. 20 trial, still face the possibility of some jail time or registering for life as sex offenders.

The boys' families and lawyers said even sentencing them to probation would turn admittedly inappropriate but not uncommon juvenile rowdiness into a crime. If they are convicted of any of the misdemeanor charges against them, they would have to register as sex offenders.

What's Your Take?

"It's devastating," said Mark Lawrence, Cory Mashburn's lawyer. "To be a registered sex offender is to be designated as the most loathed in our society. These are young boys with bright futures, and the brightness of those futures would be over."

Cory Mashburn said he and Ryan Cornelison slapped each others' and other kids' bottoms every Friday. "Lots of kids at school do that," he said.

Cory and Ryan were brought to the principal's office Feb. 22, where they were questioned by school officials and a police officer. They were arrested that day and taken in handcuffs to a juvenile detention facility.

Court papers said the boys touched the buttocks of several girls, some of whom said this made them uncomfortable. The papers also said Cory touched a girl's breasts. But police reports filed with the court said other students, both boys and girls, slapped each other on the bottom.

"It's like a handshake we do," one girl said, according to the police report.

The boys were initially charged with five counts of felony sexual abuse. At a court hearing, two of the girls recanted, saying they never felt threatened or inappropriately touched by the boys. The judge released the boys but barred them from returning to school and required that they be under constant adult supervision.

District Attorney Bradley Berry has since dismissed the felony counts. The boys face 10 misdemeanor charges of harassment and sexual abuse. They face a maximum of up to one year in a juvenile jail on each count, though Berry said there was no way the boys would ever serve that much time.

"An appropriate sentence would be probation," he said. "These are minor misdemeanor charges that reflect repeated contact against multiple victims. We never intended for them to get a long time in detention."

"We're not seeking major penalties," he said. "We're seeking change in conduct."

'We Just Want This to Be Over' Tracie Mashburn, Cory's mother, said they will not accept plea and plan to fight the charges.

The arrests, critics said, reflect a trend toward criminalizing adolescent sexual behavior. Between 1998 and 2002, juvenile arrests for sex offenses other than rape or prostitution rose 9 percent -- the only kind of juvenile arrests that rose during that time, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

"More and more, they are criminalizing normal adolescent or preadolescent behavior," said Chuck Aron, co-chairman of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers juvenile justice committee.

Even probation, the Mashburns and their attorney said, would be too severe a punishment.

Julie McFarlane, a supervising attorney at the Juvenile Rights Project in Portland, Ore., said, "Probation for a sex offense is very difficult thing, and there's a pretty high failure rate." Failing to meet the terms of probation could mean the boys would be sent to jail.

Depending on the terms of probation, it's likely that the boys would not be allowed to have sexual contact with anyone or any contact with younger children, McFarlane said. For Cory Mashburn, that would mean he couldn't be left alone with his younger siblings.

"It's been awful," said Cory's mother. "We just want this to all be over. But it will never go away. We'll always remember it."

Berry, the district attorney, said the victims -- the girls who were touched -- were being overlooked. "What's been lost in this whole thing are the victims, who have been pressured enormously by these boys' friends," he said.

Cory, who said he now realizes what he did was inappropriate, spends his days playing video games and basketball. He said he's scared. "I could go to jail. I could be registered as a sex offender," he said. "I think it's all crazy."

Copyright 2008 ABCNEWS.com
2007-07-24 15:35:40
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Recent Comments

1 - 10 of 18183
18183 comments

asdasd3t13r 02:44:00 AM Jun 18 2009

Wow, I hope that prosecutor burns in hell. Just look at her. Fat ugly pig. What does she know about life? I hope she died from this.WOW, LET'S THROW KIDS IN JAIL FOR ACTING OUT WHEN THEIR HORMONES ARE GOING CRAZY. GOOD IDEA.Pathetic. Every single person who let this case proceed to court should be TORTURED, then KILLED.

aldldl1989 10:34:09 PM Jan 25 2008

That is insane. Leave those poor kids alone!

Bre n Donnas Mom 09:04:00 PM Aug 15 2007

I'm a mom to two girls, and I think our society is blowing things way out of proportion..when my oldest daughter was in 5th or 6th grade, I actually got a phone call from the principal asking if I wanted to press sexual harrasment charges on a boy for snapping her bra!!!! That's insane...anyone who would want to willingly trash a young child's entire life for something as silly as this really has some issues...should the boys have gotten grounded for a month and had all their video games and stuff like that taken away, sure...but criminal charges???? I think not.

codonovich 02:36:00 AM Aug 15 2007

The charges have been lowered to misdemeanors but I for one am thrilled that this was taken to court. A misdemeanor charge seems very appropriate to me. Both of those boys should be permanently removed from the public schools. I don't want them in the same schools with my children or my grandchildren for that matter. If a boy had ever grabbed a girl's breast in my day, they would have never seen the light of day again. Parents are completely irresponsible. Parents who allow 13-year-olds to watch filth on TV and R-rated movies (or the remakes on TV) shouldn't be surprised when they act out such filth in real life. They said the behavior was inappropriate? Try disgustingly disrespectful. If the boys had been raised right, they never would have thought to disrespect girls in this manner. I have absolutely NO sympathy for either of them. I think they should have been held in juvenile detention for several months to think about why they have so little respect for others. This was n

eddievangogh 11:24:00 PM Aug 03 2007

coxxranch maybe instead of teaching your kids do do whatever there told without thought[then again why should they question anythiong there say if its by a priest or something, i mean we know we can trust with our crepressed, hormone,filled, godfearing young children]i mean heck ya know its not like anybody in a position of authority has ever lied say being a priest or a president

ignnignoktt 11:03:59 PM Aug 03 2007

"change in conduct"? lmao good luck with that. stupid parents to sue over that.

twenty6cookies 12:44:00 AM Aug 01 2007

Are they serious? This is pitiful. Are we to also condemn the coaches of our school sports teams? Has each smack on the butt in congradulatory fashion been sexual abuse? If so, are we to go back through the ages calling to account good men and women whose cultural condition taught them that such a thing was socially acceptable? Granted, young boys will be driven by their testosterone and will endulge in mischief, AS WILL YOUNG GIRLS. This is more of a domestic parental issue about instilling self restarint more than an issue of criminal sexual misconduct, SO IT APPEARS TO ME.

Danielsd919 02:17:00 PM Jul 31 2007

in the first picture the child looks really ashamed of what he did

zb1689 12:50:53 PM Jul 31 2007

I was just curious if these boys have a female principal and if it was a female judge? My son has been overly disciplined on 3 occasions for minor incidents, 2 of which he didn't even do, the girl said he did and the principal simply believed her. We did get appologies later for 2 incidents, finding out that the girls lied and they simply overreacted but, all 3 acts were considered sexual harrassment. This started at 3rd grade, 6th grade, then 10th grade. I also work in the school system and have seen the disciplinary differences regarding the gender of the children and depending on the gender of the administration invovled. I think this should be looked at in depth and researched because this gender bias in not fair to the children and don't deserve to be treated this way.

nmhinc 11:23:28 AM Jul 31 2007

My daughter and son attend a private catholic school which I will not name for privacy of other students. The end of this school term, ten boys were suspended due to lewd and lascivious behavior. The teachers had separated the boys from the girls and had asked these young ladies if they had ever been touched inappropriately, verbally abused, sexually harrassed. EVERY girl wrote at the minimum one page of abusive acts towards them or someone they knew. I am sick and tired of the lack of parenting that is now just a way of life. As far as I am concerned, these boys are getting their just desserts. When does it end, at what point do they stop and consider they actions as inappropriate? These girls who put up with this crap, are more than likely uncomfortable spekaing out and saying NO! The boys at our school are getting off easy. I want my daughter to feel safe at school. I want her last year to be one of fond memories and excitement. It is a shame that these parents have their heads

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