Second pre-teen in near-fatal shopping cart push could receive light sentence
posted at 5:40 pm on November 23, 2011 by Howard Portnoy
Fool Judge Susan Larabee once, shame on her. Fool her twice, shame on the criminal justice system.
The judge, who announced last week that she may give probation to a teen perpetrator in a potentially deadly pre-Halloween prank, doubled down on her mistake today in New York County Family Court, where she intimated that his partner in crime is equally likely to receive the most lenient sentence under the law.
The suspect, Raymond Hernandez, copped to a guilty plea to a reduced assault charge for his role in a stunt that left a mother in a coma. On October 30, Raymond and fellow juvenile delinquent Jiovianni Rosario hurled a shopping cart onto the head of Marion Salmon Hedges from four stories up. She has remained in critical condition at Harlem Hospital ever since.
The New York Daily News reports that the 12-year-old Hernandez told Judge Larabee “in a small voice” that “me and Jiovianni threw a shopping cart off the fourth story of the mall.”
The Manhattan judge asked if he understood that someone could get hurt (could?) and that he could wind up in a youth detention facility until his eighteenth birthday. His one-word reply was “Yeah.”
It’s hard to imagine that Larabee was not reduced to tears by this heartfelt testimony. Certainly, she was not moved enough to grant a request by the boy’s Legal Aid attorney that Raymond be released into his mother’s care pending his sentencing on December 7.
But then the judge seemed to soften some, adding:
I’m not saying I’m never going to release him, but I don’t have enough information. It’s still not clear to me who was supposed to be supervising him on October 30.
The judge ordered that both of Hernandez’s parents be interviewed by probation officials.
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instead of any penalty/sentence at all why not have them choose between a gift of farm land or cheap office space?
mittens on November 23, 2011 at 7:24 PM
It’s still not clear to me that either of these kids has a conscience. Young sociopaths?
Mary in LA on November 23, 2011 at 7:34 PM
I’m just wondering where the village was that was supposed to be involved in this “parental supervision.”
BigAlSouth on November 24, 2011 at 8:06 AM
At least the judge has a bit of common sense, unlike our hero’s of the right here that think 11 year old kids should be locked up for eternity while not even mentioning the parents.
Marry in LA here shows my point by quoting something that is aimed at the parents and then dogging on the kids in response. I mean, really?
But whoa baby, when it comes to anything else, especially education, our hero’s on the right will instantly claim it’s always all on the parents.
I’m not defending these criminals in training, but your outrage should be directed at the lack of parenting these kids received.
Locking them up until they’re 18 is going to accomplish what exactly???
uknowmorethanme on November 24, 2011 at 8:42 AM
Leaving them free in society is going to do exactly what?
If you have done any study of the conscience then you know that no matter how hard parents have worked every once in a while you get children that have a loose wire somewhere (sociopaths) and are clear and present dangers to society.
chemman on November 24, 2011 at 11:25 AM
A 12 year old can be expected to understand the danger to his victim before he decided to toss a shopping cart onto her.
These kids are either sociopaths or sadistic monsters.
caldfyr on November 26, 2011 at 1:25 AM