In a partial victory for justice, most of the serious charges were dismissed against the two 13-year old boys in McMinnville, Oregon who are the targets of abusive prosecutor Bradley Berry.
Last week, [Circuit Judge John L.] Collins threw out misdemeanor sex abuse charges against the boys, a decision that means the pair no longer face lifetime registration as sex offenders should they be convicted.
But they still face trial for harassment charges, which the judge inexplicably refused to dismiss.
Defense lawyers Mark Lawrence and Rachel Negra are pressing to have the rest of the case tossed. They argued that prosecutors, who initially charged the boys with felony sex abuse, overreacted and unfairly singled them out from other Patton students — boys and girls — who also admitted swatting friends on the buttocks.
Collins rejected both lines of reasoning. He said there was no evidence the district attorney’s office set out to be vindictive and that prosecutors applied a “reasonable set of standards” when deciding what charges to file.
But there is no “reasonable set of standards” that would prosecute two young boys for horsing around at school. By any reasonable standard, the abuse that is being heaped on these boys by the prosecutors, and now being abetted by this judge, is ridiculous and disgusting. The legal system in McMinnville, Oregon has become an enemy of justice and reasonable standards.
Apparently attending law school causes many to lose all common sense and the basic ability to think like normal, decent human beings. What is being done to these boys is simply shameful.
The Unalienable Right 