Charges against five boys accused of sexually abusing a fellow middle school student on a bus returning from a basketball game last year have been dismissed.
The teens were all arrested in December on charges of sexual assault and indecency in Bowie County juvenile court. Three boys received deferred prosecution as juveniles for disorderly conduct, an offense roughly equivalent to receiving a traffic ticket. Two boys were completely cleared.
"My son was screaming, 'What did I do?'" said the mother of a boy who, along with four others, was cuffed, shackled and put on a bus.
The parents said they were told to bring their sons to a juvenile justice center in Texarkana, but were not told their children were going to be taken into custody. The parents said the boys were handcuffed to leather belts placed around their waists, and their feet were shackled.
The boys were taken by bus to a juvenile detention center in Marshall, Texas, where they spent the night. The next day, the teens were released to their parents' custody after a hearing before a judge.
"There was a hearing that took place," Bowie County District Attorney Jerry Rochelle said. "The juveniles involved requested the judge hear the case and make a determination. The judge deliberated for several days and then issued his ruling that there wasn't sufficient evidence to show that the original charges were credible or sufficient to prove the conduct alleged. The only charge proved out was disorderly conduct, which is a Class C misdemeanor."
Essentially, the three boys who received deferred prosecution for disorderly conduct were determined to have engaged in rough behavior on the bus. No finding that the boys involved were engaged in sexual misconduct was made.
The parents lament that their sons were tried and convicted in the court of public opinion in an avalanche of social media posts made after local media outlets reported the arrests.
"Some people take everything they read on the internet as fact," Rochelle said.
The parents and Dallas lawyer Don Haslam said they are dissatisfied with the way Texarkana, Texas, police handled the investigation. They said they believe investigators had evidence casting doubt on allegations that a boy was sodomized on the bus with a cellphone.
Copies of statements from student witnesses provided by Haslam show that many students were asleep or listening to music through earbuds and had no information to offer. Other students appeared to think they were being asked about a tussle over a seat between two boys that happened earlier in the ride.
Still others saw one student grab another's cellphone and take it to the back of the bus. When that student walked to the back of the bus to retrieve the phone, he tripped and fell. What happened afterward led to the allegations.
The parents of the boys who were given deferred prosecution described the incident as horseplay with no sexual component. A parent of a boy who was arrested and later cleared of all charges, said her son did nothing more than help the boy who had been on the floor to his feet.
Texarkana, Texas, Police Department spokesman Shawn Vaughn said his department stands behind the investigation and that the department must place its confidence in the ability of the judicial system to appropriately resolve cases after a determination is made to levy charges and make arrests.
Rochelle agreed.
"Hindsight is always 20/20," Rochelle said. "Once those allegations were made involving the sexual assault of a minor, TTPD's hands were tied. They had to investigate and had to proceed."
The parents said they are grateful to 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart for listening to them and their lawyers and for rendering a careful and fair decision.