Words from the Lamar County (Paris Texas) District Attorney’s Office
Categories: African-American, Dallas, Education, Politics and Elections
Written By: Shawn Williams
I was contacted by Allan Hubbard this morning who serves as Victim Witness Coordinator & Media Spokesman for Lamar County (county where Paris, Texas is located) and the District Attorney's Office. I'd heard Allan on the radio and thought about interviewing him for Dallas South, but he got to me first. Mr. Hubbard directed me to the DA Office's website which lists what they refer to as "facts" in the case of Shaquanda Cotton. I will post those for you to read here. Well…….here it goes.
Important information about the Shaquanda Cotton case
FACT: This juvenile girl assaulted a teacher, who by Texas law is a public servant, in September 2005. It was witnessed first-hand by two other teachers who testified.
FACT: Before trial, the Lamar County and District Attorney's Office (prosecutors) offered a plea bargain reduction from felony to misdemeanor assault and 2 years juvenile probation, which the mother and defense attorney turned down.
FACT: The juvenile had a trial and was found adjudicated delinquent by a jury (we don't refer to juveniles as "guilty" or "not guilty" in Texas - it's "adjudicated" or "not adjudicated") in March of 2006.
FACT: After the jury adjudicated the juvenile as delinquent, the defense asked Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville to set punishment. The defense could have had a jury set punishment, but asked for the judge to decide.
FACT: This juvenile did NOT receive 7 years in prison. She was given an indeterminate sentence to the Texas Youth Commission, which means her conduct and cooperation with their behavior rehabilitation programs determines when she gets out. Minimum time to complete those programs is 9 months. She entered TYC in March 2006 and could have been out in December 2006 if she was being cooperative. But note that she never had to go to TYC in the first place: she could have gotten probation.
FACT: Texas statute under the Family Code (governing juveniles) left 2 options for the judge: 1) release the juvenile on probation back to a family member who verbally assures the judge that cooperative efforts to meet probation conditions will be met, and 2) sentence to the Texas Youth Commission. Often, parents are part of the problem and other family members step forward to offer to take the juvenile in their care and see to it probation conditions are met. NO other family members came forward and this juvenile's mother (Creola Cotton) told the judge she would not comply with conditions of probation. The judge's hands were tied by the law and he had no other choice but TYC.
FACT: School officials testified during the punishment phase that this juvenile had been a continuous discipline problem and that her mother continually defended her actions, telling her she did nothing wrong, and fought against disciplinary actions against her daughter for legitimate infractions.
FACT: The defense filed an appeal, fired the defense attorney trial attorney they hired (Wesley Newell of Dallas) and alleged ineffective assistance of counsel (saying the defense attorney didn't do his job well enough). The Court of Appeals in Texarkana ruled that the juvenile would not be released on bond pending their final appeal decision. That decision has not yet been handed down.
FACT: This juvenile would not be in TYC if her mother had agreed to cooperate with conditions of probation after the jury found her essentially guilty.
You will find these "facts" with additional comments at http://www.lamarcountyattorney.com/cotton.html
March 30th, 2007 at 11:25 am
FACT: The school made this assault - a moment’s aggression from a first-time offender - a felony offense.
FACT: The sentence of nine months minimum (and seven years maximum) in a youth commission is supposed to be a last resort for a persistent offender when all other options have been tried.
FACT: It’s obvious Shaquanda has never committed any other criminal offence, else we would have heard about it by now.
FACT: Yet, despite this lack of a criminal record, the Judge took the word of school officials who didn’t like her or her mother, and made these officials’ word the EQUIVALENT of a criminal record.
FACT: A fourteen-year-old first offender has been sent to prison for a moment of madness.
FACT: A fourteen-year-old white girl would have never been thrown into jail just because her school didn’t like her. Expelled, punished with twelve months of cleaning graffiti or picking up trash - yes, probably. But prison for a fourteen-year-old white female first offender? Never. Even a CONVICTED ARSONIST gets the equivalent of a smack on the wrist and “don’t do it again” in Judge Superville’s court.
FACT: Shaquanda Cotton was black, and her mother didn’t like the way the school was run and said so. That was the real reason why they were both punished so harshly.
April 8th, 2007 at 8:51 am
The manner in which Shaquanda Cotton’s case was disposed of by the Lamar County’s judicial system is is unacceptable and reflects the historical inequities within the entire Texas judiciary when it comes to Black people and other members of poor and working class communities. From Paris, Texas to Tulia, Texas to the Fake Drug Scandal and 13 exonerations (and counting) in Dallas, Texas, the proof is there and you can try to white-wash it all you want, but it is what it is, and only the thing that honest and responsible individuals can do is to first stop denying the reality, and then come together to find viable solutions to these problems that are long standing and pervasive. Anything less, negates the release of Shaquanda to a meaningless political gesture by those involved, because somewhere else in Texas this same sort of injustice is bound to take place again.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
http://www.angelfire.com/crazy4/texas
October 17th, 2007 at 9:30 am
If you commit a felony the first time as an adult or juvenile it is a felony. A felony, is a felony is a felony! It doesn’t matter if it was her first time or not. Another black male student at another school in Paris pulled a knife on another student. Once again, it was a FELONY and he was punished.
November 20th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
It is amazing to me how people don’t want to believe the truth. They want this sensationalized story of a young girl who was wronged because she was black to be right and true. If it is then why will the mother not let the school district or the court to release her papers to the public? If what the mother and daughter are saying is true then why not let the public decide for themselves by allowing all official documents on her be unsealed.
It is the very fact that people do not want to accept the truth for what it is that fuels racism in this country. It is this ignorant thinking that keeps the hatred and fires burning. What do you say about the 4 black teachers who testified against this girl? Oh that is right you try to change the blame to them and call them uncle tom’s or traitors because they don’t see this the same way you do.