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This defendant will think a court “recess” is something else entirely
On May 15, there’s a trial set to start in Texas against Casey Harmeier, who faces a felony charge of attempting to set off a false fire alarm. The thing of it is, Casey Harmeier is a 10-year-old kid.
Casey is known as a good student who has never been in trouble and who has even received a “citizen-of-the-month award” from his school. But one day, he accidentally brushed up against a fire alarm, and knocked the protective cover ajar. Another kid dared him to pull the cover off, and being a kid, he did it. This then set off a local alarm. Casey didn’t know it would do this and, in fact, even his teacher and principal didn’t know that pulling off the cover would set off any alarm. A staff member then tried to get the local alarm to shut up, and accidentally set off the full-fledged fire alarm.
Casey, meanwhile, was sent to the principal’s office, where he was hit with a punishment of being sent to an “alternative school” for three weeks (and the kid who dared him was suspended). Then, the principal called the cops, who arrested Casey and charged him with a felony. Casey’s parents weren’t notified about any of this until four hours later (!).
While the prosecutor knows about all these facts, she decided not to drop the charges because “I think the evidence will show he was attempting to do it.” Which comes as no surprise, what with this being Texas and all.
I wonder if the prosecutor plans to seek the death penalty. After all, this 10-year-old clearly needs to be stopped before he strikes again!
Comments
Seth, your link is going to a different story.
It sure was. Proper link has been added. --Seth
Posted by Jorge | February 9, 2007 2:02 PM
I sure am glad that we live in the USA and have the right of freedom of speech. Some of us Texans, and those of us by choice, might take offense at some of your opinions. Being Texas and all. Just because some stupid woman (yes I am one) thought it was ok don't mean the rest of us Texans agree. Please don't generalize about an entire state...It makes you look stupid.
Posted by Jane Doe | February 12, 2007 11:13 PM
Hearing about this case on he radio originally made my blood boil. I talked to Michael Blake, the tomball police chief today. The quick summary of the conversation was that they came to the scene when called, took the report, and left when their job was done. The decision to keep pushing this issue appears to be in the hands of the prosecuting attorney, and for the life of me, I cannot understand it. I am hoping to find someone in the texas district attorney's office that can explain this to me in a way that makes sense.
Posted by Tim | March 8, 2007 4:55 PM
Tim - thanks for the info. If you do happen to get a meaningful response from the Texas prosecutors, be sure to stop by and give us an update.
Posted by Seth | March 8, 2007 8:17 PM
I received a reply, of sorts, from the DA. If this format will let me, I will post the message that I sent, and then his reply.
To: DA [DA@dao.hctx.net]
Subject: Casey Harmeier case at Tomball intermediate school
Dear sir:
I recently heard of the Casey Harmeier case on the Glenn Beck Radio program this morning, and the facts as I heard them had my blood boiling.
Here is a link to the page that very quickly summarizes the public information on the case:
http://www.quizlaw.com/blog/this_defendant_will_think_a_co.php
I have a great deal of trouble understanding how the public good is served with pursuing this case further. As a father of a 7 year old, this story gives me nightmares of my own son , a couple years older, accidentally bumping something in school, him being interrogated for hours by the police without me being notified, and being questioned to the point of confessing to something he did not actually do.
What is the public contact information of the attorney handling this particular case? I consider myself to be a man capable of some amount of rational thought (I have degrees in chemistry and mathematics), but so far, I cannot find a rational and consistent explanation of what I am hearing about this case.
Thank you for your time,
Timothy
p.s.: I am writing as a private citizen who finds himself deeply disturbed by the details of this case. I am not affiliated with the press or the legal system. However, it is likely that any information I get would be posted as a blog entry. I have spoken personally with Michael Blake, the police Chief of Tomball. To very briefly summarize, his position is that they responded to the call, took the reports, and that he is no longer in the decision making loop of this case.
His reply:
From: DA [DA@dao.hctx.net]
Okay, I don't try our cases in the media. I'd be absolutely shocked if anyone from this office stated the evidence we expect to support these allegations.
Our ethical rules also require us to keep the identification of any juvenile confidential.
If the "accidental bumping" was the only thing we had, we could not prosecute the case.
I have reared three children, my youngest is 12, her older sister is 14 and my oldest is 31. I hope that by now, I have learned something about kids.
If you can consider for a moment the idea that the allegations are sustainable, what lessons do we teach this kid or any other in a similar situation?
Hope you blood cools and you have a better day.
By the way, is the same Glenn Beck that asked to take nude photographs of a female television guest?
I'm not sure if this is meaningful. I sent a long follow up message that he has not replied to.
I do believe that 99.9% of the cases that the prosecutors go forward with have a legitimate basis and make sense to pursue. I also understand that prosecutors put a great deal of time and effort putting away people who are very deserving of harsh punishments.
Everything I know about this particular case, however, just makes no sense. THAT is my biggest problem with the events so far.
Tim J
Posted by Tim | March 12, 2007 1:26 PM