30-year-old mother of six Schaquana Spears went viral on social media after she was arrested for child abuse for whooping her kids’ butts, three boys between the ages of 10 and 13, after they stole a bunch of stuff from the neighbor’s house.
Two of the boys had small cuts and all three had a few bruises after Spears reportedly whipped their butts with an electrical cord and then made them return all the stuff they took to the neighbor and apologize. She was later arrested on two counts of cruelty to juveniles, for which she could face 20 years in prison, and her bond was set at $2,500.
The video below of a news interview shot with Spears after she posted bail was viewed 13 million times on Facebook. All of her children were taken away and Spears lost her job pending the outcome of the charges. Winter Applewhite, who owns a bailbond company, paid $1,000 of her own money to get Spears out of jail because of how unfair she felt the situation was.
Now, after a huge public outcry, the parish DA has decided to drop all charges (via BizPacReview):
The prosecuting attorney thought of what his own parents would have done under similar circumstances and dropped the charges.
“My intent is to not prosecute. I doubt that I’ll change my mind. I don’t think there’s evidence there to help me change my mind,” East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III told CBS affiliate WAFB.
The public outcry on this one was heavily in Spears’ favor, who said she lived for her kids and was just attempting to keep them out of prison (via WBRZ):
“Maybe I should have did nothing,” Spears said. “I still would have been wrong. I would have been unfit. Then they would have been saying you should have disciplined them. I did it and now look at what happened. The system is messed up.”
As Spears reflects on what happened, she’s unsettled about it. She believes if she didn’t administer discipline to her children, they’d become yet another statistic in the system. She was grateful for all the support she’s received.
“That’s what’s getting me through,” Spears said. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. In this day and age, I see so many babies getting killed, and I refuse to look at my babies in a coffin.”
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#1: goldilucky To: Deckard (#0)
goldilucky posted on 2016-07-05 12:46:37 Reply Private Reply
#2: ConservingFreedom To: Deckard (#0)
That's abuse. Bare hand on bare bottom - when you've had enough, so have they.
She got that right.
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-07-05 12:53:58 Reply Private Reply
#3: Deckard To: goldilucky (#1)
You're asking for trouble anytime you get the cops involved in a family issue. I applaud her for what she did. Maybe it will make the kids think about what they did and learn from the experience.
Perhaps, their punishment would have been doing community service or worse, depending on the seriousness of the crime, doing some time in juvenile detention center to be rehabilitated.
I'd say her actions did a pretty fair job of "rehabilitation". She's trying to keep her kids out of jail - it's her responsibility, not the state's.
Deckard posted on 2016-07-05 13:40:24 Reply Private Reply
#4: Deckard To: ConservingFreedom (#2)
I'd agree with you if there was a history of the mother using an electrical cord on the kids for arbitrary reasons.
The way I see it, the mom wanted to get her point across and used firm parental discipline.
Deckard posted on 2016-07-05 13:46:23 Reply Private Reply
#5: TrappedInMd To: Deckard (#0)
A few years back I learned this from a neighbor who took legal custody of a unruly and wild 15 year old girl.
Civil Liability for Theft in Maryland
In addition to the criminal penalties detailed above, a person who commits shoplifting may be civilly liable to the store owner. A shoplifter is required to return the merchandise to the store owner, but if the merchandise is not recoverable, has been damaged, or otherwise has lost all or part of its value, the person must pay the store owner an amount equal to the item’s stated sales price for the merchandise.
The person also must pay the store owner the following:
•any other actual damages, and
•a civil penalty equal to two times the store owner's stated sales price for the merchandise, but not less than $50 nor more than $1,000. (Md. Code Ann. [Crim.] § 3-1302.)
TrappedInMd posted on 2016-07-05 14:19:09 Reply Private Reply
#6: jeremiad To: Deckard (#0)
We are officially now living in a "snowflake" generation. Women are supposed to be equally as tough as men in the military and LE, but can't handle an insult. Gays are allowed in the military, but will cry if they are called fairies. Basic Training recruits are allowed "time-outs" when they feel overwhelmed, as the DI is not allowed to scream or curse.
There are some hard lessons coming to this land, and I don't think we will survive in a recognizable form.
jeremiad posted on 2016-07-06 02:10:58 Reply Private Reply