July 08, 2006
Still more cases dismissed in Round Rock

Kiss more of those curfew violations goodbye.


A Municipal Court judge has dismissed 47 curfew violation cases against students who walked out of class in March to protest federal immigration legislation.

Twenty-six of the cases were dismissed Wednesday and three others Thursday. The cases were dismissed because prosecutors said there was not enough evidence to prove that the students had violated the city's daytime curfew.

Police issued the Class C misdemeanor citations to 204 students who walked out of class to protest on March 31. Cases against 52 students are pending, and the first case is set for trial on July 21.

Round Rock's curfew states that anyone under 17 must be in school between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Exercising First Amendment rights can be used as a defense in court.


When last we heard of this situation, the first case for trial was scheduled for yesterday. I presume it was among those that got dismissed, since we're now waiting until June 21 for a trial. Will any of these cases ever see a jury? Stay tuned and find out. More background is here. Thanks to Eye on Williamson for the catch.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on July 08, 2006 to National news | TrackBack
Comments

Round Rock's curfew states that anyone under 17 must be in school between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Exercising First Amendment rights can be used as a defense in court.

Uh, since that's precisely what these students were doing (in fact I suspect the students were targets because they were exercising their First Amendment rights; if so it'd give them a selective prosecution defense too), how does Round Rock ever expect to win these cases?

Let the schools decide on the appropriate punishments. Geez. What a waste of police time.

Posted by: Mathwiz on July 10, 2006 4:09 PM