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Followup; Prosecutor drops assault charges vs. boy, 8
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Prosecutor drops assault charges vs. boy, 8But neighboring parent wants Juvenile Court response to toy gun incident. Tuesday, March 5, 2002By LIZ COBBS NEWS STAFF REPORTER Saying it made a mistake, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office will drop felonious assault charges against an 8-year-old Whitmore Lake boy accused of pointing a toy gun at three children in his neighborhood. But the mother of one of the children frightened by the Dec. 6, 2001, incident in the Northfield Estates mobile home park still wants the matter pursued in Juvenile Court. Prosecutor Brian Mackie said Monday that an assistant prosecuting attorney who authorized the petition in January to charge Tommy Davis with three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon mistakenly thought a cap gun was a real gun. To be classified as an assault with a dangerous weapon, a real gun must be involved, Mackie said. "We were wrong and we need to correct this as soon as we can," Mackie said. Tommy Davis, who was 7 at the time of the incident, is scheduled to appear Wednesday in Juvenile Court with his mother, Lisa Davis. Mackie said the charges will be dismissed at the hearing. The boy was charged after he took a plastic cap gun and pointed it at three children, two 7-year-olds and a 6-year-old, according to a Northfield Township Police report. Tommy Davis, the report said, never told the children he was going to shoot them but did tell one of them, "Don't fight me anymore." When an adult resident driving by witnessed the incident and went to stop it, Tommy ran away. Robin Arthur, the mother of one of the 7-year-olds, said Monday that her son no longer lives with her because he does not feel safe living near Tommy Davis, with whom her son has had several fights. "I find it very appalling that they are not going to seek charges," said Arthur, who lives directly behind the Davis family. "Now, he thinks he's going to get by with it. What's to say he won't get a real gun now?" Lisa Davis denied that her son felt he was getting away with anything. "My son's scared to go to court because he feels like he's going to be taken away from here," said Davis, who questioned why her son was charged in the first place. "I hope no mother ever has to go through this." Arthur said her son has been having trouble with Tommy Davis for several years. Although she called the police about several incidents, nothing happened because Tommy was under 7. The Michigan Court of Appeals has held that a child under 7 is not able to form an intent to commit a crime, but a 7-year-old child can form the intent and therefore can be charged. Mackie said he looked into the Juvenile Court case after reading a story in Saturday's News but believed it would have been dismissed at some point when it was recognized that a cap gun was involved. Although the charges will be dismissed, Mackie said the boy's behavior was still bad. "I hope things don't get worse with the kids in that community," Mackie said. "It's important for people not to fight with each other." Liz Cobbs can be reached at lcobbs@annarbornews.com or at (734) 994-6810. http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/1015342801277292.xml
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