Special-Ed Student Who Recorded Bullies Accused of Felony Wiretapping

[CaseyJones]

http://www.vocativ.com/culture/socie...y-wiretapping/

In Pennsylvania, a high school sophomore with developmental disabilities was convicted of a crime after recording classmates threatening to "pull down his pants"

.
After being regularly shoved and tripped, and nearly burned with a cigarette lighter, a tormented special-needs student in Pennsylvania decided to take matters into his own hands. He secretly recorded the abuse on his school-issued iPad, and his mother eventually submitted the evidence to the school’s principal. But instead of punishing the teenage tyrants caught on tape, administrators decided to call the police, who threatened the 15-year-old boy with felony wiretapping, but later reduced the charge to disorderly conduct. He was found guilty on March 19.

This isn’t the first time that developmentally disabled kids have covertly recorded bullying on school grounds, but it’s the first case where the victim has been criminally convicted for doing so. At least nine such incidents occurred across the country between 2003 and 2013, often resulting in the firing of school employees, the expulsion of students and legal settlements worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And while it shouldn’t make much of a difference, previous incidents have mostly involved parents slipping discreet spyware into their children’s pockets, rather than the child taking action.

[ClydeCoulter]

[phill4paul]

Sure. Seems like the best way to go about this. TPTB would rather he have resorted to another school shooting incident. SMDH.

[Vanguard101]

I don't even know how to respond....

[dannno]

Were the bulllies student athletes?

[moostraks]

They don't want to deal with the real problems. They want to make money off of the easy targets.

[aGameOfThrones]

Were the bulllies student athletes?

Yes. Also, they will receive summer cop camp.

[phill4paul]

In H.S., in the way, way back, there was a young man that was mercilessly bullied by the jocks. They would punch him in the arm whenever they encountered him in the halls. One day he got fed up. Stuck some thumb tacks through some duct tape and wrapped it around his arms then pulled a shirt over them. The first jock that laid into him ended up sticking to his arm for a tug or two. The school finally decided enough was enough, can't have the jocks getting injured, and the coach and principal came down hard and fast. The kid walked a head taller through graduation I imagine.

[aGameOfThrones]

So much for the anti bullying campaign.

[Lindsey]

He should never have taken the plea. This was a public school and you are allowed to record in public places.

[Paulbot99]

Can't let students get the idea that recording abuse is okay.

[Brian4Liberty]

[Brian4Liberty]

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

He should never have taken the plea. This was a public school and you are allowed to record in public places.

public school isn't really a public place. you can't just walk into one

[Brian4Liberty]

[jkob]

what a ****ing joke, I hate this country sometimes

we have those $#@!s at the NSA getting protected and given their golden parachute but you **** with the disabled?

[DamianTV]

Monopoly on Violence

Kids are being taught to not defend themselves, nor take any action that can hold any aggressor accountable for their actions. They are taught to be dependant on someone else for defense of any aggressions. It does nothing more than reinforces the concept of Authority in total control, where the Authority is not only unaccountable unto itself, but can determine the fate of anyone for any reason.

The Real Bullies here are the Schools and Govt. They treat all students like they are in a Criminal Prison system, because effectively, they are. Then people act suprised when the Prisoners behave like Prisoners.

[satchelmcqueen]

yep. a teacher i know was recorded secretly by a student who said she was verbally abusing her. turns out the tape proved it true. she was fired and rightfully so, but not without crying like a baby pretending she was the victim, not the kid.

[unknown]

Of-course he was.

We cant allow people to know what goes on in public schools.

Someone else may want to record something as well.

Have to make an example out of the first.

[Lucille]

Public school is child abuse.

His mom was posting on Ben Swann, and said that's the only HS in the district, and she can't afford private. I suggested she look into online school. She did say it is a big sports school, but I'm not sure if the thugs are jocks or not.

http://www.theamericanconservative.c...ette-shea-love

Dear Shea Love: you sue these administrative bastards in civil court, and you sue them till their teeth rattle and they fear to let anything like this happen to another kid.
[...]
A teacher who lets this kind of abuse go on in her classroom is a bad person. A school that punishes a victim for bringing them news they would rather not think about is a bad school that needs to change. If it takes a lawsuit to make them do the right thing, then bring it.

About Judge Maureen McGraw-Desmet, I don’t know what can be done. I feel sorry for those who have to depend on her for justice, though.

[thoughtomator]

I don't even know how to respond....

you respond where they least expect it, when they least expect it.

[Kords21]

If the gov't had any brains, big if, I know, they would be championing this kid as an example of "See, spying keeps you safe" instead of throwing the book at him. When you're so drunk with power, the thought of anyone doing something without your say so will drive you crazy. That's the problem with being a control freak, the more you try to control everything the crazier you get. I offer D.C. as exhibit A.

[FindLiberty]

....control everything the crazier you get. I offer D.C. as exhibit A.

100%

[Carson]

If the bullying is wrong then wouldn't an act of self defense be appropriate?

[Brian4Liberty]

This kind of totalitarian injustice leads directly to bullied kids going in and shooting the place up. These bureaucrats have the blood of every school shooting on their hands.

[MRK]

If the bullying is wrong then wouldn't an act of self defense be appropriate?

Not in public school prison.

In school I was attacked by some aggro tard and I defended myself solely by trying to get his hands off me. I didn't even succeed at that, he ended up having me pinned down as he was about 3 years older than me so he had the physics and the element of surprise on his side. We both got suspended despite witnesses saying I was approached and assaulted and only defended myself by trying to get the animal off me. My suspension was for a day and his was for longer, but the point was made: you get attacked, you get punished.

[DamianTV]

http://photographyisnotacrime.com/20...apping-charge/

And he gets convicted? What the hell is wrong with these people?

A high school sophomore in Pennsylvania who had been bullied all year by classmates with no help from his teacher decided to audio record the bullying on his iPad as evidence.

But instead of disciplining the bullies, school officials called police on him, threatening to have him arrested for felony wiretapping.

By the time the cops arrived at South Fayette High School in McDonald, school administrators had already forced the 15-year-old boy to delete the audio clip.

So police charged him with disorderly conduct instead, a charge he was convicted of last month.

Meanwhile, the bullies and the teacher who allowed the bullying – not to mention the administrators who intimidated him into deleting the audio – have yet to be disciplined.

Here’s hoping karma catches up to all of them, including Judge Maureen McGraw-Desmet, who convicted the child because, she said, he went to the “extreme” of recording the bullying rather than “let the school handle it.”

...

(Longer article, continues on link with interviews)

Let the School handle it? To do what, nothing?

The School and Judicial System are the real Bullies here. The only real crime is the effort made to defend ones self.

[Lucille]

Exclusive UPDATE: Mother of Special Ed. Pennsylvania Bullied Teen Speaks Out as They Battle Court Conviction
http://benswann.com/exclusive-update...#ixzz2z3q1IQCz

Since the bullying began at South Fayette High School, Christian Stanfield says he has lost 15 pounds and is now on anxiety medication due to stress.

Great.

She should fight the conviction, but she has GOT to get him out of that school.

[Lucille]

Victory: Student Charged After Recording His Own Bullies Will No Longer Have Case Pursued By District Attorney
http://benswann.com/victory-student-...#ixzz2z544wkwV

10 days after Benswann.com was the first media in the nation to report the case of Christian Stanfield, the 15 year old Pennsylvania sophomore who was convicted of disorderly conduct for recording bullies, we have now learned of a new twist in the case.
[...]
Stanfield had announced that he and his attorney would file an appeal to that ruling but his fight may already be coming to an end. Today, Benswann.com has been told by Stanfield’s attorney that the District Attorney will allow the appeal to go forward but will no longer pursue this case. Stanfield’s attorney says that information is just coming in and he needs time to study exactly what this means for Christian.

Since our stories on this issue first broke, the response has been huge. The high school’s principal has deleted his twitter profile, at a recent school board meeting parents turned out to defend Christian, and now national and international media are finally covering the story including Fox News, RT America, and the Daily Mail UK.

Shea Love, Christian’s mother sent this message to Benswann.com today:

“Ben Swann and Priscilla Jones!!! This is mom of Christian True Stanfield. Without you covering this story and capturing the heart of a nation, we would not have been victorious!
God bless you both!
God bless the nation that has supported us!
This is just step one.
I will always hold a place for you both near and dear to my heart!
Thank you so much!
You have change ours lives forever!!!!”

The reporter who broke the story for Benswann.com, Priscilla Jones tells Ben Swann she is “proud to be a part of a news organization that is working to tell these kinds of stories and where Humanity is truly greater than Politics.”

[Brian4Liberty]

Good news.

The kid says he doesn't want "heads to roll" over this. Nice kid. The Judge, the Police, the DA and the school need to be held accountable.

A Pennsylvania teenager convicted of disorderly conduct for recording his alleged tormenters in class wants changes to the district’s zero tolerance policy rather than the wishes of his mother, who wants “heads to roll” for the incident.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/04/15...hool-district/