Juvenile cases create complicated issues

The public story of youth crime in Texas is an incomplete one, in part because juvenile records are sealed by law.

 

Lorenzo Martinez, the Temple teenager whose collarbone allegedly was broken on May 18, 2013, by two Temple Police Department officers investigating a reported theft at Wal-Mart, had an extensive record of encounters with local law enforcement officials, a hearing revealed.

 

However, since any offenses he may have committed were when he was a juvenile, no public records are available.

 

Martinez’s record was discussed during a recent public hearing on the indefinite suspension of Temple Police Officer Jeremy Bales, one of the officers shown in a Wal-Mart video taking down Martinez.

 

Several officers testified that Martinez broke the shoulder of a Temple police officer, tried to assault a school resource officer and was involved in a home burglary. Testimony also was given that Martinez was kicked out of the Wheatley Alternative Education Center after the alleged assault of the school officer.

 

Another Temple juvenile with a prior record, Garrett Marshall Gage, 17, was arrested Tuesday in Waco and charged with capital murder. He is a suspect in an armed robbery at a Waco apartment during which one resident, 20-year-old Braeden Freeman, was shot and killed. His earlier involvement with the law included assault-family violence.

 

Too many Texas juveniles are repeatedly finding themselves in trouble with police, and the solution to ending that problem is complicated, according to area judges.

 

Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean that anyone is giving up, though.

 

Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Person introduced Teen Court to Temple Independent School District in 2012. The aim is to show first-time offenders how their actions affect other people and hopefully lead them to make better choices in the future, she said. Teen Court is available for most Class C offenses, but the students must apply for it along with their parents or guardians, and the students must plead guilty or no contest to participate. Otherwise, the case is sent to the criminal courts, Person said.

 

Local students, in addition to being tried in court by their peers, learn what it’s like to be on the other side of the law, taking the positions of prosecuting and defense attorneys, as well as jury members.

 

The Justice Center study showed students put into community-based programs were 21 percent less likely to be arrested again than those sent to state detention facilities.