Court spurns Virginia mom's conviction for taking children to school late

[joeybee12]

Va. (Reuters) - Virginia's compulsory school-attendance law is too vague to be used to prosecute a divorced mother for bringing her children to school late, the state's highest court ruled on Friday, overturning her convictions in a lower court.

The decision by the Virginia Supreme Court was a victory for Maureen Anne Blake, a mother of three who shares custody with her ex-husband. She had been convicted on three misdemeanor charges related to her children’s school tardiness, with each count based on five instances of tardiness, from Dec. 1, 2011, to Jan. 19, 2012.

In the majority opinion, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr. said the language of the state law was "ambiguous," especially in directing parents to "send" their children to school. "The word 'send' has a variety of different definitions," Millette wrote.

The children, ages 9, 10, 11, were repeatedly five to 20 minutes late to their classes on Thursdays, according to court records.

http://news.yahoo.com/court-spurns-virginia-moms-conviction-taking-children-school-200351109.html

[tazkcmo]

1. Hang her!!!

These are the REAL criminals in America!!! Not the banksters, not the bought politicians, not the corrupt police forces.

[lpbk2713]

2. It's hard to take a school system seriously ...

when they want to prosecute a parent for a few instances of tardiness
in a year's time. The mother probably did the best she could.

[dsc]

4. she is responsible for only one day a week

Thursday and apparently was repeatedly late. It is clear she just didn't really give a damn if she got them to school on time or didn't. While jail seems a bit harsh, she should have had her custody altered so that she wasn't responsible for getting them to school.

[shenmue]

6. Oh my

You seem to know a lot.

[dsc]

8. yes I read the article

It states, in clear unambiguous language that she has custody on Wed. night and that she had them late not once, not twice, not three times, but four times in five weeks. Again, all I did was read the very clearly written article at the link. It isn't like I am the second coming of Carnac.

On edit here is the text in question which was in the article right at the link.

She had been convicted on three misdemeanor charges related to her children’s school tardiness, with each count based on five instances of tardiness, from Dec. 1, 2011, to Jan. 19, 2012.

In the majority opinion, Justice LeRoy F. Millette Jr. said the language of the state law was "ambiguous," especially in directing parents to "send" their children to school. "The word 'send' has a variety of different definitions," Millette wrote.

The children, ages 9, 10, 11, were repeatedly five to 20 minutes late to their classes on Thursdays, according to court records.

Blake had custody of her children Wednesday nights and was responsible for transporting them to school on Thursday mornings.

One last edit it was actually five times in five school weeks (you generally get two weeks off for Christmas).

[kcr]

9. 4 times in five weeks? And she was convicted?

That is insane. I'm glad her conviction was thrown out.

[dsc]

10. She was responsible for one day per week

so she was 0 for 5. And her response was well I have ADHD so oh well. Being a parent means actually being a parent.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. Criminalizing normal behavior, in order to make money from the oppressed.

This is a trend. Like all the traffic warrants in Ferguson, MO, and the private debtors' prison in Alabama that the SPLC recently got closed.

[PatrickforO]

5. Geez. WHERE is the common sense in school districts anymore?

[shraby]

7. We were always late the first day of school every year because the bus

never got us there in time. This was true at various times throughout the school year due to the bus breaking down, weather, and other reasons like several families not being ready and the bus had to wait for them.
I had to ride for an hour to get home after school, but was the last one picked up in the morning. School was 8 miles away.