A 17-year-old Monroe boy Thursday was ordered to interview three ethnic minority adults, then write a 500-word essay about the actions that put him before the judge in the first place.
“Nobody likes a bully,” Judge Richard Thorpe said, addressing the boy, who wore a black T-shirt with a skull and crossbones printed on the front.
The boy, who is white, was found guilty last month of felony harassment for waving a noose at a black classmate and using racial slurs last fall at Monroe High School.
At Thursday’s hearing in Snohomish County Juvenile Court, the judge set conditions for the boy’s probation under a deferred sentence. That allows him to avoid detention.
If the boy meets the conditions of his probation, the felony conviction also will be erased from his record.
Besides the interviews and essay – which the judge said he will grade – the boy must also have no contact with the victim and commit no further assaults or threaten anyone.
He also must perform 32 hours of community service, with eight hours of credit for earlier counseling and up to six hours for the interviews. Preferably, the remaining service hours should demonstrate sensitivity toward other races, the judge said.
The teenager will be supervised for up to a year.
Throughout the hearing, the boy sat quietly by his lawyer.
His former classmate sat watching him from a bench with his mother and family friends, while the white boy’s father sat on the other side of the courtroom, frequently holding his head in his hands.
The victim’s mother told the judge what happened at the high school is not unusual.
“In the bigger scheme of things, what happened to (my son) is just a piece of the racial disrespect that is everywhere – in our community, in our schools,” she said, adding she hoped the hearing would be an educational opportunity for the white boy and others.
Still, the mother said her family has not even heard an apology from the boy or his family in the six months since the incident was reported to police.
“It’s been absolute silence.”
The judge gave the boy an opportunity to say something but he declined. Given a second opportunity a few minutes later, the boy turned slightly to look back at his former classmate.
“I’d just like to say I’m sorry to (him) and his whole family,” he said.
The victim did not look back.
Edmonds attorney Tom Conom said his client is being unfairly singled out.
His client isn’t the only teenager to have made racially insensitive remarks, Conom said.
“He’s now become a lightning rod, a symbol,” the lawyer said.
The judge disagreed.
“He selected himself out by his egregious conduct,” Thorpe said, adding: “I can’t change the community. I can only deal with one person.”
The boy, who was expelled from Monroe High, has a learning disability and is now learning one-on-one with a tutor from the district, his father said after the hearing.
“What happened is not anything he’s been taught in all his life,” the father added.
The victim’s mother said she was pleased by the judge’s essay idea.
“It’s going to help him focus on what he needs,” she said of he white teen.
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