McMINNVILLE, Oregon, Aug. 20, 2007
Charges Dropped Against "Bottom Slappers"
Judge Dismisses Controversial Criminal Sexual Harassment Charges Against 2 Oregon Teens
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Cory Mashburn, left, and Ryan Cornelison are shown Monday, Aug. 20, 2007, in the Yamhill County Courthouse in McMinnville, Ore. Cornelison and Mashburn, 13, accused of slapping girls' bottoms and poking or cupping girls' breasts at school, apologized on Monday as Yamhill County Judge John Collins dismissed charges against the two. (AP)
Pressure has been building on prosecutors to drop the charges against Cory Mashburn and Ryan Cornelison, with critics saying they had blown the matter out of proportion and were overzealous. Four girls listed as victims by prosecutors joined in the call for charges to be dropped.
Judge John Collins said Monday his decision was in the "interest of justice."
The boys were accused in police reports of swatting girls on the bottom in a school corridor, grabbing girls' breasts on at least two occasions, poking girls' breasts and mimicking sexual intercourse while dancing.
They were originally charged with felony and misdemeanor sex abuse charges in February.
Amid growing public opposition to sending the boys to prison and putting them on a sex offenders' registry, prosecutors dropped the felony sex abuse charges and added misdemeanor harassment charges, then later dropped all sex abuse charges, leaving only the harassment counts.
The judge dismissed the final charges following negotiations between prosecutors and the defense, and discussions with the four girls about whether they wanted the case dismissed.
The boys apologized to the girls in the courtroom Monday.
"I never intended to hurt you in any way," Mashburn said.
Cornelison told the girls: "I hope we can still be friends."
The News-Register newspaper of McMinnville reported that a "civil compromise" reached by prosecutors and the defense called for both boys to apologize, to pay each of the four girls $250 and to complete a "boundaries education" program.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys said they could not comment on the newspaper report or release details of the settlement because they are confidential.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 34 CommentsFBI director J. Edgar Hoover once said that a man''s character is formed as a boy. These kids should be taught by their fathers that women should be treated with respect. Hmm. I wonder how the boys'' fathers have been treating their mothers.
I read comments like we should put the "fear of God" into those kids. But if you think about it, wasn''t God and His Law kicked out of the schools years ago?
And therein lies the REAL problem.
It is wise to teach your children when and what type of touching is not appropriate, but this is yet another case that has gone too far. The worst part of this case is that the parents of one of those children was on the radio show, and they have nearly lost all their savings and their home just to afford a lawyer to defend their son. Sure, they could''ve taken the Public Defender option, but we all know how ineffective those salaried government employees are!
We used to just take care of this stuff ourselves with a punch to the nose. That usually cooled the amorous junior highers.
These kids should just be suspended for a week, given a big load of homework, like a 10,000 word theme on respecting other people''s space, maybe a little community service, cleaning up the park, and then forget about it. This charging kids with crimes and felonies for just being kids (abeit, bad kids) is nonsense and a detriment to our society.
geez, I dont know what this nation is coming too...
Instead, we know rely on the do gooder counselors, petrified school administrators, and overzealous prosecutors to teach kids a lesson.
If one rational person would have stood up and said ENOUGH! THIS IS CRAZY very early in the process, it could have been avoided. But everybody is so worried about being labeled sexist, bigoted, and racist homophobes, that we all just go along to get along. Come on teachers, get a spine.
Those geeks groping girls without getting their a-s-ses handed to them?
They need to investigate the OTHER boys in that school.
apparently they DON''T stick up for the girls.
....cowards.
what''s wrong with kids these days?
...Girls can''t rely on their classmates to defend them?
...boys too scared to fight?
...too afraid the cops will come and arrest them?
I guess that''s what we can expect in the sexually paranoid society we''ve created.
...that and parents need to stop being so intrusive in their kids lives
let them fend for themselves.
Posted by xzavierbrown at 10:31 PM : Aug 20, 2007
Right on! If I had done something like this when I was a kid, and my father had found out, I would have been re-educated in how to treat women by a little visit behind the woodshed. Today courts and psychologists deal with situations that have bloody obvious and simple solutions - gawd we''ve become a pathetic society!
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