Grand Jury Overreaction Indictment of the Day: ‘Mean Girls’ Get No Love In Texas
Seven members of the Morton Ranch High School cheerleader squad were indicted for hazing. This marks the first time minors have been charged under the 1995 Texas anti-hazing statute.
Their crime? Blindfolding junior cheerleaders and throwing them into a swimming pool.
That’s it:
“This is what we’ve been waiting for,” said Diane De La Cruz, mother of Laura De La Cruz, 15, one of the junior varsity cheerleaders. “We are thankful that the grand jury came up with an indictment because we have known all along that the (varsity) girls were guilty of hazing.”
Diane De La Cruz and her husband had a premonition that high school girls might start acting like high school girls:
[De La Cruz] said her husband had an uneasy feeling when the older cheerleaders arrived about 4 a.m. on July 25 to take the couple’s daughter to the ritual breakfast.“He said, ‘I hope this is not going to turn into an initiation,’ ” De La Cruz recounted. “We trusted them to just drive our girls to IHOP.”
An initiation? In Texas? By high school students? Who could have possibly seen that coming?
Hazing is serious business … to people with no friends who’ve never been a part of anything:
Chicago psychologist Jean Alberti termed hazing “child abuse by children.” …“(Youths) think it’s funny, parents think it’s funny. They think it’s normal adolescent development, but this is an aberration. It didn’t happen 30 or 40 years ago. Now we have video on YouTube showing girls kicking other girls in the head.”
No we didn’t have YouTube 30 or 40 years ago, but I’m pretty sure that if we did “girls kicking other girls in the head” would have been “tame” for the times.
But after the jump, the law is on the anti-hazing side.
Of course the indicted teenagers weren’t kicking anybody in the head. All they did was blindfold the newer cheerleaders and throw them into a pool. I did this to my younger sister when she was five. Now, she can swim.
But under the Texas statute (Sec 37.151), the particulars of the actual “crime” don’t really matter:
“Hazing” means any intentional, knowing, or reckless act occurring on or off the campus of an educational institution, by one person alone or acting with others, directed against a student, that endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student for the purpose of pledging, being initiated into, affiliating with, holding office in, or maintaining membership in an organization.
Subsection D really brings the point home:
(
D) any activity that intimidates or threatens the student with ostracism, that subjects the student to extreme mental stress, shame, or humiliation, that adversely affects the mental health or dignity of the student or discourages the student from entering or remaining registered in an educational institution, or that may reasonably be expected to cause a student to leave the organization or the institution rather than submit to acts described in this subdivision;
A Houston Law Review article (that is “pro” anti-hazing legislation) acknowledges the over-broad definition of hazing:
A clear concept is important because actions that are considered hazing by some are not considered hazing and are not objectionable to others. Hazing is defined as “any activity expected of someone joining a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers, regardless of the person’s willingness to participate.” Athletic hazing can range in scope from relatively harmless initiation rites, such as having rookie team members carry the travel bags of veteran players or sing team songs, to potentially dangerous activities such as kidnapping, binge drinking, sexual harassment, and exploitation.
****
Google tells me that ATL has a growing number of Texas readers. Could one of you please sue your law firm under the anti-hazing statute, just to see what happens?
Because if getting pushed into a swimming pool is humiliating and mentally stressful, try doc review on a Sunday while a partner BlackBerrys you from the Hamptons Corpus Christi asking you to check his interoffice mail.
Morton Ranch cheerleaders indicted in hazing [Houston Chronicle]
Institutional Liability For Hazing in Interscholastic Sports [Houston Law Review]
(100) 
Comments
First
Were the girls pushed into the pool because they were " of color" or because they were gay?
Good post Ellie, well done!
So, Elie, simulated drowning is ok when it's high schoolers doing it to other high schoolers, but it's torture when the US does it to people at Gitmo? At least be consistent, MysTTTal.
High school cheerleaders can "haze" me anytime they want.
Elie,
(1) associates are not students.
(2) It's Corpus Christi, not Corpus Christie. Body of Christ, not Body of Christie you fat atheist.
(2) CC is not the equivalent of the Hamptons. Nothing on the Texas Gulf coast (as opposed to the Alabama Gulf coast, for all you wiseacres) is the equivalent of the Hamptons. But Rockport is a far better bet than Corpus Christi.
Is this blog incapable of finding a clear picture for posts? Seriously, is it that hard to do?
4- you are a moron.
carry on.
"any activity . . . that subjects the student to extreme mental stress, shame, or humiliation"
So, High School = Hazing.
Yeah a clear picture would be helpful, interpret that as you may
Read the article, MysTTTal....the kids were bound when they were thrown into the pool. That might not be a crime, but it's not a joke either, you know, if you can't swim or something.
For everyone who wants a clear picture:
http://sportscracklepop.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/u-texas-cheerleaders.jpg
While hazing can be a serious problem, like the chicago suburban school where freshman got the cr** beat out of them and sh** (literally) thrown at them, getting pushed into a pool is not a big deal. I do wish DA's would exercise some discretion every now and then. I have a feeling that the anti-hazing law was written for incidents closer to one at the chicago suburb (Glencoe, Glenview? I think it was Glen something) than this one.
I can't wait to bet my Xbox360 and Gears of War2 for Christmas.
"Hazing is serious business ... to people with no friends who've never been a part of anything[.]"
You're obviously not an athlete, Elie. Hazing is not and should not be a black and white issue; there are degrees. Most hazing activities and practices are abhorrent, yes, but there are others which are formative and engender unity and team spirit.
13 is right. There's no more egregious high school hazing in Texas (or even Corpus Christi) for DAs to prosecute?
As long as I am not being hazed by homosexual cannibals I am fine with this.
14,
Yep, that's a useful expenditure from your severance payments.
You'll regret it six months from now when you have to sell the whole package on Craigslist for $20.
I think this is more worthy of being named Indictment of the Day:
http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/11/arent-fox-partner-indicted-in-connection-with-wone-murder.html
Please get rid of that rogue open parenthesis. Some of us have OCD.
* I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous *
-nervous T-10 1L
email job leads to nervoust101l@yahoo.com
Umm, the statute repeatedly refers to "educational institutions." Good luck arguing that a law firm was the intended subject of the legislation. I know you're trying to be funny, but it didn't work this time.
* I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous I'm nervous *
-nervous T-10 1L
email job leads to nervoust101l@yahoo.com
MysTTTal,
Please resize pictures in the future. You can do this with Irfanview. If you have a copy of Photoshop that would work too, but Irfanview is free. If you don't resize the pictures, they look like crap and hurt my eyes.
Kthxbye!
I want my Xbox360 now! now! now! now!
Uh. I'm pretty sure you couldn't sue your firm, since you're not a student. Idiot.
* wishes those ladies hazed me. oh wait no, i like men *
-nervous T-10 1L
email job leads to nervoust101l@yahoo.com
Jesus Christ am I tired of Elie's Livejournal commentary.
Try getting all of the facts Elie. The girls hands were duct-taped together before they were pushed in. A little more dangerous than just being blindfolded. Nevertheless, guys in my high school used to do this all the time, it was no big deal.
Those girls look too old for me. Cravath always used to buy younger girls to haze me during the holidays.
sighhhhhhhhh..................
James Colliton
So - I actually defend the DA on this one. It wasn't that throwing the girls in the pool was such a big deal...it was the anticipation that created the hazing.
Those girls were blindfolded and had no idea what was going to happen to them. They probably suspected something much worse - because no one in their right mind would trust a bunch of high school girls to not do something truly stupid (like push them off a small roof). So - for those moments when those girls didn't know what was happening - that WAS hazing - and I support the prosecution.
Just because this blog is called "AboveTheLaw" does not mean that every single legal happenstance in the entire world is worthy of mention.
What the fuck? God fucking dammit Lat, listen to the people who are complaining about Mystal. He posts, what, half a dozen times per day? More? And most of his posts are garbage like this.
Who in her right mind cares about what some cheerleaders did in hazing somewhere? How is this noteworthy?
This post is useless without pictures!!!!!
20 - you may be my true love
MysTTTal
Something on DDC Guananamo order that just came down, Elie??? Por favor?
32 -- Mr. Cravath and I care immensely about stories involving high school girls. I am sure that we are not alone on this one.
Best Regards,
James Colliton
PEANUTS and CHEESE for the cheerleaders! PEANUTS and CHEESE . . . ALL UP IN HERE!
How is there not a picture of Parker Posey yelling at all of those freshmen girls to fry like bacon!!
woo hoo! Houston Law Review!!
Elie,
Props for your tone and analysis on this one. For once I agree with you.
32: Care to comment on the assertion put forth by 38?
Oh my god, would you all stop being such a bunch of pussies. This entire thing is utterly ridiculous. If a girl gets kicked in the head, she has been assaulted, not hazed. We already have laws that punish physical acts of violence. We also have conspiracy laws that punish acts of violence coordinated by a group. This law is absolutely unnecessary and was passed simply an attempt by the Texas Legislature to appease all the parents of high school band members.
I would nail that brown starfish, raw dog.
Captain Planet
30 -- those aren't high school cheerleaders; those are the UTexas cheerleaders.
And seriously, no frat stud yet?! This is just begging for it. Were I a creative man, I'd create one myself... That being said, come on -- anyone in a high school sport has been hazed, usually more than this. This is just a pathetic use of the legal system.
xbox guy - it's so worth it, just buy it now. gears 2 is awesome. if only i didn't have to study for finals...
woo hoo! Houston Law Review!!
There's some joke to be made here about getting the cheerleaders wet, but I can't quite find it...
The reason I go to law school is so that after graduation I can haze girls in Texas in a pool.
GW 1L
"No we didn't have YouTube 30 or 40 years ago, but I'm pretty sure that if we did "girls kicking other girls in the head" would have been "tame" for the times."
Hey, Elie--you want to back that up with something?
I have to agree with those commenters complaining about Elie's failure to give us all the facts. From Elie's version, I thought it was no big deal and the prosecutor was totally overreacting, getting pushed in a pool is no big deal. (Although I do see your point 31). BUT I think pushing people who are BOUND into a pool is significantly different. I'm a strong swimmer but being pushed into the water w/ my hands bound would freak me out. Maybe prosecution is still an overreaction, but the case is not as black and white as Elie was making it out to be.
Helicopter parenting at work. One of the parents was upset and called the school. Why can't parents let their kids handle their own problems?
"Hazing is serious business ... to people with no friends who've never been a part of anything"
Elie, you're not funny and you just implicated yourself – a fatass with no friends and not a part of anything (except your fat hands, which are in all likelihood connected right now to a deep-fried peanutbutter and banana-pulled pork sandwich). Stop editorializing and start getting your facts straight. Writing for ATL is what you do all day (for a living?), right?
I think I will go and buy my Xbox360 now along with Gears of War2 and a case of Pilsner Urquell.
"Hazing is serious business ... to people with no friends who've never been a part of anything[.]"
Dangling modifier, much? Even better, the sentence construction makes it seem like there's a double-negative.
Can you take some writing lessons, MysTTTal? Or at least have someone edit your posts?
And, if one of the cheerleaders pushed into the pool couldn't swim and ended up drowning, I'm sure the hazers would have felt really awful! And, so bad! They never would have meant for something like THAT to happen!
There are anti-hazing laws in Texas for a reason. Because people have died from hazing that has occurred in the state.
When you drive drunk and you get home safely, instead of hitting a family of five and killing them, you're still breaking the law.
56 -- I think I hazed you in high school. Now I will haze you again. STFU and prepare to do the elephant walk with the rest of your worthless male class mates.
Devin Chesler
The problem with this country is that we don't allow hazing anymore. Everybody feels entitled to whatever they want.
People need to stop being wimps and sacrifice if they want something bad enough. Hazing is designed to keep people who don't "want it" bad enough out of organizations. There is no better way to test someone's committment than to push them to the limits in a seemingly pointless manner.
America, keep hazing.
--Nervous T20 3L Gunner and Former Marine ; )
58, semper gay.
59--Thanks for articulating.
I am not sure what disgusts me more:
1) Indictments for cheerleaders guilty of pushing younger cheerleaders into a pool (what a bunch of complaining ass bitches);
2) The fact that ATL has featured this bit of Texas news over BIG Dick Cheney's indictment in the prison abuse case.
I mean it is really tough to say
sign on to 58; 53 is a pussy; Elie may be fat, but he is correct Re: haters of hazing grew up with no friends and suck at life.
This bullying should not be minimalized. Being blindfolded, tied up, and pushed in a pool is terrifying and life-threatening. What if one of the girls couldn't swim, or had a panic disorder, or respiratory issues? These girls deserve to get in trouble and have an example made of them. I applaud the DA and the Grand Jury.
WAAAHHHH - I got thrown in a pool.
WAAAHHHH - I thought we were going to IHOP.
I'm sure the girl who's parents complained will be the most popular girl in school and is on track to be the Queen of her prom now that she's taken out the cheerleeders. If history tells us anything, in Texas high schools, it's always the nerdy girl with the overprotective parents that everyone admires...
I am going to push your mom into a pool, 63. I would worry she might drown but she is shaped like a buoy and is half manatee.
Suck it, Trebek.
Ha ha, Semper Gay, mother fuckers.
Whatever. We made our girls wear adult diapers (and shirts) and painted them in all sorts of inappropriate and random ways and then paraded through campus, took them to dinner, and then attended a basketball game where they "got" to do a couple laps of the court during one of the biggest games of the year.
It was fun.
For us.
SkaddenDC makes its associates wear diapers because they had to close all the bathrooms due to budget cuts.
Its not fun for them.
40 = TTT Houston admiralty lawyer
Read the source article and something not mentioned in this blog post is the fact that the girls were also "bound" in some way. Would want to know how deep the pool was and how they were pushed in, but being bound, blindfolded and shoved into deep water could actually be a pretty awful experience.
I just pooped on my couch.
66,
Please go to your local Marine Corps hangout and yell "Semper Gay." I would love to see how that turns out for ya.
34 - I'll happily walk down the aisle to you, but only if I make it there in a prime number of steps.
-20
You can sue your firm if you're a student. Attention all Texas 2Ls with no offers:
"Hazing" means any intentional, knowing, or reckless act occurring on or off the campus of an educational institution, by one person alone or acting with others, directed against a student, that endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student for the purpose of . . . affiliating with . . . an organization.
This includes: "any activity that ... subjects the student to extreme mental stress...."
Sue the firms that rejected you for making you go through the extreme mental stress of OCI.
you're welcome
74 = Douchey McDouchebag
58 = turned out 3L "oops I told" marine. The gay wink at the end of your post was a dead giveaway.
Hazing is the American Way.
Wussy PC nonsense....
63 = Marge Simpson.
This overprotectiveness is BAD for kids. Oooh! Ohhh! What if they cant swim and there are only 30 people there to pull them out!! Oh gracious!
Did the pool contain sharks?
If so, totally agree with the hazing charges. Otherwise this is completely retarded.
Christ - 56 nailed it and you all still don't get it. The girls aren't being prosecuted because they made the younger girls feel bad. They're being prosecuted because they acted recklessly. We criminalize hazing because we don't want f***sticks like MysTTTal thinking that they're smart/mature enough to place others in life-threatening situations. Remember general deterrence? Are any of you lawyers?
Agree with 78.
This country has gone SOFT. I got hazed in high school (sports) and college (fraternity) - it was a right of passage. You dealt with it. Do I have physical or mental scars from it? No.
And Ellie - there are a million other pictures of hot chearleaders out there. Why did you post a picture of girls that will quickly become the size of a cattle?
This proves my point that people in Texas are pussies. Actually, because it is Texas, they are BIG pussies.
Girls in my highschool used to blindfold each other and throw each other into pools all the time. It was no big deal.
-Frat Stud
Dear Baby Jesus,
Thank you for cheerleaders.
-me
can we fin photos of the cheerleaders with fewer clothes please?
Throwing the blindfolded into the deep end without warning is no big deal?
Perhaps, but it is hazing....
72,
I just did what you said and I got 3 invitations to dinner, 1 "how you doin'", an offer for a night of "semperness", whatever that is and just two guys that wanted to fight me, saying that I didn't say it the right way.
83,
The real Frat Stud would have said something funnier like:
Some girls in my high school used to get younger girls wet all the time. It was no big deal. It was just the girl's basketball team.
That's the Semper Way!
""Nobody got hurt," said Allen Isbell, attorney for Kelly Buffa. Isbell said his client didn't push anyone into the pool."
Excellent legal reasoning there!
Maybe I'm uptight, but I'm pretty sure I don't want kids kicking over kids in the head.
There are initiation rituals and then there is violence. We have these statutes because actual kids have gotten very hurt. Maybe not THESE kids, but that is the origin.
But we digress: continue your elementary-school level comments.
Morton Ranch students Wednesday split over the seriousness of the hazing charge.
Mosha Washington, 18, a senior who runs track, said the varsity cheerleaders "went beyond too far."
"They could have died," Washington said. "They said they threw them in a pool, I think."
Excellent legal commentary right there.
I went to High School in Katy. This is a new school there, so I think the premonition of hazing is probably about right. Letting people creatively make up new hazing traditions is a pretty bad idea. That said, no way they should've been indicted, what's the point? Isn't this what suspensions are for?
Katy is actually notorious for its zero-tolerance policy towards everything. Being located in the most republican district in the world will do that to you (I got suspended 3 days in 5th grade for getting punched because I was 'involved' in a fight). So this doesn't surprise me. I am so glad I left and never went back.
"Elie" read the f***ing story:
"...the junior cheerleaders were taken to a private home where, bound and blindfolded, they were pushed into a swimming pool..."
Your blog post referred only to the blindfolding (leaving out that they were bound makes it sound much, much less serious). If your editorial slant is that it shouldn't lead to criminal charges fine, but don't mislead your readers (mislead yourself all you want).
Even if they were only blindfolded and pushed into a swimming pool that sounds dangerous enough that charges might be warranted; add that they were tied up and this becomes the sort of wrongful behaviour that should be criminalized. Whether "hazing" or in the assault and battery spectrum of charges.
Assuming no-one was seriously hurt I don't think the perpetrators should be punished harshly, no criminal record that follows them their lives or anything like that, maybe even dismissal of charges or a lenient plea agreement later, but it was very seriously wrong, and seriously dangerous, behaviour.
I am not humorless; having been in engineering before law, I appreciate student pranks, even if arguably illegal (who am I kidding, even if obviously illegal -- on advice of counsel I am explicity denying I participated in any such illegalities...) but only ones that don't risk death or serious harm to participants and preferably ones involving property, not people.
"Elie" read the f***ing story:
"...the junior cheerleaders were taken to a private home where, bound and blindfolded, they were pushed into a swimming pool..."
Your blog post referred only to the blindfolding (leaving out that they were bound makes it sound much, much less serious). If your editorial slant is that it shouldn't lead to criminal charges fine, but don't mislead your readers (mislead yourself all you want).
Even if they were only blindfolded and pushed into a swimming pool that sounds dangerous enough that charges might be warranted; add that they were tied up and this becomes the sort of wrongful behaviour that should be criminalized. Whether "hazing" or in the assault and battery spectrum of charges.
Assuming no-one was seriously hurt I don't think the perpetrators should be punished harshly, no criminal record that follows them their lives or anything like that, maybe even dismissal of charges or a lenient plea agreement later, but it was very seriously wrong, and seriously dangerous, behaviour.
I am not humorless; having been in engineering before law, I appreciate student pranks, even if arguably illegal (who am I kidding, even if obviously illegal -- on advice of counsel I am explicity denying I participated in any such illegalities...) but only ones that don't risk death or serious harm to participants and preferably ones involving property, not people.
I went to High School in Katy. This is a new school there, so I think the premonition of hazing is probably about right. Letting people creatively make up new hazing traditions is a pretty bad idea. That said, no way they should've been indicted, what's the point? Isn't this what suspensions are for?
Katy is actually notorious for its zero-tolerance policy towards everything. Being located in the most republican district in the world will do that to you (I got suspended 3 days in 5th grade for getting punched because I was 'involved' in a fight). So this doesn't surprise me. I am so glad I left and never went back.
Wow, I have never read such immature comments on a board. Some of the comments are beyond journalistic criticism. Obviously, these Texans don't have much perspective. How humiliating is must be for that girl to have to face the hazers now that they are being indicted. Does anyone remember High School? Just suspend/bar them from cheerleading- believe me, in Texas, THAT"S a big deal.
Wow, I have never read such immature comments on a board. Some of the comments are beyond journalistic criticism. Obviously, these Texans don't have much perspective. How humiliating is must be for that girl to have to face the hazers now that they are being indicted. Does anyone remember High School? Just suspend/bar them from cheerleading- believe me, in Texas, THAT"S a big deal.
Morton Ranch students Wednesday split over the seriousness of the hazing charge.
Mosha Washington, 18, a senior who runs track, said the varsity cheerleaders "went beyond too far."
"They could have died," Washington said. "They said they threw them in a pool, I think."
Excellent legal commentary right there.
Any SERIOUS legal Blawg should NOT have naked WOMEN pictures on it. Abovethelaw is CLEARLY not thinking straight and any WOMEN attornies will go to other Blawgs.
A women in MY building is leaving because of RUDE management aven though this is a VIOLATION of housing codes and is constructive conviction according to my Property professor. And EVEN though this is Intelectual Property on the internet, the SAME property laws probably apply so Abovethelaw should do research on whether these picutures are CONSTRUCTIVE because I think they are.
98: When I read your comment, a certain quote from Billy Madison comes to mind.
And may God have mercy on your soul.
The girls were not just blindfolded. They were BOUND and blindfolded. They were TIED UP and thrown into a pool. I cannot think of anything more dangerous and reckless. If Elie had taken 5 seconds to read the article about what happened, she would have known that.
This blog is officially retarded.